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The Brand New Testament

The Brand New Testament (Le Tout Nouveau Testament)

Movie · 2015 · 15 people

A satire of religion that has since won a cult following, this 2015 black comedy with a fantasy bent comes from writer-director Jaco Van Dormael: The Brand New Testament (Le Tout Nouveau Testament). Luxembourg, France and Belgium co-produced it. It follows a bad-tempered God who lives in an ordinary Brussels apartment, and his young daughter.

Benoît Poelvoorde plays God, Yolande Moreau his wife and Pili Groyne their daughter Ea, with Catherine Deneuve and François Damiens also in the cast. God runs human lives from his computer as the whim takes him. Unable to bear her father's cruelty, Ea texts everyone on Earth the date of their death, throwing the world into chaos, then runs away to find six apostles among the city's lonely people and write a testament of her own.

Van Dormael wrote the script with Thomas Gunzig. The film premiered on 17 May 2015 in the Directors' Fortnight at Cannes and opened in Belgium on 1 September 2015. It was Belgium's entry for the 88th Academy Awards and made the nine-film December shortlist without being nominated. At the Magritte Awards it received ten nominations and won four, including Best Film, Best Director and Best Original Screenplay. Running a little under two hours, it also earned a European Film Award for its production design.

DirectorJaco Van Dormael

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Cast

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Catherine Deneuve Catherine Deneuve Film actor · 83 years old Johan Heldenbergh Johan Heldenbergh Actor · 59 years old Romain Gelin Pili Groyne Benoît Poelvoorde François Damiens Yolande Moreau Laura Verlinden Serge Larivière Didier De Neck Anna Tenta David Murgia Johan Leysen Dominique Abel Aïssatou Diop

Through different eyes

Cinephile Looks at script, editing and directing choices; keeps a distance from formula films.

As an idea, this is one of the most inventive premises of recent years: a grumpy God running human lives from his computer at whim, and a girl who texts everyone the date of their death. Van Dormael carries this absurd premise into the language of a fantasy fable without reducing it to a gag. The search for six apostles is both the film's heart and its weak point; as each apostle becomes a separate small story, the structure turns episodic and the pace rises and falls from section to section. Still, it is a distinctive work that earns its Magritte awards for Best Film, Director and Original Screenplay.

History & Society Lens Asks about the period, the social background and what the work reflects.

As much as it can be taken as religious satire, the film is also an observation on the loneliness of modern city people. The girl choosing her apostles among Brussels's lonely souls puts forward the idea that salvation may come not from the powerful but from those on the margins. The world sliding into chaos once everyone learns their date of death is also an interesting thought experiment about how people use their time. On the other hand, it should be noted that a satire showing God as a cruel, capricious figure may upset some believing viewers; the film deliberately pushes limits here.

Family Viewer Asks whether the whole household can watch it; cares about humour and heart.

A little girl in the lead and a fantasy-fable feel can make it look like a children's film. It isn't. It is a black comedy about religion with death at its centre. Families who are sensitive about faith should know this beforehand. Fine for teens and adults who enjoy the humour, not for young children.

These are not reader reviews: they are short editorial takes written from different viewer perspectives with AI assistance. Reader reviews are below.

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