DIS+10

DIS 10

1. Watch this trailer for the film, "The Diary of a Country Priest." http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi813603353/

2. In what ways does the director and the camera capture the comic and the terror of this book?

BK: I couldn't help but start laughing when the trailer started because of the extremely dramatic music. While probably intending to be scary and ominous, I found the instrumental background theme to be over dramatic and therefore pretty hilarious. The scenes that the trailer showed seemed to match this mood that the music gave off and again I found myself chuckling. The reoccurring clip of the curé riding his bicycle with his dark cape-like outfit billowing behind him was equally comical in my mind. Bicycles can so often be seen as a symbol of childhood and innocence. The fact that the director chose to so often portray the young priest riding his bike around the small village only amplifies the idea that he indeed is naïve and inexperienced. While I just spent a good six lines bashing the musical choice, I think that the director must have had some good intentions behind the choice because it does give off the idea that the film is somber and full of dark themes. The clips introducing the characters shows quite the array of strong-minded individuals that surround the young priest and so often sway his opinions and actions. I found myself a bit frightened when some of the characters were first introduced, specifically the Curé de Torcy and, surprisingly, Mademoiselle Chantel. In short, I think that the horror side of this novel is portrayed with the dramatic and dark introductions of the people in the priest's life, as well as with the dramatic music. While pretty cheesy in my mind, and therefore comical, it also does an effective job of showing the terror that surrounds the young curé's short life. The comical side of this book is exemplified in the scenes with our main character riding around on his little bicycle in dark clothes. The image is hilarious to me because it doesn't portray what the priest imagines himself to be, but rather, it shows the young and inexperienced priest that he really is. GG: Interesting - bicycles. Good point! Remember when this film was produced, BK. JR:

The comedy first hit me when I heard the dramatic music and saw how the director intended to highlight the turning points and the characters’ personalities in small snippet introductions. As Breanna said, the trailer does not portray the embittered feelings the young priest has towards himself but instead pictures a busy priest trying to attend to all of the overdramatized happenings in his parish. It is apparent that there will be drama in the film but it is not easy to see that the book from which it is based can be dull, painfully slow, but sometimes exciting in a depressing way. Again, as Breanna said, the bicycle does seem to add innocence and childlike features to the priest but it also hints to the opinions others have of him. From the story, it is evident that the village people see the priest as a child-like incompetent and meddlesome person. Perhaps the director wanted to subtly show these aspects to the film’s audience. The foreboding music and the distress seen in the characters who are introduced and the melodramatic scenes of the priest’s panic instills a sense of terror in the viewer but I believe that the trailer and perhaps the film are far more dramatic than the book. It would be interesting to see how the film differs from what we have read. GG: Does the landscape of the film match the landscape of the novel? Do you think the young priest is "child like?" EM:

While at first I was also entertained by the dramatic music and comical image of the priest on his bike, I quickly warmed to the style of the trailer and was able to take a lot away from it. I found parts of it to be beautiful, actually. I loved the spoken French and the darkness throughout the trailer, and for some reason it allowed me to accept the gloominess of the novel more. I love elegiac poetry and sad music, but reading an entire book was a struggle for me. Therefore, seeing something that is both depressing and profound in a short movie trailer appealed to me and strengthened my understanding of the novel. Seeing the black and white characters in front of me added to the feelings I get when I am reading this book--dull and ominous. Yet it also ironically symbolized the characters themselves and how black and white they are, in figurative terms. In one of the clips the curé tells the priest that people shield themselves from his simplicity, and I found that to be rather comical as I believe all of the characters are hilariously simple minded and lack any sense of intellectual evolvement. One of the things that I found to be rather comical, however, was that the acting was not exactly something to write home about. Some of the characters did not seem to really believe their parts, which in actuality is a good thing that a real human being struggles to feel and portray how deeply depressing this novel is. Yet despite the poor acting, I was still touched by the characters and felt deeply connected to each of them as I watched them before me. The director did a wonderful job at showing each of the characters, which I enjoyed because though told from the point of view of the priest this novel is really comprised of several different thoughts and emotions, which is why it touches readers so deeply--whether they like it or not. GG: It is good that you picked up on the "darkness." I imagine the director was very careful about this. The acting is not as natural as we now experience film. In many ways, it is also represented of that era of film. LD:

Wow, from the start of this trailer I truly felt like the serial killer from //Psyco// was going to pop out. Maybe it’s the hilarious overly dramatic music at the beginning or maybe its because //Pysco// is one of the only black and white movies I have seen, but it was super distracting. I kept dazing out during this trailer that I had to watch it twice because I did not pay attention at all to it the first time I watched it. It was hard to focus because it was in French…the sub titles went by really fast. The trailer definitely showed both the comedy and the drama of the book though. The only words I can use to describe this trailer are funny and dramatic. I am not going to lie, after seeing this trailer no part of me wants to see this movie. The book was nice because…

1) I pictured it in color

2) I could picture my own people

3) And I could take little breaks GG: Well, LD, it many ways this film is part of that era of "Psycho." I think you are much word of a "word child" than a film child! Me too!