“A Good Father”, by Ronan Tronchot, exposes the dilemma of a priest when he learns that, years ago, he fathered a son with a woman, who now claims him.
Ville de Auxerre, Burgundy region, but it could well be any other small city in old Catholic France, with huge churches that are running out of worshipers and priests. In the one we now see, in the absence of French, there is an Algerian priest, assistant to the owner, who found his vocation in Argentina and was a seminarian in Canada.
This man, with a sincere vocation, loved by the parishioners and young people of the place, generally calm, with a good face, several extra kilos and also several concerns of an ecclesiastical nature, has finished a mass for the dead and is greeting the mourners who will go heading to the cemetery when a woman approaches him with an 11-year-old boy. He had met her when he was a young seminarian, and since then he had not known anything about her. The thing is, he had met her in the biblical sense, and that boy is his son. Only now does she break the news to him and obviously wants him to take charge.
“Why does everyone call you father and I can’t call you dad?”the boy asks. Why can ministers of other religions have families and priests have been restricted to celibacy since the 12th century? the religious asks among other things, and the vicar cordially gives him a logical answer. The Code of Canon Law and superiors are not so cordial. The man must choose right now between his deep vocation and his obligation to the child. And what can we say now to the faithful, without lying or causing scandal?
This story moves through these conflicts, as the priest and the child begin to get to know each other, and a pregnant girl faces another dilemma: the consequence of abortion. After the confession, the religious remains silent for a long time before speaking.
The dialogues in this film are very interesting, thoughtful, and the things that are raised are very current and human. Psalm 86 resonates in the soul“I call to you in anguish and you answer, Lord. There is none among the gods like You, and there is nothing like Your work.. Only the ending seems somewhat rushed and schematic, but perhaps it was the most appropriate.
Director, Ronan Tronchot. Protagonist, Gregory Gadeboisin a role totally contrary to the one he played in the “J’acusse” of Polansky. In the distribution, Géraldine Nakache, Lyés Salem, Anton Alluin and the veterans Jacques Boudet, Francoise Lebrun (the old bursar) and Daniel Tarrare, who appears very little, like the theologian who guides the afflicted. Other French films about priests in conflict, “Diary of a Rural Priest”, “Under Satan’s Sky”, “Leon Morin”with Jean-Paul Belmondo).
“A good father” (Paternel, France, 2024); Dir.: Ronan Tronchot; Int.: Gregory Gadebois, Géraldine Nakache, Lyés Salem, Anton Alluin.
Source: Ambito
I am an author and journalist who has worked in the entertainment industry for over a decade. I currently work as a news editor at a major news website, and my focus is on covering the latest trends in entertainment. I also write occasional pieces for other outlets, and have authored two books about the entertainment industry.
