Priest (1994)

Director:

Antonia Bird

Writer:

Jimmy McGovern (writer)

Release Date:

24 March 1995 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

In a world of rituals, in a place of secrets, a man must choose between keeping the faith and exposing the truth.

Plot:

Father Greg Pilkington (Linus Roache) is torn between his call as a conservative Catholic priest and his secret life as a homosexual with a gay lover...

Plot Keywords:

Love | God | Priest | Church | Confession

Awards:

3 wins & 2 nominations

Cast

Linus Roache	...	Father Greg Pilkington
Tom Wilkinson	...	Father Matthew Thomas
Robert Carlyle	...	Graham
Cathy Tyson	...	Maria Kerrigan
Lesley Sharp	...	Mrs. Unsworth
Robert Pugh	...	Mr. Unsworth
James Ellis	...	Father Ellerton
Christine Tremarco	...	Lisa Unsworth
Paul Barber	...	Charlie
Rio Fanning	...	Bishop
Jim R. Coleman	...	Funeral director
Bill Dean	...	Altar boy
Gilly Coman	...	Ellie Molloy
Fred Pearson	...	Patrick
Jimmy Gallagher	...	Mick Molloy
Anthony Booth	...	Tommy
Giuseppe Murphy	...	Man in lift
Kim Johnson	...	Mrs. Gobshite
Keith Cole	...	Mr. Gobshite
Adrian Luty	...	Jehovah's Witness
Mandy Walsh	...	Guest at wake
Stephanie Roscoe	...	Guest at Wake
Ann Haydn-Edwards	...	Guest at Wake
Mike Haydn	...	Guest at Wake
Bobby Martino	...	Bobby
Victoria Arnold	...	Girl in Confessional
Gareth Potsig	...	Boy Car Thief
Ray Williams	...	Boy with Stutter
Valerie Lilley	...	Sister Kevin
Kevin Knapman	...	Boy at Beach (as Kevin Jones)
Michael Ananins	...	Charge Sergeant
Mickey Jones	...	Reporter (as Mickey Poppins)
Matyelok Gibbs	...	Housekeeper
John Bennett	...	Father Redstone
Charley Wilde	...	Tommy's Child
Euan Blair	...	Tommy's child
Rupert Pearson	...	Man on Skateboard
Marsha Thomason	...	Nurse
Mauricio Venegas	...	Chilean band leader

Directed by
Antonia Bird

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Jimmy McGovern		writer

Produced by
George Faber	....	producer
Joanna Newbery	....	associate producer
Mark Shivas	....	executive producer
Josephine Ward	....	producer

Original Music by
Andy Roberts

Cinematography by
Fred Tammes

Film Editing by
Susan Spivey

Casting by
Janet Goddard

Production Design by
Raymond Langhorn

Art Direction by
Sue Pow

Costume Design by
Jill Taylor

Makeup Department
Carol Galley	....	assistant makeup artist
Ann Humphreys	....	hair stylist
Ann Humphreys	....	makeup artist

Production Management
Paul Judges	....	production manager
Ruth S. Mayorcas	....	post-production supervisor

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Jamie Annett	....	second assistant director
Brett Fallis	....	first assistant director
Fiona Murray	....	third assistant director
Amanda Neal	....	second assistant director

Art Department
Lena Kelsall	....	production buyer
Debbie Reynolds	....	design assistant

Sound Department
Mark Auguste	....	dialogue editor
Gordon Brown	....	assistant dialogue editor
Dennis Cartwright	....	sound recordist
Jan Cholawo	....	dialogue editor
Roger Mitchell	....	supervising sound editor
Kate Morath	....	boom operator
Adrian Rhodes	....	dubbing mixer
Hugh Strain	....	dubbing mixer
Steve Thomas	....	boom operator
Aad Wirtz	....	dubbing mixer
Garry Fiferman	....	sound re-recordist (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Steve Blake	....	gaffer
Nigel Slatter	....	camera operator: second unit

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Jane Hamnett	....	assistant costume designer
Sarah Moore	....	costume stand-by

Editorial Department
Maria Walker	....	assistant film editor

Other crew
Cecilia Coleshaw	....	script supervisor
Colette Fenlon-Byatt	....	choreographer: children
Frances Graham	....	production coordinator
Lisa Gravelle	....	location manager
Mary Hare	....	production coordinator
Ann Harrison-Baxter	....	location manager
Pauline Hume	....	title designer
Gareth Milne	....	fight arranger
Geoffrey Paget	....	production executive
Anna Price	....	script editor
Donna Rolfe	....	location manager

Production Companies

• British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)
• Electric Pictures
• Miramax Films
• PolyGram Filmed Entertainment

Distributors

• Miramax Films (1995) (USA) (theatrical)
• Concorde-Castle Rock/Turner (1995) (Germany) (theatrical)
• Eurocine (1995) (Argentina) (theatrical)
• Monopole-Pathé (1995) (Switzerland) (theatrical)
• Argentina Video Home (1996) (Argentina) (VHS)
• Golem Distribución (Spain)
• Homescreen (2009) (Netherlands) (DVD)
• Miramax Home Entertainment (USA) (DVD)
• Miramax Home Entertainment (USA) (laserdisc)
• Top Tape (Brazil) (VHS)

MPAA:

Rated R for depiction of mature themes involving sexuality.

Runtime:

105 min | USA:98 min | Argentina:98 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Argentina:18 | Iceland:12 | South Korea:18 | Australia:MA | Finland:K-16 | Germany:12 (w) | Hong Kong:III | Norway:15 | Portugal:M/16 | Spain:18 | Sweden:15 | UK:15 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Blundellsands, Merseyside, England, UK

Company:

British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)

Trivia:

Director Antonia Bird cut a scene of Linus Roache's bare buttocks to ensure only an R rating in the USA.

Goofs:

Continuity: Father Greg holds up a communion wafer which is smooth. The scene cuts to Graham and then back to Father Greg, and the wafer has a diagonal line across it.

Quotes:

Charge Sergeant: [Father Pilkington is being charged with public indecency] Occupation?
[Father Pilkington is too embarrassed to answer]
Charge Sergeant: What's your job?
Father Greg Pilkington: Priest.
Charge Sergeant: Catholic?
Father Greg Pilkington: [quietly] Yes.
Charge Sergeant: [grinning] You little devil!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Italiensk for begyndere (2000)

Soundtrack:

LET'S ALL JOIN TOGETHER

Stirring, controversial, well-acted religious pot-boiler - still, a mixed blessing.

From the symbolic introductory scene of "Priest" wherein an old, weary-looking priest yanks a huge crucifix from the church altar, proceeds to carry it through the streets of his impoverished town as if he were Jesus himself, and proceed to bash through the door of his presbytery, you know you're in for something different - stimulating, controversial, thought-provoking. "Priest" is VERY MUCH that movie.

The old priest's clerical replacement comes in the form of Father Greg (Linus Roache, in a star-making role), a young, fair-haired, boyishly handsome visionary who, with typically youthful verve, strives to bring the Catholic Church directly to the people (well, to the Catholics, anyway), and receives his actions with decidedly mixed feelings. The older priest still in residence, Father Matthew (the excellent Tom Wilkinson), who has long settled into amiable apathy, inclines toward drink while maintaining a relatively clandestine relationship with his black, attractively careworn housekeeper (the underused Cathy Tyson). There is initial friction as the Old and New Worlds collide. Father Matthew dismisses Father Greg's modernistic sermons, while Father Greg frowns upon Father Matthew's casual stance on papal celibacy. Eventually, we learn Father Greg has his own difficulty with celibacy...but with other men.

As the story proceeds, we are drawn into the emotional and moral struggles of Father Greg as he wrestles not only with his own social and spiritual ethics, but those of his parish. In one particularly chilling confessional scene, a male member of the parish practically flaunts his sexual desires while "justifying" his incestuous advances toward his teenage daughter.

"Priest" is an important, ambitious project and yields emotional power in its depiction of moral adversity. But it's a mixed blessing. Some of the scenes come off overbaked and melodramatic, while the resolution of the piece should be more powerful and less compromising; instead it comes off manufactured and unrealistic, hurting its overall impact.

In fairness, "Priest" does bring out the hypocrisy in both priests, as well as the parish. Nobody comes off saintly here, just flawed and human. An interesting bi-note is that there have been no comments in the fact that the elder priest is having a sexual relationship with a BLACK housekeeper. Forty years ago, according to religious purists, the Bible interpreted ethnically mixed relationships and marriages as abominations as well. At least some headway HAS been made.

Is "Priest" anti-Catholic in its message? To an extent, yes. The Catholic's Church's unyielding, unprogressive, medieval doctrines are brought to task here, never more pointedly than in the scene where Father Greg, agonizing over whether to prevent the continued sexual abuse of the young girl and report the father to authorities, or respect the confidentiality of the confessional and remain silent, reluctantly chooses the latter.

While I deem this movie to be a stronger platform for social tolerance, `Priest' still drums home beautifully the message that organized religion is still used as a tool to govern instead of instill moral standards, particularly in other countries, and as a persecutive weapon against certain sectors of society that do not conform to those rigid standards. As a consequence, the Church has provided a comforting harbor and hazardous safety zone for certain "acceptable" bigotries.

We need more brave, topical films like "Priest" to confront such important social issues and display them front-and-center.