A divorced atheist painter, removed from his family, comes to find out they are quietly plotting with the Church to have his mother canonized as a saint – mostly for personal gain and prestige - even though there's great question as to how much the 'official' version of his mother's life has been distorted and re-invented to help the cause.
There's something chilling, in a moody, David Lynch, Nic Roeg sort of way about the handling of this nightmare scenario (the director calls it 'a very strange thriller'), where a man is pressured to accept his clearly flawed, cold, and distant mother as a saint 'for the good of the family'.
But along with it's skewering of people using religion to very non-religious ends, there's also the pain and confusion of a man without faith grasping to make sense of life, parenthood, and love.
There are some plot lines that lead nowhere, just leading to more questions. Some of it gets a little Gothic, to the edge of silly, but the performances, music and camera-work keep pulling you back in, and haunting moments have stayed with me.
There's something chilling, in a moody, David Lynch, Nic Roeg sort of way about the handling of this nightmare scenario (the director calls it 'a very strange thriller'), where a man is pressured to accept his clearly flawed, cold, and distant mother as a saint 'for the good of the family'.
But along with it's skewering of people using religion to very non-religious ends, there's also the pain and confusion of a man without faith grasping to make sense of life, parenthood, and love.
There are some plot lines that lead nowhere, just leading to more questions. Some of it gets a little Gothic, to the edge of silly, but the performances, music and camera-work keep pulling you back in, and haunting moments have stayed with me.