The Brand New Testament (2015)

Did you know that God is alive and lives in Brussels with his daughter?

Director:

Jaco Van Dormael

Writers:

Thomas Gunzig, Jaco Van Dormael

Stars:

Pili Groyne, Benoît Poelvoorde, Catherine Deneuve

Nominated for 1 Golden Globe. Another 14 wins & 23 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Pili Groyne	...	Ea
Benoît Poelvoorde	...	Dieu
Catherine Deneuve	...	Martine
François Damiens	...	François
Yolande Moreau	...	La femme de Dieu
Laura Verlinden	...	Aurélie
Serge Larivière	...	Marc
Didier De Neck	...	Jean-Claude
Marco Lorenzini	...	Victor
Romain Gelin	...	Willy
Anna Tenta	...	Xenia, l'Allemande
Johan Heldenbergh	...	Le prêtre
David Murgia	...	Jésus Christ
Gaspard Pauwels	...	Kevin
Bilal Aya	...	Philippe

Storyline

God lives in human form as a cynical writer with his young opinionated daughter in present-day Brussels, Belgium. She concludes that her dad is doing a terrible job and decides to rewrite the world, descending to earth in search of her own 6 messengers to write a brand new testament and change the status quo.

---

Plot Keywords:

female frontal nudity | female pubic hair | key | walking on water | boy dressed as a girl | 

---

Taglines:

God exists. He lives in Brussels with his teenage daughter.

---

Genres:

Comedy | Fantasy

---

Certificate:

Not Rated

Did You Know?

Trivia

The official Belgian submission for the 2016 Academy Awards.

---

Goofs

When Ea is typing on her father's computer, the letters appearing onscreen do not match the speed of her typing at all. She is also seen inputting words on the keyboard (as if trying to type commands) when only images are displayed.

---

Quotes

Dieu: Law 1522:If one day you fall in love with a woman there's a great chance you will not spend your life with her.

---

Crazy Credits

The credits are designed as though they are embroidered on fabric, with embroidered images on each side.

---

Connections

References Double Impact (1991)

---

Soundtracks

Adventure Begins
Written by David Bergés

User Reviews

A wasted potential

I've just seen the film at the "avant-première" here in Paris. I really wanted to like it as I have great respect for everybody involved and I really loved the premise. First off, the actors are great, hats off to the younger cast. They held their ground until the last scene, but that loss of believability has much more to do with the script and directing as the ending felt artificial and rushed. Now, the beginning is good but what follows, not so much. The main character is underdeveloped, thus her journey at some point becomes repetitive and even though it is visually interesting, story-wise it is boring-ish. Speaking of visuals, the fact that it reminded me of Jean-Pierre Jeunet's Amelié actually bothered me because it made everything sound out of tune - it was both too similar to be original and too different to be a good copy. There are some great ideas and good laughs, but all in all it could have been much much better. What's worse, it deserved to be.

Details

Official Sites:

Le Pacte [France] Official site [Japan]

Country:

Belgium France Luxembourg

Language:

French German

Release Date:

1 September 2015 (Belgium)

Also Known As:

El nuevo nuevo testamento

Filming Locations:

Brussels, Belgium

Box Office

Budget:

EUR8,555,500 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$10,422, 11 December 2016

Gross USA:

$127,910

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$15,709,652

Company Credits

Production Co:

Terra Incognita Films, Climax Films, Après le Déluge

Technical Specs

Runtime:

114 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color (HD)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1