The Brand New Testament

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The Brand New Testament
File:Le Tout Nouveau Testament poster.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Jaco Van Dormael
Produced by Jaco Van Dormael
Frank Van Passel
Written by Jaco Van Dormael
Thomas Gunzig
Starring Benoît Poelvoorde
Catherine Deneuve
François Damiens
Yolande Moreau
Pili Groyne
Music by An Pierlé
Cinematography Christophe Beaucarne
Edited by Hervé de Luze
Production
company
Terra Incognita Films
Distributed by Le Pacte
Release dates
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  • 17 May 2015 (2015-05-17) (Cannes)
  • 1 September 2015 (2015-09-01) (Belgium)
Running time
 113 minutes
Country Belgium
France
Luxembourg
Language French
Budget $8.7 million[1]
Box office $15.4 million[2]

The Brand New Testament (French: Le Tout Nouveau Testament) is a 2015 fantasy dark comedy film written, produced, and directed by Jaco Van Dormael. It is a co-production between Belgium, France, and Luxembourg. The film was screened at the Directors' Fortnight section at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival.[3] It was selected as the Belgian entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 88th Academy Awards,[4] making the December shortlist of nine films, but was not nominated.[5][6] The Brand New Testament received ten nominations at the 6th Magritte Awards, winning four awards, including Best Film and Best Director for Van Dormael.[7]

Plot

God lives in an apartment in Brussels, which he shares with his meek wife and his 10-year-old daughter Ea, to whom he is emotionally and physically abusive. God is a grumpy sadist who created humankind specifically to have something to torment. He manipulates reality via a personal computer, which he strictly forbids his family from accessing. One day, Ea sneaks into his office and discovers how He has been mistreating humans. This enrages God, who whips Ea with his belt. Ea decides to rebel against her father. She steals the key to His office and accesses the pre-destined dates of death of every human in the world and releases it to the world. Everyone in Brussels receives a text message informing them when they are destined to die. Ea then locks God's computer and escapes the apartment through a chute in the laundry room. Wandering the streets of Brussels, Ea decides to follow in Jesus' footsteps and write a Brand New Testament as her contribution to the human race. She decides to portray life of six selected apostles.

Before finding them, she gets a scribe, a homeless man: Victor. The first apostle is a reclusive woman who lost her left arm in an accident and feels nobody will love her. The second one is a man who hates his work and his life, who has decided to never move from a bench in the park since he knew his date of death; eventually he starts a trip following a bird who asked him why would he stay there if he could go anywhere (with Ea translating for them.)The third apostle is a sexually-frustrated old man who is awkward around women. He is perpetually lovesick over a German girl he met once as a boy. On Ea's encouragement, he becomes a voice actor for porn movies, where he coincidentally meets the girl of his youth. They form a relationship which they consummate. The fourth apostle is a man who is fascinated with death. When he learns that everyone's death is pre-destined, he purchases a rifle with plans to shoot pedestrians, believing that he will not really be at fault for their deaths.

Ea prods him to shoot a woman, who happens to be the first apostle. He hits her in her prosthetic arm. Believing this to be a divine signal, he courts the woman and forms a relationship, and learns to embrace life instead of death. The fifth apostle is an elderly woman trapped in a loveless marriage. Ea persuades her to cheat on her husband. She first does so with a male prostitute, then with a gorilla. The gorilla beats up her husband, to her delight. The sixth apostle is a sickly boy who discovers he has only days left to live. Ea encourages him to live the next days of his life as months and he dresses up as a princess. He chooses to dress and act like a girl.

God is horrified when he discovers what Ea has done. With everyone now aware of the time they have left, he can no longer torment humans through their fear of death. Worse still, with His computer locked, He is powerless. He leaves the apartment for the first time in His life through the chute in the laundry room. Because of His rude manners, he is assaulted by everyone He meets. He discovers to his horror that the chute to his apartment is gone and He is trapped in the outside world, powerless and alone. He is forced to take shelter in a church, and is eventually deported to Uzbekistan after being mistaken for an illegal migrant.

Ea and her apostles go to the seaside, where hundreds of people have gathered to spend the last hours of their lives. An airplane, which just so happens to be carrying God under police escort, falls out of the sky, threatening everyone on the beach. At this moment, however, God's wife, who has grown accustomed to life without her husband while cleaning God's room she tries to accesses God's computer and it accepts her pass-code 18(no. of her baseball fantasy team members) and she cancels everyone's destined date of death and changes the natural order of things. The airplane regains altitude and everyone has a new lease on life. Victor publishes the Brand New Testament, which becomes a bestseller, lifting him out of poverty. God winds up in Uzbekistan, working in an appliance factory, where he vainly searches washing machines for a passage back to his apartment.

Cast

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Reception

The Brand New Testament received acclaim from film critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the film received an average score of 80, based on 5 reviews.[8]

Accolades

Award / Film Festival Category Recipient(s) Result
Belgian Film Critics Association[9] Best Film The Brand New Testament Won
Biografilm Festival[10] Europa Audience Award The Brand New Testament Won
Guerrilla Award for Best Film The Brand New Testament Won
Cannes Film Festival[11] Art Cinema Award The Brand New Testament Nominated
Europa Cinemas Label Award The Brand New Testament Nominated
SACD Prize The Brand New Testament Nominated
César Awards[12] Best Foreign Film The Brand New Testament Nominated
David di Donatello[13] Best European Film The Brand New Testament Nominated
European Film Awards[14] Best European Comedy The Brand New Testament Nominated
Best Production Designer Sylvie Olivé Won
European Film Festival Palić[15] Best Film The Brand New Testament Nominated
Fantastic Fest[16] Best Comedy The Brand New Testament Won
Filmfest Hamburg[17] Art Cinema Award The Brand New Testament Nominated
Golden Globe Awards[18] Best Foreign Language Film The Brand New Testament Nominated
Gopo Awards[19] Best European Film The Brand New Testament Nominated
Haifa International Film Festival[20] Fedeora Award for Best International Film The Brand New Testament Won
Lumières Awards[21] Best French-Language Film The Brand New Testament Nominated
Luxembourg Film Awards[22] Best Film in Coproduction The Brand New Testament Won
Best Technical Achievement Marco Lorenzini Nominated
Magritte Awards[23] Best Film The Brand New Testament Won
Best Director Jaco Van Dormael Won
Best Screenplay Thomas Gunzig and Jaco Van Dormael Won
Best Supporting Actress Yolande Moreau Nominated
Best Supporting Actor David Murgia Nominated
Most Promising Actress Pili Groyne Nominated
Most Promising Actor Romain Gelin Nominated
Best Cinematography Christophe Beaucarne Nominated
Best Sound François Dumont, Michel Schillings and Dominique Warnier Nominated
Best Original Score An Pierlé Won
Méliès d'Or[24] Best European Fantastic Film The Brand New Testament Nominated
Norwegian International Film Festival[25] Audience Award The Brand New Testament Won
Special Jury Prize The Brand New Testament Won
Satellite Awards[26] Best Foreign Language Film The Brand New Testament Nominated
Palm Springs International Film Festival[27] Best Narrative Feature The Brand New Testament Runner-up
Sitges Film Festival[28] Best Film The Brand New Testament Nominated
Best Actress Pili Groyne Won
Best European Fantastic Film The Brand New Testament Won

See also

References

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External links

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