In both of the first two movies, Blanc helps a poor woman-of-color navigate a community of wealthy white assholes. I was expecting the same the third time out. How on Earth was I to guess that it would be a story about helping a decent (white, male) Catholic priest navigate a crappy congregation? It’s a shocking swerve away from what seemed to be the heart of the franchise, but it works beautifully.
Storyteller’s Rulebook: Create Unique Obstacles
In the movie’s best scene, Blanc and Jud the priest are racing against time to try to solve the clues, when suddenly they hit a roadblock: The person who has promised to help them needs pastoral counselling before she gets off the phone.
Everything screeches to a halt as Jud listens to the woman’s problem and helps her with it, while Blanc’s eyes are rolling out of his head with frustration.
You really have to read the text of all three movies carefully to figure out that Blanc was probably kicked out of the house by a religious mother for being gay, giving him good reason to reject religion and have little sympathy in this situation, but he’s a good detective and knows this is not the time to press his case. And he’s found one priest he can approve of enough to respect his process.
(I kind of wish the movie had been a little more clear that this was what was going on with Blanc and not made us scratch for it, but if you do the work, it’s very rewarding.)
There are all sorts of obstacles you can throw in your heroes’ way, but the best are ones that are unique to this one hero’s values and commitments. Only Jud would be stopped in his tracks here, and we love him for that.
2 comments:
Pretty sure every movie lover would follow Josh O’Connor to the gates of Hell after this performance, and rightly so.
Indeed!
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