Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.5
Overall		4.0

The Brand New Testament Blu-ray Movie Review

Mon Dieu.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman March 7, 2017

Even the most religious people imaginable probably have moments when they’re convinced that some Being somewhere is out to get them. Life is full of detours, and often those detours seem “organized” by some force whose only motivating factor is to intentionally cause befuddlement. That very (and admittedly paranoiac) concept is at the core of the often incredibly amusing if just as often pretty dark The Brand New Testament, though those with more fundamentalist tendencies may well find this one of the most provocatively offensive films they’ve ever witnessed (pun intended). Those with a more liberal sense of humor may well find delight in the “high concept” (high, as in heavenly, as a matter of fact) which posits the Creator (Benoît Poelvoorde) as a harried husband and father living in Belgium while explicitly spending his days doing whatever he (He?) can to afflict Mankind with various traumas and tragedies. Already co-writer and director Jaco Van Dormael is flirting with a subject matter that some, maybe even many, will find downright sacrilegious. Those who can accept the fact that the Big Man Himself, rather than “just” his Son, could incarnate and live among Mankind may find the foundation for this outrageous concept easier to handle, and those folks may find some laugh out loud material as the Divine Being finds himself exiled from his own Paradise (also known as his apartment) when his errant daughter Ea (Pili Groyne) decides a “third” covenant is badly needed, leading her to take matters into her (Her?) own hands.

Dieu (as he’s appropriately referred to in this French language film) would put even most people’s perceptions of a wrathful Old Testament deity to shame. He’s a lout, a heavy drinker, and both emotionally and physically abusive to his largely silent wife (Yolande Moreau) and daughter. When he’s not passed out in an alcoholic stupor, Dieu contents himself in a fortress like “office” which is full of old style card catalog drawers and—most importantly—his computer, where he delights in antagonizing his “favorite” creation, Mankind. The office is strictly off limits for either Dieu’s wife or especially Ea, but as might be expected, Ea’s curiosity gets the better of her one day, and she gets in when it’s unlocked, shocked to discover just how horrible her father really is.

That incursion into Dieu’s private space leads to an epic smackdown of Ea, one which convinces her it’s time to get out (the apartment is hermetically sealed and no one has ever been outside). After consulting with elder brother “JC” (David Murgia), who otherwise resides there as a statue on the mantle, Ea purloins the key to the office, sneaks in and sends text messages to everyone everywhere detailing their exact time of death (in a plot conceit that has been utilized in one form or another in some other films like In Time). JC has let Ea know he has “hacked” the family washing machine and made it into a portal to the outside world, and after sending her innumerable messages to Mankind, she takes off through this unlikely escape hatch.

Ea has decided it’s time for an even “newer” testament, and her quest out in the real world is to find six disciples (which, when added to JC’s twelve, makes eighteen, a number both “kids” feel is special due to their mother’s fascination with baseball teams—in one of those “don’t ask me” elements of the plot). Ea instantly befriends a homeless man named Victor (Marco Lorenzini) who she enlists to write down this new “scripture”, since she is not all that literate. The two then set off to recruit the rest of her acolytes. Meanwhile, Dieu has discovered Ea’s subterfuge and takes off after her into the “real world”, something that ends up providing quite a bit of comedic material, at least for those who might like to see a Divine Being get a taste of His own medicine (so to speak).

The Brand New Testament reminded me quite a bit of the films of Jean-Pierre Jeunet (Amélie, The City of Lost Children, The Young and Prodigious T.S. Spivet) in terms of both its often whimsical visual presentational style, as well as its obvious flirtations with metaphysics and kind of outlandish ideas. That comparison also hold true with regard to the film’s vignette laden back and forth between outrageous, almost slapstick-esque, humor and more emotionally resonant moments. Therefore, there can be a great sequence like Dieu getting an epic smackdown of his own (courtesy of a priest!) followed by an interchange between Ea and someone like Aurélie (Laura Verlinden), who lost her arm in a freak accident years ago. There are patently odd scenarios as well (something else that’s reminiscent of Jeunet), as in another disciple who has a memory of an unrequited love from his childhood who ends up meeting her again when (under Ea’s advisement) he starts voicing porn films.

Catherine Deneuve is on hand as another potential disciple, but this film really isn’t about star power in any traditional way, and instead plies an ensemble presence that does admittedly focus mostly on Ea, with set upon Dieu attempting to wrangle his supposedly errant progeny. The Brand New Testament deals with some awfully weighty subjects, including fate, free will and, ultimately, salvation, but it does so in a typically ebullient French way, as if Dormael had rather magically crafted a soufflé out of a black hole.

The Brand New Testament Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Brand New Testament is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Music Box Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.39:1. In what I can only consider a Divine miracle (given its sparseness of data on several recent releases I've covered), the IMDb actually lists the cameras used for this shoot, the Sony F55 and Sony F65 (part of the CineAlta line). While detail levels are generally quite excellent throughout this presentation, this is an often intentionally softer looking presentation, one that can either offer diffuse, almost (appropriately) angelic, effulgent halos around objects or, conversely, bathe the frame in deep shadows. Brussels is presented as a rather drab and often rainy and dreary place, something that can also tend to minimally affect fine detail levels at times. There some fairly playful special effects work on display at times, some of which can also look relatively soft. Outright animated elements crop up a time or two and add a comic book ambience. The palette is rather varied, veering from cool slate grays in some of the rainy sequence to incredibly vivid and bright pops of appealing pastels in some of the setups introducing various characters.

The Brand New Testament Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Brand New Testament features enjoyable DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and 2.0 mixes in the original French (with optional English subtitles). The film really doesn't offer a glut of whiz bang audio effects, but a lot of ambient environmental sounds are more resonant and immersive in the surround mix, and An Pierlé's score also gets a bit more breathing room in the 5.1 version. Ea narrates or provides voiceover for a lot of the film. Dialogue is presented very cleanly and clearly and with excellent prioritization.

The Brand New Testament Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• God is Among Us: The Making of The Brand New Testament (1080p; 21:01) is a bit more stylish than your standard EPK, and has some fun interviews, including with crew who aren't typically part of this kind of proceeding.


• Interview with Director Jaco Van Dormael (1080p; 10:29)


• Interview with Benoît Poelvoorde (1080p; 6:56)


• Special Effects Featurette (1080p; 4:56) has some fun looks at elements like CGI and compositing.


• Home Cinema Episode with Jaco Van Dormael (1080p; 18:50) is culled from what looks like a Belgian TV and/or online offering.


• "E Pericoloso Sporgersi" (1984) by Jaco Van Dormael (1080p; 14:58) translates to "It's dangerous to lean out" and is another kind of Jeunet-esque look at a dysfunctional family with an adorable child.


• Theatrical Trailer (1080p; 2:09)

The Brand New Testament Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

As I've shared in some of my reviews of more "traditional" religious films, I had an unusually eclectic upbringing that exposed me to a whole host of different religious traditions, and that has made me perhaps both more agreeable to "alternative" presentations while also more skeptical to accept any religion at face value. Either or both of those tendencies will help anyone curious about The Brand New Testament, for there's no avoiding how provocative this film's subject matter is, or at least might be for those who hold their religious beliefs as inviolate and unquestionable. What's so wonderful about this film is how ebulliently funny it is while at the same time it resolutely refuses to shy away from darker, deeper ponderings about the fate of Mankind and any relationship with "Dieu". Technical merits are strong, the supplementary package appealing, and The Brand New Testament comes Highly recommended.