Not much appears to have been said in terms of the religious nature of the film, despite the fact this is paramount. I was wondering why it was even necessary to include? Is Pawlikowski suggesting that we are inherently bad and will always fall to temptation such as lies, betrayal, hypocrisy, murder? I have some ideas, but just wondered what others think may be Pawlikowski's main objective for the Christian influence...?
shareWhile watching the movie, I just took it to be a side story for the brother. We get to see her reactions to his transformation, but it is mostly just his individual background. The main story was about the two girls and their budding romance. Now that the movie is over, with all the secrets out in the open, we can contemplate the proper implications.
I think the writer used religion as a tool, just to show how we can lie to the world and to ourselves. Phil is ready to change the whole valley, now that he has found the answer to everything, as a new convert is a very scary animal. Tamlin will follow any new idea, as long as it is something to keep her from being bored. Mona is caught between these two shallow people, while actually trying to experience life with an open mind. Phil is lying to himself mostly, which is apparent in how easily he tosses it aside and blames the prayer meeting as hypocrites, but he is really talking about himself. Tamlin is living in a fantasy world, willing to lie about and to anyone if it is entertaining. Mona comes away as the only person you would want to actually share your time with.
I would argue that the religious topic in the movie is a direct result of Pawlikowski's history witha documentary he did on born-again CHristians in Yorkshire. Now he integrated it into his second feature film. It helps a lot though to show the faking pretending of the character Phil. So I think it is a great idea to include religin.
@ tvashtar2919: I do not agree that Tamsin and Phil are shallow people. They are just different to Mona in their way to cope with their senseless lives. They are all looking for more and find it in each other. Phil finds (or thinks he finds it) it in religion. Tamsin and Phil may look shallow in the end because Mona is the only one who gains something out of it after all.
Religionists are almost always antagonists to homosexuals. Makes sense to me for that theme to be included here.
It's like a law. You can't get a Gay Card without first being persecuted by a religionist. :)
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We come into the world naked, screaming and covered in blood. Why should the fun end there?
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I think religion or Phil's character included in the film was also the subject that made Tamsin's character even stronger because that's how she could play with and ruin two people in their believes.
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I think that people like Phil, people who are/have been incarcerated, "find God" because it's an easy way to change their lives. By claiming that the devil had hold of him, Phil didn't have to fully accept responsibility for the crimes he committed. And by becoming an evangelical Christian and "turning his life over to Christ," he didn't have to do the hard work--the real work--of making the changes in his life that would be necessary to really turn over a new leaf. ("The devil made me do it, but that's all over now because Jesus has saved me from being tempted by the devil.")
Phil has a very important purpose in the film. He's a parallel to Tamsin. Both of them are fakers; the difference between them is that Phill isn't really conscious that he's faking but tamsin is well aware that she is.
I didn't see Phil as fake, rather as a week man trying to sort out his life by surrendering to Christ. That might not make much sense to you unless you're a Christian yourself - but one of the core beliefs is, after all, that man is not able to overcome sin on their own.
I found it rather interesting how they always talked about the "Antichrist", which opens the possibility of a whole new interpretation, probably quite apart from the intentions of those who made it.
A film really about the work of the "antichrist" (not as a being of course, but as a principle) - all of those people were unable to live their lifes untouched, as they wanted to. Phil sought a new life in religion, but instead he fell into the trap of idolatry. All those scenes where he wasn't able to comfort his sister be showing her love, always resorting to prayer were terrible. As was how she treated him and his faith - picture the scene where she pretended to have hung herself, just to mock her brother's beliefs again when he frantically comes to help her. Under a little different circumstances this could be regarded as murder of the soul - and this is exactly how Phil reacts. We can't know, obviously, how it would all have turned out for Phil if he would have been able to pick a less fantasistic version of christianity - one that teaches that the only thing we can do to please god is in how we work in the world, with her means. Or, if his sister wouldn't have gotten under the influence of Tamsin - after all, Phil was quite right in his warnings.
I think in the film her brother was sincere, he was just new and infirm in his beliefs. Many people look to Christianity to just get rid of all their problems, when in says in the Bible that believers in God will still suffer and have many trials. This is the situation a lot of people experience, they think that just because they convert and surround themselves with other believers that everything will be a breeze. He didn't make real changes in his heart, he tried to act sanctified and purer than his sister. There are misguided people in any religion, not just Christianity.