Entire film is an allegory of Jesus, complete with ambiguities and gaps that one also finds in the New TestamentHenri = JesusJunon = the disbelieving Jewry (remember she wore a Star of David at the museum yet she celebrated Christmas and attended Midnight Mass) and who demanded the blood/marrow/crucifixion of her son Henri/Jesus yet who would, after demanding marrow/crucifixion, shift to fully believing in Henri/Jesus as a saviour; also Mary Magdalenish because she began Jewish then lost faith (speculation: losing son = losing faith, losing faith = metaphor for prostitution) then migrated to Christianity (Magdalene saved by Jesus then followed Jesus and anointed his feet and treated him as a Saviour, making her Christian)Abel = Old Testament Father left in the dark by the failure of Henri/Jesus to save brother/mankind and the disbelief of Junon/Jewry, Old Testament Father of sacrificial meat killed by the Fruits (fruit = knowledge = Nietzsche, the book he reads from; the knowledge that G_d is dead), killed by the Fruits of Cain, Father who becomes "enlightened" by "G_d is Dead" Nietzsche, Old Testament Judaism replaced not by Christianity but by a post-modern Secularism+Agnosticism: a new Christmas Tale for modern times.......Elizabeth = Mary-Mother-of-Jesus, she's angry that Henri/Jesus always brought her family down (Jesus bringing misfortune down on his mother) and extremely jealous/irritated/angered that Henri is anointed to save Junon/Jewry (read: saving his family/saving mankind), extremely jealous that Henri was created to save her brother (Jesus created to save mankind) and extremely angry that Henri failed to do so (paralleling people who are extremely angry because they feel Jesus did not save mankind or angered that G_d fails them in one way or another, they feel Jesus/G_d failed, etc); she's also Judas because she's always antagonistic towards Henri and always betraying Henri just as Judas was antagonistic towards Jesus and betrayed JesusElizabeth's suicidal son Paul = Saul-turned-Paul, first he did not believe in Life (Saul not believing in Jesus as Messiah) and wanted to kill himself, then is saved by Henri/Jesus, which parallels Saul struck by lightning and saved, transforming Saul into PaulIvan's wife Sylvia = Mary Magdalenish, "stoned" by the two brothers and their cousin but then saved by Henri when Henri challenges Simon to let gentle Ivan have herIvan = Disciple John because Ivan means John and because John was supposed to be calm/gentle (just like Ivan) and because at the end, Ivan, like John, ended up exiled in the sense that he ended up exiled from his wife, regardless of whether or not they remained married; from the very beginning he sensed his wife never loved him, he was already exiled from her in that sense, and by the end of the film he as a revelation that the exile is finally tangible/concrete, and he's right because Sylvia finally consummated her love for SimonSimon the cousin = Disciple, Simon Peter, Peter the rock, the rock who gave up the woman he loved and kept his misery to himself for well over a decadeFauna = Judas = devoutly Jewish and abandons/sells Henri to his sister and mother (Romans, Pharisees), both of whom crucifify Henri/Jesus from the moment of his birth straight through the moment they both realize they need him to save their lives (Henri saving sister's son saves her life, and Henri saving mother's life) and continue crucifying him after he's saved their lives (well we don't know what happens with Junon but we do know Junon continues to ridicule him after Henri's marrow is delivered to her room and she's being prepared for the transplant)Elizabeth and Junon are a mixture of the stoical militant Roman soldier and the Pharisical "my way or prepare to be crucified" Jewry who perverted/exploited the Jewish theology; Elizabeth exhuding atheism because she dwells on meaningless of life, Junon the "paganistic" Roman because she lacks belief in G_d and her general faith has dwindled (including faith in Science) and she shifts from Judaism to Christianity to Humanism (escape to museum) in an effort to find some meaning, some clue, to her fateChristmas dinner = Last SupperHenri's bone marrow extraction = the arms up and partially extended resembling crucifixion, drill in the spine resemblimg the hammering of nails, and Henri survives the procedure (Jesus Resurrection), something that at first we're led to believe he might not survive due to his poor health
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