Monsignor (1982) 20th Century Fox/Drama RT: 121 minutes Rated R (language, violence, nudity, sexual content, adult situations) Director: Frank Perry Screenplay: Abraham Polonsky and Wendell Mayes Music: John Williams Cinematography: Billy Williams Release date: October 22, 1982 (US) Cast: Christopher Reeve, Genevieve Bujold, Fernando Rey, Jason Miller, Joseph Cortese, Adolfo Celi, Leonardo Cimino, Tomas Milian, Robert Prosky, Joe Pantoliano, Joe Spinell. Box Office: $12.4 million (US)
Rating: ***
I remember all the bad reviews Monsignor received upon its release. Critics took great delight in trashing the Catholic-themed drama. It played for only one week in most theaters. I didn’t see it until it premiered on HBO the following year. It instantly earned a spot on my favorite Bad Movies list. Yes, it’s trash! Complete melodramatic trash with an idiotic script and terrible acting. Director Frank Perry knows his way around a good campy movie; he’s the guy who gave the world that immortal camp classic Mommie Dearest starring Faye Dunaway as a monstrous version of actress Joan Crawford.
This time around, the story takes place in the Vatican during and after WWII. The main character, John Flaherty (Reeve, the Superman movies), is a newly-ordained Catholic priest with serious character flaws. Over the course of the movie, he commits three mortal sins and I’m going to go ahead and list them because it will serve the same purpose as an ordinary plot synopsis.
1) During the war, he consoles a dying young soldier in a foxhole and performs the last rites on him. Then he takes control of a machine gun and shoots down several attacking German soldiers. That takes care of “Thou shalt not kill”.
2) Because of this, he’s transferred to the Vatican where he’s assigned to take over the financial dealings of the Church. Due to the war, the Church finds itself strapped for money so Father Flaherty devises a scheme to sell 50,000 cartons of American cigarettes on the Mafia-controlled black market. He’s a financial genius with big plans to keep money in the Church’s pockets by using the profits to play the stock market. This probably covers “Thou shalt not steal”.
3) Disguised as an American soldier, he meets and seduces a young nun, Clara (Bujold, Tightrope). He knows that she’s in the postulant stages of becoming a bride of Christ; she has no idea he’s a priest. I don’t know, does this fall under “Thou shalt not commit adultery”? Either way, it’s pretty bad!
That pretty much describes the plot of Monsignor. The rest of it plays like a combination of high class soap opera and morality play. After all of this goes down, the film jumps ahead to present day when Reeve’s brilliant financial plan blows up in his face and the church loses $400 million after the priest’s front-man and best friend, Varese (Cortese, Evilspeak), pulls a fast one. It gets him into hot holy water with higher-ups including the elderly Pope (Cimino, Dune). This certainly pleases Cardinal Vinci (Celi, Thunderball) who’s been out to get Father Flaherty from day one. Thankfully, Flaherty has Cardinal Santoni (Rey, The French Connection) in his corner. Without giving anything away, he’s the one that you want on your side in the end.
Personally, I enjoy watching Monsignor solely based upon the unintentional comedy that flows through the entire picture. For one thing, the idea of Christopher Reeve as a corrupt priest is preposterous. I’m picturing him trading in his customary cape and tights for a cleric and a cassock and can’t stop laughing. It’s difficult to imagine this kindly looking Irish-American priest seducing a young nun or getting involved in all sorts of financial shenanigans. Come on, he played Superman, the ultimate Boy Scout! I never got the sense that he felt repentant at any time, especially since he continues his illegal activities for more than 35 years.
On top of that, nobody ever addresses the situation with the nun. Perry drops the subject altogether and I get the impression that Father Flaherty does the same. In light of the many recent allegations of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church, this kind of sin seems rather tame. Thank God it doesn’t involve children.
Monsignor depicts the Vatican as a very morally and politically corrupt place, I can’t attest to the accuracy of this, but it certainly makes for some great trashy melodrama. It’s like the cinematic version of the types of guilty pleasure novels our mothers used to read at the beach or the swimming pool. What can I say? I’m a fan of trashy movies like this- e.g. The Greek Tycoon, The Other Side of Midnight.
Poor Genevieve Bujold gets stuck with some of the worst dialogue I’ve ever heard in any movie. Isn’t it bad enough that she’s horribly miscast as a young novice nun? At age 40, she’s too old for such a role. Apparently, the filmmakers felt the need to embarrass her further with dopey dialogue like when she rebukes Monsignor Flaherty for betraying her. She says, “I loved you, I was free with you and let you into my whole life and you betrayed me. Why? Monsignor Flaherty, it’s not love you betrayed……. it’s me, Clara, you destroyed her. All along you knew that moment would come when you’d end my life.” Who comes up with this stuff? The credit goes to screenwriters Polonsky and Mayes as well as trashmeister extraordinaire Perry.
Monsignor isn’t a complete bust. It has some gorgeous cinematography; everything looks so beautiful in this movie. The Italian countryside always makes a nice setting for heavy melodrama. Leonardo Cimino turns in a morbidly funny turn as the aging pope who knows he’s about to die. Jason Miller (The Exorcist) shows up as the local Mafia don who agrees to go into business with the ambitious young priest.
I find it hilarious that Flaherty gets promoted to monsignor despite all of his illegal and immoral doings. I’m wondering if the filmmakers set out to criticize the Catholic Church with this movie. If that’s the case, the Vatican has nothing to worry about because I doubt that anybody will take Monsignor seriously, not even for a single minute. From my end, it’s one of the best unintentional comedies I’ve ever seen.
