The Baby of Mâcon
Director: Peter Greenaway
NL/GB/F/D 1993, 119 min., German version
A brilliant but very disturbing film on the power of the church and the instrumentalisation of a supposed childhood prodigy during the 17th century.
"An agnostic's vision of the Nativity, The Baby of Mâcon is an elaborate desecration of Catholic iconography, and a merciless assault on superstition and religion. Greenaway breaks down the barriers between the play and the outside world, the actors and their audience, so that the performance itself becomes just another corrupt religious ritual. The film is repetitive, cold and misanthropic; everyone here is a fraud, a cynic or a simpleton; even the baby proves malign." (Tom Charity, Time Out)