The Confession

A loose adaptation by Nicolas Boukhrief of the Béatrix Beck novel The Passionate Heart (which already inspired a film by Jean-Pierre Melville in 1961), the story kicks off in spring 1945, in Southwest France. The French population is living through the last few months of the German Occupation. Twenty-five-year-old Barny, an atheistic communist, works in a post office in a small town, which only employs female staff. The arrival of a new priest in the parish creates quite a commotion among these women, with the exception of Barny. One morning, she decides to make her way to the church to confront the clergyman in the confessional and stand up to him. This initiative is the first bout in a process of verbal sparring that ends up being a lot more drawn-out and complex than she had imagined.