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1%% Amen, amen I say to you, the one who provide zero context to even the least examples will not inherit the kingdom of Heaven. The Lord will see that they have uncommented examples with no context and He will throw them into Gehenna, where there shall be much weeping and gnashing of teeth.
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3[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rsz_ltoc_dvd_cover_9025.jpg]]
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5->''"The dual substance of Christ - the yearning, so human, so superhuman, of man to attain God - has always been a deep inscrutable mystery to me. My principle anguish and the source of all my joys and sorrows from my youth onwards has been the incessant, merciless battle between the spirit and the flesh... and my soul is the arena where these two armies have clashed and met."''
6-->-- '''Nikos Kazantzakis'''
7
8What ''Film/MontyPythonsLifeOfBrian'' was to comedy, ''The Last Temptation of Christ'' was to drama.
9
10This is the 1988 film directed by Creator/MartinScorsese, with a screenplay by Creator/PaulSchrader, adapted from the 1955 novel of the same name by Nikos Kazantzakis. Starring Creator/WillemDafoe as UsefulNotes/{{Jesus}}, what follows is a loose reinterpretation of the [[Literature/TheBible Biblical]] story of Jesus' life and Crucifixion (sorry, at 2 hours and 43 minutes the film's already long enough without him coming back).
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12As stated earlier, the film/novel depart substantially from Literature/TheFourGospels' account of Jesus' life. First to come to mind is that Jesus, while still capable of miracle working, is a [[GodIsFlawed fallen and deeply flawed]] human being, who disrespects his mother, watches prostitutes have sex, and wants to be abandoned by God. Secondly, [[AntiVillain Judas isn't that bad of a guy]]. Instead of outright betraying Jesus, he's practically forced into it by the man himself. Because of these deviations, the film ends up using many tropes of Jesus movies while PlayingWith them in new and rather un-Christian ways.
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14Released at a time when conservative Christians in America were eager to re-assert themselves as a cultural force after the embarrassing [[CorruptChurch televangelist scandals]] of TheEighties, the film became a huge flashpoint, probably the single most controversial film ever released by a major studio. Protesters picketed theaters, and several theater chains refused to carry it. Beyond the religious controversy, it was also hotly debated by critics, who disagreed on whether Scorsese made a misstep by taking on such an atypical project and whether his modernistic approach to a Biblical tale helped make it more relevant. As the controversy has subsided, it's gained positive re-evaluation as one of Scorsese's most daring films. Thomas R. Lindlof's book ''Hollywood Under Siege'' gives a full account of the making of the film, and the uproar it caused when it was released.
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16Other people appearing in the film include Creator/HarveyKeitel as Judas, Creator/BarbaraHershey as Mary Magdalene, Creator/HarryDeanStanton as Paul of Tarsus, and Music/DavidBowie as Pontius Pilate. The film also featured a score by Music/PeterGabriel, who later released ''Music/{{Passion}}'', a collection of songs composed for and inspired by the film, in 1989; the soundtrack album was the debut release for his vanity label Real World Records. A supplementary compilation of the album's source material, i.e. traditional music recordings (some recorded on-set when the film was shot), ''Passion: Sources'', soon followed.
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18----
19!!This film provides examples of:
20* AdaptationalAngstUpgrade: Jesus is given this compared to the gospels. Though as Paul Schrader and Scorsese point out this is an UnbuiltTrope, most notably when Jesus wonders why God had forsaken him.
21* AdaptationDistillation: The film depicts the "Feet of Clay" dream occurring in tandem with Jesus' meeting with Pontius Pilate. In the original scripture, the dream actually occurs in the Book of Daniel, and was a dream of the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar that the prophet Daniel interpreted, rather than being a dream of Jesus' that Jesus Himself discusses. Tying in with this, the film has the doomed statue in the dream represent Rome rather than Babylon.
22* AdaptationalHeroism: Judas, summed up by the fact that in the climactic scene, it's he who yells "traitor!" at Jesus, and it's totally justified in the context of the story. He gets here the very 20th-century characterization of an ally of Jesus who betrayed him per his own orders. The Gnostic Gospel of Judas and other ancient texts give a very similar portrayal, making this OlderThanFeudalism, but this idea didn't become popular until much later (ironically, even after the novel had been released).
23* AdaptedOut: The novel contains more characters that do not appear in the film, such as Simon of Cyrene (portrayed as a [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold foul-mouthed yet kind]] owner of the tavern Jesus and His disciples used to hang out at). Some of the more supernatural/fantasy sequences found in the novel are also muted down or cut out altogether.
24* AffablyEvil: The way Pontius Pilate is depicted, played by Music/DavidBowie no less. He talks politely with Jesus, listens to the story of a dream he had which is interpreted as predicting the fall of the Roman Empire, then orders Jesus off to be flogged and crucified because the Romans don't want change.
25* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: InUniverse. The story provides one to the Bible, in tandem with {{External RetCon}}s.
26* ApologeticAttacker: Pontius Pilate doesn't regret Jesus' crucifixion but takes pity on the man and his cause, which he sees as a HopelessWar.
27* AsLongAsItSoundsForeign: As noted below, the film goes out of its way to have a Middle Eastern/West Asian-influenced musical score instead of the now-cliched Western choral/"churchy" music in other Bible movies (see the Hallelujah Chorus unironically used in ''Film/TheGreatestStoryEverTold''), to the point of AnachronismStew for aesthetic reasons.
28** The biggest example is probably an Arabic song from Senegal based on the ''Muslim confession of faith'' ("Call to Prayer" in ''Passion: Sources'') used for the Last Supper scene.
29** The opening title music, called "The Feeling Begins" in the soundtrack, is based on an Armenian folk song called "Hovern Engan" ("The Wind Subsides", among other translations) with added percussion and other effects.
30* AwardBaitSong: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6r8v-Rz7Ofg It Is Accomplished]] by Peter Gabriel could be considered an instrumental version of this.
31* BeatStillMyHeart: In a startling scene, [[spoiler:Jesus tears his hand through his chest and pulls out his heart to his disciples, in a demonstration of his power and his newfound determination to take the temple of Jerusalem back.]]
32* BibleTimes: A deconstruction, as it shows the time to be really poor, with a lot of violence and many religious mystics aside from Jesus, in addition to the Zealots. All of this was TruthInTelevision, in fact.
33* BigBad: {{Satan}}, represented here first as a snake, then a lion and a pillar of fire. Later he reappears [[spoiler:as the angelic little girl and finally a pillar of fire again.]]
34* BreakThemByTalking: The older, un-crucified Jesus confronts [[Creator/HarryDeanStanton Paul]] over his preaching, and is shut down right quick. Then again, [[spoiler:that speech occurs during the titular Last Temptation.]]:
35-->'''Paul:''' You see, you don't know how much people need God. You don't know how happy He can make them. He can make them happy to do anything. Make them happy to die, and they'll die, all for the sake of Christ. Jesus Christ. Jesus of Nazareth. The Son of God. The Messiah. ''Not you.'' Not for your sake. ''[beat]'' You know, I'm glad I met you. Because now I can forget all about you. ''My'' Jesus is much more important and much more powerful.
36* CameBackWrong: Lazarus is resurrected as in the gospels, but the experience of dying and dwelling for a while in the underworld has left him visibly traumatized.
37* CelibateHero: To Magdalene's chagrin, Jesus has vowed to remain a virgin as part of his mysticism. It is later subverted when he finally makes love with her after the crucifixion. [[spoiler:Then double subverted because all of it was an illusion.]]
38* ClassicalAntiHero: Jesus being this in the movie is basically what's so controversial about it, in a nutshell.
39* CompositeCharacter: Mary Magdalene is equated with the unnamed woman Jesus saves from being stoned to death in The Gospel of John.
40* CreatorCameo: Martin Scorsese did this many, many times. In this film, he pops up as the prophet Isaiah, with his face obscured under his cloak. He is also [[VoiceOfTheLegion the distorted voice heard]] beneath Satan's regular speaking voice.
41* CreepyChild: The guardian angel, not only for how slightly eerie she is but also because she doesn't age like Jesus does. Justified as she is [[spoiler:actually {{Satan}}]].
42* DeathByAdaptation: Lazarus, who isn't mentioned in the Bible beyond being raised from the dead, gets murdered [[spoiler:by Paul]] to cover up the proof of Jesus' most incredible miracle.
43* {{Deconstruction}}: A highly intellectually driven look at not only the life of Jesus but the way he's depicted in art and movies. And averting ChristianityIsCatholic with its source novel written by a Greek Orthodox Christian and co-screenwriter Paul Schrader, a Dutch Calvinist (with a [=PhD=] in theology), joining Scorsese as the Catholic.
44** One thing which Scorsese pointed out in interviews and the book ''Scorsese On Scorsese'' is that the Crucifixion has been EntertaininglyWrong all through history, with the nails driven through the palms which in fact would not have [[BodyHorror hinged]] the body on the cross. Scorsese cited the latest archaeological research as grounds to put the nails through Christ's wrists, just as the Romans did it.
45** [[Music/{{Passion}} The musical score]] by Music/PeterGabriel, a GenreBusting effort that was an attempt to create music similar to what could have been played in Israel of that time, with some AnachronismStew thrown in for good measure, generally taking Jesus away from the European High Culture trappings of Classical religious music which developed centuries later and in a land, continent, and culture far removed from First Century Israel.
46** Scorsese also deconstructs JesusWasWayCool, pointing out that if Jesus was so charismatic, then [[FridgeLogic there wouldn't have been such hatred]] or controversy provoked by him in the first place.[[note]] According to the Gospels, the reasons for the enmity towards Him included people disagreeing with Him saying He was the Messiah, and He made enemies of those who were corrupt among the Pharisees and Chief Priests when He called them out on their corruption, hypocrisy, abuses of power and not doing their job.[[/note]] He shows Jesus as a KingOfTheHomeless attracting lepers, prostitutes, and other outcasts whom the establishment would regard as weirdos, with Willem Dafoe's Jesus getting AdaptationalAngstUpgrade rather than a MessianicArchetype we see. The movie also deconstructs Christian attitudes to sexuality by foregrounding the conflict between "Fully Human and Fully Divine". Also, ''The Last Temptation'' is the first work in Western art to depict women with Jesus at The Last Supper.
47** The movie in general takes the opposite stand to the Hollywood EpicMovie giving Jesus a FilmNoir narration, using a variety of American accents (because as pointed out in the quote below, they were no less realistic than the BBC or the old English of the King James Bible used in earlier adaptations) and in showing Jerusalem and the Biblical lands as the dirty, oppressed WretchedHive that it was under Roman occupation and also suggested in the Bible itself, and showing the poor who gravitated to Jesus with as [[SlidingScaleOfShinyVersusGritty little glamour or affect as possible]].
48** The film breaks from the tradition of portraying Jesus as an impossibly beautiful, angelic-looking handsome man in several ways. Creator/WillemDafoe, with his long, gaunt features and VillainousCheekbones, is not exactly a traditionally handsome man, and certainly not the image of divine beauty. (As Creator/SergioLeone famously said, "That is the face of a murderer, not of Our Lord!") In addition, the depiction of Jesus as having sparkling white robes and unrealistically perfect hygiene is nowhere to be found; Jesus is allowed to look as grungy, malnourished, and generally unstable as a poor prophet (or cult leader, if you asked the Romans) would actually look. He is, however, as appropriately muscular as you would expect from someone who has been a ''carpenter'' for most of his life.
49** Biblical scholar and Jesus mythicist Robert M. Price made the argument that the film deconstructs the apologetic argument known as the [[Creator/CSLewis Lewis trilemma]] according to which Jesus was either a [[ConMan cynical con man]], [[JesusWasCrazy a complete madman]] or [[MessianicArchetype the messiah]].
50---> ''And yet, [''The Last Temptation of Christ''] is certainly the most orthodox treatment of Jesus of any movie ever made [...] the [[Creator/CSLewis Liar, Lord, or Lunatic]] argument that [Christian apologists] use is, I think, deeply flawed because it implies Jesus wasn't a genuine human being because the idea that he was God -- whether he was or not -- would have driven him insane. Right? And that's exactly what happens in ''The Last Temptation''; no other movie ever took that seriously.''
51** The film also flips over the whole "Pilate washing his hands" and trying to appeal for Jesus's release. Pilate is the one who wants Jesus dead, and his sympathy comes from seeing Jesus as a deluded man condemning himself to death. He rejects Jesus message of love as "against the world and against Rome". The priests are not even suggested as wanting Jesus dead, and his confrontation with them comes off as them trying to talk sense into him before he gets himself into trouble.
52** The Catholic imagery of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, usually an abstract/symbolic representation of Jesus himself with the heart just being on its own or visible on his chest or floating in his hand, and always depicted as being on fire, emitting rays of light and wearing a miniature crown of thorns, is interpreted in a stunningly literal way with Jesus digging into his chest and holding out and offering his bloody heart to the speechless apostles.
53* DeconReconSwitch: Ultimately, as unusual as the film is as a dramatization of Jesus, the film is still highly respectful and, as one reviewer noted, "the work of a believer". Scorsese said that the reason he made all these changes was because he wanted to take Jesus away from the pious and safe traditional iconography and make it relevant to a modern audience, since Jesus' ideas and messages are still radical and important to the world, and he wanted to place it in a more alien and unfamiliar context so that people would understand it fresh without the preconceptions and pomp and piety.
54* DehumanizingInsult: [[spoiler: Satan calls Jesus "Nazorean", the equivalent of calling him a peasant.]]
55* {{Demythification}}: This movie portrays Satan and Jesus' divine origin as real, but offers a down-to-earth version of the latter and the Crucifixion. The unconventional-looking Creator/WillemDafoe plays Jesus, he is shocked when he pulls off his first miracle, the Last Supper scene avoids a LastSupperSteal by involving a lot more people than the traditional thirteen (including women) and having them sit on the ground, and the Crucifixion scenes skew from traditional religious portrayals in favor of archaeology and non-religious accounts of how Roman crucifixions happened (for example, Jesus only carries the horizontal section to Golgotha, he is nailed by the wrists and also tied, and the two thieves are nailed to dead trees). Jesus' cross looks like a traditional Latin cross by sheer accident, due to the wooden sign reading "Jesus Nazarene King of the Jews" being placed on top of it; if not for that, it would look like a 'T'.
56* DevilInDisguise: [[spoiler:The "angel" who appears to Jesus upon the cross.]]
57* DivinelyAppearingDemons: [[spoiler:Satan is able to very convincingly pass himself off as Jesus' guardian angel in part because of this trope.]]
58* DontMakeMeDestroyYou: Pontius Pilate criticizes the Jewish rebels for resisting the Roman order and forcing harsh repression against the population. He tells Jesus that he considers pacifists like him to be just as bad. He tells Jesus that he will be crucified at Golgotha which has "3000 skulls" and tells him that he wishes he and other residents of Jerusalem counted those skulls before Romans have to add more to that tally.
59* EarnYourHappyEnding: [[spoiler:Jesus rejects Satan's illusion and is immediately brought back to the cross, where he cries out "It is accomplished!" in ''utter triumph,'' having fulfilled his Father's plan.]]
60* TheEndingChangesEverything: [[spoiler:With the reveal that Satan's trying to persuade Jesus into giving up his role as the Messiah by promising him a normal life, it is quite probable that the ''whole movie'' right until the final scene at the crucifixion was indeed part of the titular Last Temptation.]]
61* FaceOfAnAngelMindOfADemon: [[spoiler:Quite literally with the child guardian angel, who turns out to be Satan in disguise.]]
62* FieryRedhead: Judas very conspicuously has red hair here, and is portrayed as being quick to anger.
63* TheFilmOfTheBook: [[Literature/TheBible No, not that book.]] It's actually an adaptation of a book by the same name.
64* TheFinalTemptation: It's right there in the title, really.
65* ForegoneConclusion: Jesus dies on the cross to save humanity from its sins and allow everyone in the world a chance to reach Heaven and see God. It's not like the story can really change the formula up. [[spoiler:Until ''it does'', by way of having Satan appear to tempt Jesus into giving up his destiny for a normal life. DoubleSubverted right at the end when Jesus declines the Last Temptation, choosing to "go back" and die on the cross.]]
66* {{Foreshadowing}}: The first scene in the movie is Jesus making a cross, carrying it, then watching someone get crucified.
67* {{Futureshadowing}}: Jesus' final temptation has [[spoiler:glimpsing Saint Saul/Paul preaching Christianity and twisting his beliefs for personal ends. He also glimpses the sack of Jerusalem, the end of Jewish independence, and the birth of the diaspora]].
68* GodIsFlawed: {{Played with}}. The point of the novel is to examine Christ as both entirely divine and entirely human. He's subject to many of the fears and temptations that humans have, and while he doesn't necessarily ''indulge'' in sin himself, his intrinsically paradoxical nature as the Messiah fills him with severe self-doubt, insecurity as to his worthiness, and suppressed anger towards those who merely plan to use him for their own purposes. Satan tempts him with power, authority, and sovereignty, but the final temptation -- and the hardest to overcome -- [[spoiler:is a vision of himself as a normal man married to loving wives with children of his own. He ultimately resists and becomes the Christ of Literature/TheBible, gladly accepting his Father's plan.]]
69* GoOutWithASmile: [[spoiler:Jesus grins ecstatically after the final temptation: "It is accomplished!"]]
70* GuardianAngel: During the last quarter of the movie, Jesus is accompanied by an otherworldly girl who claims to be his guardian angel, [[spoiler:but is actually Satan.]]
71* HairOfGoldHeartOfGold: Jesus's guardian angel takes the form of a golden-haired girl. [[spoiler:Subverted when it is revealed that she is Satan in disguise trying to tempt him.]]
72* HannibalLecture: Pontius Pilate tries to give this to Jesus, Satan gives it all the time, and [[spoiler:even Saint Paul steps in.]]
73* HeterosexualLifePartners: Jesus and Judas are best friends and are practically inseparable. In this story, [[spoiler:Jesus orders Judas to betray him to the Roman authorities, which Judas does not wish to do]].
74* HopelessWar: How Pontius Pilate sees the UsefulNotes/JewishRevolts -- he chides Jesus and the zealots, seeing them both as two sides of the same coin for forcing harsh Roman reprisals against their people.
75* HumanNotepad: Downplayed, as it is mostly limited to hands and feet, but Mary Magdalene here shows several mock-Phoenician/Canaanite occult tattoos.
76* ItSucksToBeTheChosenOne: It really does. The woman you love and would have married becomes a prostitute and, finally, God's plan doesn't involve you becoming the IconOfRebellion to topple the Roman occupation. No, God's plan is for you to sacrifice yourself so that you can become an InspirationalMartyr that ensures your cause becomes truly immortal.
77* ItsAWonderfulPlot: The final quarter of the film is Jesus seeing how the world would be if he was just a regular person. But [[spoiler:a form of Christianity still survives, espoused by Paul]]. Another interesting twist is that in this reality Jesus gets to witness firsthand the siege of Jerusalem in the year 70 (the event that hastened early Christianity's break from Judaism). Universal Pictures president Tom Pollock greenlighted the film in part because he recognized the similarities to ''Film/ItsAWonderfulLife''.
78* JesusWasCrazy: The film begins Jesus portrayed as a paranoid schizophrenic who starts preaching because he hears voices in his head. Jesus is first shown working as a carpenter building crosses for the Romans and rambling on about how he wants to crucify all the messiahs. The story goes through many plot-twists, and the psychiatric perspective grows obsolete after a while -- but Jesus being crazy ''in one way or another'' remains the only constant throughout the movie. [[spoiler:And trying to live a decent life turns out to be the craziest thing of them all.]]
79* LargeHam: Paul. Just listen to his rantings and try not to laugh.
80* LastSupperSteal: Meticulously averted. Everyone sits on the floor, the table is arranged in a square, and the female followers are in attendance as well.
81* MagicalBarefooter: It's never commented upon (alongside her more self-evidently supernatural traits, like her [[{{Immortality}} eternal youth]]), but Jesus's guardian angel never wears shoes.
82* MetaCasting:
83** Barbara Hershey as Mary Magdalene was appropriate, since she was the one who introduced Scorsese to the Kazantzakis novel in the first place.
84** Michael Been, who'd been an early figure in ChristianRock and whose later mainstream band [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Call_(band) The Call]] often had religious themes in their lyrics, as the apostle John.
85* MsFanservice: Largely averted with Creator/BarbaraHershey's nude scenes. The fact that she (as Mary Magdalene) is servicing a long line of men, one after another while Jesus waits at the end of the line for a chance to speak to her, makes the [[FanDisservice scene itself repulsive]], but Hershey still looks stunning.
86* NotEvenBotheringWithTheAccent: All actors, but Harvey Keitel got the most crap for it. This was a deliberate artistic decision by Scorsese, who wanted to subvert the highfalutin cliches associated with the [[EpicMovie Biblical epic genre]] up until that time.
87--> ''"I mean, basically, they say, okay, this is a defense, in a way. We don't have to get too emotionally involved because this happened a long time ago and people spoke funny. We said no, this man talks like you, talks like me, some guy has a Brooklyn accent, another guy has a Canadian accent... where does it say that everybody in ancient Judea spoke by listening to the BBC?"''
88** Scorsese stated at one point that he'd even considered doing the film in Aramaic much like [[Film/ThePassionOfTheChrist Mel Gibson did later]], but that he ultimately decided against it in part because he wanted his film to be seen by a general audience rather than by academics and intellectuals. The other, more practical reason was that Aramaic is a dead language, leaving the actors without a standardized guide for pronunciation beyond what could be reconstructed by linguists.
89* OhCrap: ''Jesus'' has one, when he resurrects Lazarus. He's as wide-eyed and shocked as the spectators when Lazarus emerges from the crypt.
90* OneSteveLimit: A notable aversion with the three different Marys in Jesus' life -- his mother, Mary Magdalene, and Lazarus's sister, Mary of Bethany) -- which becomes symbolically important during the last temptation because all three women are associated with motherhood. [[spoiler: In the vision of the last temptation, Mary Magdalene becomes Jesus's first wife and carries his child, only to die during pregnancy. The third Mary (along with her sister Martha) eventually gives birth to Jesus's children. Satan even lampshades the symbolism while in the form of the guardian angel after Mary Magdalene's sudden death, persuading Jesus to seek out Lazarus's sisters by telling him that "there is only one woman in the world, with different faces."]][[note]]Mary Magdalene and Mary of Bethany being different people is a reflection of Niko Kazantzakis' Orthodox background, since there's a long-held Catholic tradition that conflates them, though more recently the Church has gone with the view that they're separate.[[/note]]
91* OurAngelsAreDifferent: Jesus' guardian angel is portrayed as just an otherworldly blonde girl in a white tunic. [[spoiler:However, it turns out she is not an angel at all - or rather, she is ''the fallen angel'' himself.]]
92* PassionPlay: SubvertedTrope. Just as Christ is put on the Cross, an angel rescues him and lets him live a life without the burden of being the Messiah. Jesus goes on to marry Mary Magdalene and lament the fact that people like Paul of Tarsus continue to use the story of his Passion as the center of a new religion. The TwistEnding plays with the trope further. [[spoiler:The movie is a DoubleSubversion, because the angel Christ was the Devil wearing a disguise, who gave Christ a vision of what could be in order to tempt Christ not to fulfill his mission to save humanity from sin.]]
93* PeriodPieceModernLanguage: As part of the film's effort to move depictions of Literature/TheFourGospels away from the trappings of conventional retellings, the mostly-American cast speaks in their natural accents and speech patterns. These line up with the kind of dialogue that the film's audiences might hear on an everyday basis, rather than using [[TheQueensLatin the Received Pronunciation]] and FloweryElizabethanEnglish that are more typical of Biblical {{epic movie}}s.
94* PragmaticAdaptation: A sprawling 500-page novel had to be tightened up considerably for its film version. One of the main talking points for the studio in the middle of the uproar in 1988 was that the film doesn't include some of the more provocative sequences from the novel.
95* PrefersGoingBarefoot: Mary Magdalene walks around barefoot, showing off her elaborate tattoos.
96* TheQueensLatin: Almost entirely subverted, except for David Bowie as Pontius Pilate.
97* RaceLift: In the novel, the guardian angel who appears to Jesus during his last temptation [[spoiler:(who is actually Satan in disguise)]] is a black Ethiopian boy. Perhaps to deflect accusations of negative portrayal of non-white people, the angel is played by a white girl in the film.
98* RefusalOfTheCall: This trope is more or less the narrative's axis; the novel and the film are predicated on exploring Jesus's nature as both fully human and fully divine, and the inner-conflict this would cause ''anyone.'' Jesus is initially ''terrified'' of his role as the messiah on earth, and goes to great lengths to distance himself from it. Even after he begins his ministry, he's plagued by insecurity, reluctant to accept his destiny, [[spoiler: and the entire third act of the movie is a dream-sequence where Jesus nearly eschews his godhood to live out the rest of his life as a mortal man.]]
99* SavedByTheChurchBell: The film ends with UsefulNotes/{{Jesus}} triumphantly accepting his death on the cross, shouting that "it is accomplished" before the film gives way to a heavenly light show and the closing credits. All the while, the footage is underscored by Music/PeterGabriel's [[Music/{{Passion}} "It Is Accomplished"]], a jubilant mix of church bells tolling and Gabriel himself chanting in praise, representing Jesus' salvation of mankind from sin.
100* ShadesOfConflict: Jesus and Satan are, respectively, [[BlackAndWhiteMorality purely good and purely evil]]; everyone else, including the Apostles, the Sanhedrin, and Pontius Pilate are various shades of gray.
101* ShoutOut:
102** [[spoiler: The depiction of Satan as a shape-shifting little girl owes greatly to Creator/LuisBunuel's ''Film/SimonOfTheDesert'' and Creator/FedericoFellini's ''[[Film/SpiritsOfTheDead Toby Dammit]]''.]]
103** An oblique bit of AuthorAppeal from screenwriter Paul Schrader--the scene where [[spoiler:Jesus pulls his heart out of his chest]] was partly meant to be a reference to the [[https://calvin.edu/dotAsset/78ff17c1-c69f-4067-ab32-e00273104c78.jpg school seal]] of Schrader's alma mater, [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calvin_College Calvin College]] (plus, it would have resonated with [[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacred_Heart certain iconography]] from Scorsese's Catholic background).
104* ShownTheirWork: Even if the film's thematic material was summarily rejected by the pop culture subconsciousness, its exhaustive depiction of Judea in the 1st century has influenced every "serious" film set in the period since its release. Even ''Film/ThePassionOfTheChrist'' owes a great deal to ''The Last Temptation''.
105* SmashCut: An unintentional example. [[spoiler:During the final scene, right as Jesus finally dies on the cross, the film flickers out into a myriad of colors before cutting to the end credits. This was because the film reel cut out ''right'' as Willem Dafoe's eyes closed. Scorsese, finding it a magnificent way to end the film, decided to ThrowItIn.]]
106* StylisticSuck: The stilted and rambling preaching of Paul of Tarsus. According to historical accounts, Paul was no great orator, which is why he's most remembered for his letters. Paul Schrader, the film's screenwriter, later mentioned that Harry Dean Stanton modeled his performance as Paul after televangelists.
107* TruthInTelevision: Setting aside the controversy surrounding the film, one undeniable detail is that Dafoe's physical appearance as Jesus is more realistic than is usual for the Western canon. To elaborate, the Western Jesus is usually conceptualized as a long-haired, conventionally attractive white man who, beyond being just thin, usually appears emaciated in depictions of the Passion. While Willem Dafoe is certainly a long-haired white man, he's hardly what most people would consider "conventionally attractive", and his wiry physique in the film makes a lot more sense considering that Jesus was a ''carpenter'' before beginning his ministry, even if the bits about Jesus also being a Jewish Middle Easterner still did not make it into the film.
108* TragicHero: Jesus is tormented by his dual nature as both completely human and completely divine, as he not only has to come to terms with the fact that he is the messiah, but he also ends up facing all the temptations, fears, and insecurities any human does. This drives people away from him, draws in people who are trying to exploit him, gets him pitied by the authorities, and ultimately costs him any chance for a normal and happy life as a regular human being. [[spoiler:This is, however, hugely averted by the ending, where Jesus manages to fulfill his role as the redeemer of mankind wholeheartedly, proclaiming God's victory in utter triumph before dying on the cross.]]
109* UnusuallyUninterestingSight: The guardian angel never leaves Jesus's side once he begins his life after the crucifixion, but although she interacts with the people around him, no one ever seems to question why she doesn't age. It's justified in the end when it's revealed that [[spoiler: the guardian angel is actually Satan tempting Jesus with visions of mortal life as he dies on the cross.]]
110* VoiceOfTheLegion: Naturally, by Legion's boss, who gets to speak in quite a few voices throughout the film in addition to having this special effect.
111* WhamLine: A couple during the last temptation.
112-->'''Jesus''': Who's getting married?
113-->'''Angel''': You are.
114** And:
115-->'''Judas Iscariot''': What angel? Look at her: [[spoiler:Satan!]]
116-->[[spoiler:'''Satan''': I told you we would meet again.]]
117* WindmillCrusader:
118** Jesus is portrayed as the insane kind of WindmillCrusader. This is played straight for most of the movie; he's even cured of his messiah complex and gets to live a normal life. [[spoiler:In the TwistEnding, however, Judas accuses Jesus of betraying him by not going through with dying on the cross as they had previously agreed. Jesus’ guardian angel is then revealed to be the devil, who had tricked him into believing that he’s not the messiah. Thus, it turns out that it was NoMereWindmill after all.]]
119** In the same movie, Paul is briefly portrayed as the misguided kind of WindmillCrusader. However, he is quickly shown as a StrawHypocrite who simply doesn’t care if the [[WindmillPolitical gospel he preaches]] is true or not. Of course, this Paul is part of the vision shown by the Devil as part of the titular temptation, so YMMV.

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