Corpus Christi (Boże Ciało) is a 2019 film from Poland directed by Jan Komasa.
Daniel is a 20-year-old man who, as the film opens, is in a juvenile hall serving time for what's eventually revealed to be second-degree murder. Despite being a petty criminal he is also a devout Catholic who assists the jailhouse priest with services. As he gets out on parole, Daniel asks again about enrolling in a seminary, but the priest explains, as gently as he can, that seminaries don't take ex-convicts.
Instead Daniel leaves jail to take a work-release job in a sawmill in a rural village. For reasons that are never really explained he has obtained a priest's shirt and stiff collar. He goes to the town's church, and, when asked, claims to be a priest. It turns out that the town's vicar has a major drinking problem and, when the vicar has to leave for rehab, Daniel is suddenly installed as the priest.
Tropes:
- The Alcoholic: The town's vicar, whom Daniel finds in the morning passed out next to his bed, half-empty bottles on the table. He leaves to go to rehab, and suddenly Daniel, who might have been looking for nothing more than room and board, finds himself the town priest.
- Ambiguous Situation: It's never clear what really happened with the fatal car accident. The families of the six dead kids claim that Kobielski was drunk, but Kobielski's widow insists that the coroner's report found nothing. Daniel is shown a video which demonstrates that at least some of the six kids had been drinking before the accident, raising the possibility that one of them might have been at fault. Then Kobielski's widow admits that right before the fatal accident, the two of them had a nasty argument and Kobielski stalked out of the house saying he was going to kill himself.
- Answer Cut: The priest at the jail reminds Daniel of the importance of staying sober after he's paroled, then smiles and says "You're gonna make it." The film immediately cuts to Daniel doing a line of coke at a party.
- Arcadia: The village with the sawmill where Daniel becomes a fake priest is in a remarkably beautiful area with a lake, a river valley, and rolling green hills. It's a dramatic contrast to the drab prison where Daniel is at the start of the film.
- Bad Habits: It's not clear what Daniel was trying to accomplish by coming to the village with a priest's shirt and collar. Notably, he panics and tries to climb out a window when Marta goes to fetch the vicar. But he sticks around and impersonates a priest.
- Becoming the Mask: Daniel impersonates a priest. He has to look up how to give confession on his phone. But he winds up becoming an exceptionally good priest, not just giving great sermons, but by healing the hatred and vitriol going back and forth between the widow Kobielski and the families of the six dead teens.
- Bittersweet Ending: The jailhouse priest comes to the village, retrieves Daniel, and takes him back to prison. But before he left Daniel got Kobielski buried in the village cemetery, healing the rancorous feud between Kobielski's widow and the parents of the dead teens.
- Blackmail: Another inmate from the juvenile hall, one Pinscher, shows up in the village and demands 5000 zloty from Daniel or he will rat Daniel out. Daniel refuses, and Pinscher follows through by ratting him out, sending Daniel back to jail.
- Blowing Smoke Rings: Sometimes Daniel does this when he's relaxed, like when he's post-coital after having sex with a woman at a party. But oddly he also does this when he's jittery, like when he smokes a Cigarette of Anxiety before his first sermon.
- Conversation Cut: Daniel is leading the mourning parents in a prayer in front of the memorial. He says "Help us to understand—" and the film cuts to "—you," as Daniel is giving a sermon in church.
- Due to the Dead: There's a memorial to the six teens who were killed in the car wreck, with their pictures, festooned with flowers. The mourning parents often gather there. Daniel asks about it and this is how he finds out the story of the accident.
- Facecam: The last shot of the movie is a facecam focused on Daniel, wild-eyed and blood streaming from his nose, walking away after beating Bonus in a fight.
- Inspired by…: The film opens with a title card that says "Inspired by true events." The producers claimed that the story was inspired by several instances of people impersonating priests in deeply Catholic Poland.
- Title Drop: The guy who owns the sawmill wants Daniel to bless the expansion before the Corpus Christi festival.
