History Film / FirstReformed

->'''Pastor Ernst Toller:''' Well, somebody has to do something! It's the earth that hangs in the balance.
->'''Pastor Joel Jeffers:''' Well, what if this is His plan? What if we just can't see it?
->'''Pastor Ernst Toller:''' You think God wants to destroy His creation?
->'''Pastor Joel Jeffers:''' He did once. For forty days and forty nights.

* VomitDiscretionShot: Toller is seen leaning over a toilet getting sick, which is one of many instances of {{Foreshadowing}} for his failing health.

Forty-six year old Reverend Ernst Toller (Hawke) is the pastor at the historic First Reformed Church in upstate New York. Toller is dealing with a midlife crisis, struggling with the death of his son in war, a divorce, and failing health. These issues in Toller's life become more pointed when a new pregnant congregant, Mary Mensana (Seyfried), asks him to speak to her husband Michael, who Toller will learn is an environmentalist concerned about bringing another human life into what he already sees as a world doomed because of man's role in climate change.

* SpiritualSuccessor: Paul Schrader has cited both ''Film/WinterLight'' and ''Film/DiaryOfACountryPriest'' as direct influences on ''First Reformed''. In the case of the former, both protagonists struggle with crises of faith as a result of existential threats to humanity and [[spoiler: fail to console parishioners who are so concerned about the threats that they blow their brains out]]. Also, it shares numerous structural similarities to ''Diary of a Country Priest'', which also features extensive voiceover through the protagonist's entries in his diary.
** Schrader also considers ''First Reformed'' his successor to ''Film/TaxiDriver'' and a bookend to his career. Aside from the obvious plot parallels, both films are structured entirely around the subjectivity of their protagonists, forcing the audience to identify with them even as they start to lose their grip on reality.

* BigDamnKiss: Played with. [[spoiler:At the end, Mary interrupts Toller's suicide attempt and the two run into each other's arms and kiss passionately while the camera swoops around them. On the other hand, [[SoundtrackDissonance a hymn is playing]] and the whole thing could just be a DyingDream.]]
* ChekhovsGun: If you're wondering why the camera spends so long watching Toller pour Drano down his toilet, [[spoiler:it's because he'll almost use it to poison himself later]]. Similarly, a length of barbed wire that Toller pulls off the church grounds ends up playing a role in the climax.

* DeathSeeker: Toller neglects his obvious health problems throughout the film, but this trope reaches its peak by the climax. [[spoiler:Initially, he plans to use an explosive vest to destroy his own church for its 250th anniversary service. He puts an end to this upon seeing Mary at the ceremony, and tries to kill himself by drinking drain cleaner. However, Mary arrives and stops him at the last second.]]

Forty-six year old Reverend Ernst Toller (Hawke) is the pastor at the historic First Reformed Church in upstate New York. Toller is dealing with a midlife crisis, struggling with the death of his son in war, a divorce, and failing health. These issues in Toller's life become more pointed when a new pregnant congregant, Mary (Seyfried), asks him to speak to her husband Michael, who Toller will learn is an environmentalist concerned about bringing another human life into what he already sees as a world doomed because of man's role in climate change.

* AbhorrentAdmirer: Esther and her romantic advances are reprehensible to her ex-husband Toller, who resents her concern over his health and happiness (he's secretly dying, by the way).

''First Reformed'' is a 2018 drama film written and directed by Creator/PaulSchrader, starring Creator/EthanHawke and Creator/AmandaSeyfried.

* MeaningfulName: Ernst Toller shares his name with a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernst_Toller German playwright and political radical]] of the last century. And of course, there's that pregnant woman named Mary...

* AbhorrentAdmirer: Esther is this to Toller, who resents her neediness and prying nature.
* TheAlcoholic: Toller.

* ArcWords: "Will God forgive us?"

* CorruptCorporateExecutive: Ed Balq, a local industrialist who donates to virtuous causes but whose company is a major polluter.

* CrisisOfFaith: Toller, as a result of having lost his son in war, his subsequent divorce, and his failing health.

* EcoTerrorist: Michael is flirting with this early in the movie, having done time in jail for an unspecified act of non-violent protest; then Mary discovers that he has a suicide-bomb vest in the garage. [[spoiler:Michael dies before going through with it, but then Toller almost uses the vest himself before backing out at the last minute.]]

* GoodGirlsAvoidAbortion: Mary first approaches Toller because her husband wants her to get an abortion, and she doesn't. Unlike many examples of this trope, the issue isn't personal responsibility or even the humanity of the fetus, but whether there's hope for the future of the world.

* SinisterMinister: [[spoiler:Toller is one of the more complicated examples, as the film casts him in an immensely sympathetic light. That doesn't change the fact that, were it not for Mary attending the reconfirmation, he would have committed an eco-terrorist SuicideAttack on his own church that would have killed or injured dozens of people if successful.]]

* ToxicInc: Balq's company is portrayed this way.

->'''Pastor Ernst Toller:''' Well, somebody has to do something! It's the earth that hangs in the balance.
->'''Pastor Joel Jeffers:''' Well, what if this is His plan? What if we just can't see it?