Un petit monastère en Toscane (1988)

Otar Iosseliani retraces the lives of the monks of Sant’Antimo Abbey in Castelnuovo dell’Abate, near Montalcino and not far from Siena in Tuscany: Father André Forest, Father Étienne Roze, Father Olivier Nelle, Brother Emmanuel Roze, and Brother Jean-Charles Leroy. The film opens with this sentence: “If we want to know the worth of the goods of this world, let us consider them from the deathbed: these honors, amusements, and riches will one day be taken from us. We must therefore work to sanctify ourselves and enrich ourselves only with the bonds that will follow us into eternity” (Saint Alphonsus Liguori). Then another text appears: “Here ends the first part of this film; the sequel will be shot in about twenty years, in this same place and with the same people.” A documentary without voice-over or dialogue, the film is shaped by the monastery’s rituals, while giving just as much attention to the lives of the farmers and village residents.