The Upcoming
  • Culture
    • Art
    • Cinema & Tv
      • Movie reviews
      • Film festivals
      • Shows
    • Food & Drinks
      • News & Features
      • Restaurant & bar reviews
      • Interviews & Recipes
    • Literature
    • Music
      • Live music
    • Theatre
  • Fashion & Lifestyle
    • Accessories
    • Beauty
    • News & Features
    • Shopping & Trends
    • Tips & How-tos
    • Fashion weeks
  • What’s On
    • Art exhibitions
    • Theatre shows
  • Tickets
  • Join us
    • Editorial unit
    • Our writers
    • Join the team
    • Join the mailing list
    • Support us
    • Contact us
  • Interviews
  • Competitions
  • Special events
    • Film festivals
      • Berlin
      • Tribeca
      • Sundance London
      • Cannes
      • Locarno
      • Venice
      • London
      • Toronto
    • Fashion weeks
      • London Fashion Week
      • New York Fashion Week
      • Milan Fashion Week
      • Paris Fashion Week
      • Haute Couture
      • London Fashion Week Men’s
  • Facebook

  • Twitter

  • Instagram

  • YouTube

  • RSS

CultureMovie reviews

The Club

The Club | Movie review
21 March 2016
Catherine Sedgwick
Avatar
Catherine Sedgwick
21 March 2016

Movie and show review

Catherine Sedgwick

The Club

★★★★★

Release date

25th March 2016

Certificate

UPG121518 title=

Links

FacebookWebsite

Chile’s pre-eminent filmmaker Pablo Larrain’s works (Tony Manero, Post Mortem, No) have focused on violence and corruption in Chile during the dictatorship of Pinochet; his latest, The Club, is a remarkable and emotionally disturbing film that echoes these themes in the context of the Catholic Church.  Written by Guillermo Calderón, Larraín, and Daniel Villalobos, The Club‘s thesis is the problem of paedophilia among Catholic priests, and moral corruption and unscrupulousness, fuelled by institutional appetites for power.

“God saw the light was good and he separated light from darkness” appears on-screen as The Club opens. A man trains his dog on a beach with a toy it cannot reach, and a woman cleans the deck surrounding a house by the ocean, setting a symbolic tone of frustration resulting from priesthood celibacy and an obsession with erasing evidence of criminality.

At first presented as benign, if cheerless, characters are gathered together in domestic normalcy, enjoying a win from racing their greyhound, while the true nature of the situation in The Club unfolds. The house is a home for exiled criminal priests guilty of paedophilia and other transgressions, such as selling babies. The plot develops and culminates in shocking behaviour and cruelty, which could seem extreme, even absurd, but works here to illustrate the lengths to which institutional authority will go to maintain power.

The film’s cinematography and soundtrack are exceptional, with breathtaking smoky visuals, deep classical cello sound, and grey skies that provide an atmosphere of melancholia in a profoundly troubling narrative. The slight haziness highlights an ambiguity surrounding religious fervour and evil acts – a delusion of goodwill amid corruption and violence. Background noise from within the house recalls a ship in a storm, echoing tension and turmoil. 

Exceptionally portrayed, Larrain’s characters are likewise ambiguous and deeply human in their frustration, confusion, and self-deception. Although there is a clear theme of corruption of power, the individuals portrayed are complex and emotional. Their hypocrisy in using religion to justify moral transgressions, born of unnatural celibacy and moral confusion, is reinforced by the church’s cover-ups.

Although intensely, viscerally disturbing, extremely sexually graphic, and upsetting in its violence, The Club is an outstanding, visually beautiful film with a profound message.

 

★★★★★

Catherine Sedgwick

The Club is released nationwide on 25th March 2016.

Watch the trailer for The Club here:

Please accept YouTube cookies to play this video. By accepting you will be accessing content from YouTube, a service provided by an external third party.

YouTube privacy policy

If you accept this notice, your choice will be saved and the page will refresh.

 

Related Itemsfeaturedreview

More in Movie reviews

Moxie

★★★★★
Emma Kiely
Read More

Notturno

★★★★★
Mersa Auda
Read More

The Winter Lake

★★★★★
Guy Lambert
Read More

Lucky

★★★★★
Jacob Kennedy
Read More

Justine

★★★★★
Abbie Grundy
Read More

Foster Boy

★★★★★
Jim Compton-Hall
Read More

Crazy About Her

★★★★★
Emma Kiely
Read More

Bigfoot Family

★★★★★
Mersa Auda
Read More

Judas and the Black Messiah

★★★★★
James Humphrey
Read More
Scroll for more
Tap

Movie and show review

Catherine Sedgwick

The Club

★★★★★

Release date

25th March 2016

Certificate

UPG121518 title=

Links

FacebookWebsite

  • Popular

  • Latest

  • TOP PICKS

  • The Toll
    ★★★★★
    Film festivals
  • Maximo Park – Nature Always Wins
    ★★★★★
    Album review
  • I’m Your Man (Ich bin dein Mensch)
    ★★★★★
    Berlinale
  • Your Honor
    ★★★★★
    sky
  • Spotlight: Lauren Everet and Soup Kitchen London, striving for food security and social equality
    Food & Drinks
  • Celebrate International Women’s Day with a Bombay Sapphire Cocktails & Create masterclass
    Food & Drinks
  • Postdata – Twin Flames
    ★★★★★
    Album review
  • Late Night Staring at High Res Pixels
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • Daniel Brühl on his directorial debut Next Door: “It was magical; I didn’t get a ‘no’ from anyone.”
    Berlinale
  • Introduction (Inteurodeoksyeon)
    ★★★★★
    Berlinale
  • Moxie
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
  • Souad
    ★★★★★
    Berlinale
  • We (Nous)
    ★★★★★
    Berlinale
  • Bicep at Saatchi Gallery Online
    ★★★★★
    Live music
  • The Winter Lake
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
The Upcoming
Pages
  • Contact us
  • Join mailing list
  • Join us
  • Our London food map
  • Our writers
  • Support us
  • What, when, why

Copyright © 2011-2020 FL Media

Ballet Black at the Barbican | Dance review
Bukowski Grill in Soho | Restaurant review