BFI London Film Festival: Lucifer

BFI London Film Festival: 238 films. From 71 countries. 16 cinemas. 12 days. One Festival.

Belgian maverick Gust van den Berghe completes his faith-themed trilogy with this thrillingly cinematic tale of Lucifer as an angel who visits a Mexican village and leaves suffering in his wake. Filmed in ‘Tondoscope’—a circular frame in the centre of the screen —this beguiling cocktail of humour, theology and astonishing imagery is based on a book written by 17th-century Dutch playwright Joost van den Vondel, 13 years before Milton’s Paradise Lost.

One day, a ladder to the sky appears in the village, and the arrival of the mysterious Lucifer is announced via the town’s loudspeaker. An old woman, her drunkard brother and beautiful granddaughter all hope the stranger will fulfil their wishes, while the local priest is distracted by the sound of invisible bells and his obsession with building a neon-festooned church. This is bold, strange, visionary cinema, an unforgettable screen experience.

(Notes by Kate Taylor)

Lucifer, dir. Gust Van den Berghe, Belgium 2014, 108 mins.