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Ave Maria

1984, Movie, NR, 104 mins

Ave Maria: Review

Defrocked priest Atkine and his mistress, Karina, venture to the French countryside to con a group of villagers. Posing as messengers of God with the names "Holy Father" and "Holy Mother," Atkine and Karina swindle the people out of their land and money by catering to their religious naivete. When a farmer's daughter taunts the villagers with devil worship, she is beaten to death after an evening of exorcism. Atkine and Karina then engineer a scheme that lays blame on the victim's own father. Contrasting the evil that Atkine and Karina embody is Ogier (appropriately called Angelique in the film), a saintly nun who receives prophecies from heaven while in a mystical trance. Some controversy surrounded the film's initial release, when the courts banned a poster that sported a bare-breasted woman on a cross. leave a comment