Calvary

James Lavelle (Brendan Gleeson) is a kind-hearted priest in a small Irish town who is not treated particularly well by his congregation. He has to listen to a lot in the confessional. During a confession, the priest is suddenly threatened with death: a stranger confesses to him that he was raped by a Catholic colleague and now wants to kill a priest of moral integrity as revenge on the already different priest. From now on, Lavelle has one week to put his life in order, then the man wants to kill him. It is not for nothing that the original title of the film is “Calvary” - the English name for the mountain on which Jesus had to atone for the sins of the world. Bound by the seal of confession, Lavelle decides to go in search of his future murderer himself and convince him of God's goodness. But that's not so easy in a town teeming with bizarre and unchristian inhabitants... ““Am Sonntag bist du tot” is not a movie like others. Others would have turned it into an enraptured psychodrama, a rude scolding of the church or a gruff revenge drama. But the film is nothing of the sort and yet a little bit of everything. After the prologue, McDonagh, who also wrote the screenplay, has the chutzpah to transport the viewer into a bizarre Irish world full of loners. Situational comedy alternates with casual profundity. A touch of Agatha Christie wafts through the Irish village as you ponder time and again who the potential culprit might be. [...] Quite a few authors would have failed at the challenge implied by the subject. Not so McDonagh, who, despite the seriousness of the subject matter, doesn't turn off the seriousness. After all, he comes from an entertainment background and previously directed “The Guard”, which became an audience hit at the Berlinale in 2010; also with Brendan Gleeson in a memorable leading role. Gleeson is also an event in “Am Sonntag bist du tot”; his Father James is a spotty, broken figure of light. Gleeson shapes his character as a rock in the surf, who is inwardly fragile, like brittle glass. Always striving for composure, even when an explosion might be the better choice, he is torn between his own life, the church's mission and human fallibility.” (Jörg Gerle, on: filmdienst.de)