European Films

A mesmerizing, almost three-hour film with real-life monks instead of hobbits and the Bible as its ultimate source rather than Tolkien, such is the premise of Die große Stille (Die grosse Stille / Into Great Silence) from German documentary maker Philip Gröning. His portrait of life in the Grande Chartreuse monastery near Grenoble is a masterfully labyrinthine work that seemingly extends in all directions indefinitely -- just like its architectural setting. But after Gröning’s grand tour, one would still be able to live there comfortably, knowing what goes on where throughout the year. Adventurous arthouse distributors, documentary festivals and broadcasters will want to contemplate programming this quite unique film experience.

Filmed, edited and produced by the director, the film is clearly a labour of love that wants to offer a glimpse of religious life without ever truly fathoming it, leaving part of the mystical hanging in the air for the audience to ponder. To this end, Die grosse Stille offers images but almost no dialogue, expressly making the monks into archetypes rather than personalities. There is never an indication of why these men have chosen the solitary religious life or that somehow their numbers are dwindling (though it is quite clear that the Grande Chartreuse complex is made for more men than are seen) or that there exists indeed any other kind of problem in their lives. All that matters is the steady rhythm of life in a cloister, and Gröning is only interested in the monk’s daily life to the extent that it represents the daily life of any monk living in confinement -- the film could have been made in a monastery in 12th century Tibet and would have fundamentally been the same.

There is only the sense of steady contemplation and prayer, day after day, season after season. On Sundays the religious men are allowed their walk beyond the monastery walls and have a chat with each other, but otherwise days are made up of reading, praying and silently taking care of the community in one form or another: cooking, cleaning, gardening, sowing, cutting wood or doing accounting with the aid of -- gasp -- a computer. Short portrait shots of the monks looking directly into the camera and repeated intertitles taken from Jesus’ teachings help the film find a tone that is both meditative and inquisitive at the same time -- akin to the way the monks seems to approach the mysteries of faith.

The film was shot using a single digital camera and the image quality ranges from pin-sharp to extremely grainy since no extra lighting was allowed inside the convent. Gröning exploits these restrictions to lend many close-ups an air of the pointillist paintings of Seurat. (The work of cinematographer Anthony Dodd Mantle, part of the film’s 2nd unit, might have something to do with it as well: he helped define the DOGME aesthetic and a similar technique was used to show the thoughts of the characters in Susanne Bier’s DOGME film Elsker dig for evigt/Open Hearts). The shots of minute details are contrasted with wide shots of the monastery under a wide and often cloud-filled expanse of sky, where the sun, moon and stars alternate each other with the regularity of a Swiss watch. The implication is clear: through a simple observation of both simple details and larger-than-life structures over a long period of time, these monks become fully immersed in the mystery of God and the universe. For lay people, Gröning’s portrait of their lives might offer a sanctuary of silence, contemplation, respect and inquiry into a quickly vanishing tradition that helped build the world we live in. And it only requires 164 minutes -- hardly a lifetime.  

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