The Club. 2015. Chile. Directed by Pablo Larrain. 98 min.
“There is at first no reason to believe that the four characters introduced in _The Club_’s opening scenes are priests. Rather than uttering prayers or performing sacraments, these middle-aged and elderly men mostly just watch TV, stroll the beach, and place bets on the local greyhound races. But Vidal (Larraín regular Alfredo Castro), Silva (Jaime Vadell), Ortega (Alejandro Goic), and Ramirez (Alejandro Sieveking) are indeed men of the cloth, exiled for various transgressions to a cozy seaside monastery where they are looked after by the permissive Sister Monica (Antonia Zegers). Their idyll begins to sour, however, when Father Lazcano (Jose Soza) comes to join them. No sooner does Lazcano settle in than a stranger appears outside the monastery, shouting that he was molested as a child by this newest member of the club. Lazcano soon commits suicide, and the Church, fearing a scandal, sends pious young Father Garcia (Marcelo Alonso) to interrogate and counsel the fallen Fathers—a task that will prove far more arduous than anyone could have guessed” (Toronto International Film Festival program notes). Courtesy of Music Box Films.