David (David Wissak) and Katia (Katerina Golubeva) are driving down to Joshua Tree National Park from LA in their red Hummer. Seems David is involved with filmmaking (he's scouting for locations). With slow pacing, we get to witness their mundane routine- driving, trekking, eating, swimming in a motel pool, fucking, fighting and making up. There is a sense that David and Katia are not communicating well. On the outset, Twentynine Palms plays out like another Antonioni-esque film about disconnection and isolation in modern society. But that's not what Dumont is interested in here. As its sudden, grotesque violence that befalls on our protagonists at the end of the film, it is clear that he is after something else. Given the context of 9/11 & Invasion of Iraq, Dumont is set out to debunk American machismo- Westerns & military power & also throws in sexual politics. Blunt and brutal against stunning backdrop, Twenty Nine Palms shows trivial human existence. #brunodumont #twentyninepalms

#Hadewijch is a film with immense power and beauty. After getting kicked out of the convent because of her zealotry by concerned mother superior, Céline is befriended by an Arab youth, who at first is attracted by her beatific demeanor, then impressed by her devotion. He in turn introduces her to his brother who teaches at a madrasa. #BrunoDumont serenely shows how innocence can easily get bought into the martyrdom without judgment. His approach is so austere & sincere, the film really moved me.

Dreyer's The Day of Wrath might be the spiritual ancestor to this film. But Dumont's film strips down its religious undertones and goes for something more interesting and ambiguous. There is something primal/animistic about Hors Satan: Dewaele's satan/saint often prays facing the expansive nature in front of him, kneeling down with one hand cupping the other. There’s always some spiritual longing in Dumont’s work. And it’s deeply moving. #BrunoDumont #HorsSatan #frenchcinema

In theory, with everything Dumont is striving for, spiritually and artistically, it should satisfy fans of his work. But singing off key and headbanging and bad rap in Joan of Arc movie?
You just have to work a little harder to dig through its genre trappings to see its austere beauty: the beauty in a young girl’s unwavering, sacred devotion to god in free form. #brunodumont #childhoodofjoanofarc #joanofarc #frenchcinema