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Contents © 2001
by Jim Holman.
All rights reserved.
MONSIGNOR QUIXOTE
Directed by Rodney Bennett, starring Alec Guinness, Leo McKern, 1985, UK, English, color, 118 minutes. Available at Kensington Video.
Ernie: He doesn't want to put on the purple socks; I think that's symbolic of his knowing that being a monsignor doesn't suit him at all. It's called him out of a life that did suit him. Once he's out of that comfortable existence in El Taboso he goes through all this doubt that maybe he shouldn't have gone through, because that wasn't the kind of priest God wanted him to be. I see the end as a kind of return to the performing of the sacraments. That's the primary job of a parish priest; maybe that was what he was made a priest for.
Matthew: I saw the end as a repudiation of the doubt he expressed when he said, "I think I touch Him." I saw his leaving El Taboso as a motion of grace. His faith was not what God wanted it to be, because he didn't deal with his doubts. He was too content. Early on, when Sancho asks him if he believes, he answers, "I want to believe." I think his faith is weak at the outset.
Ernie: It could be; maybe his faith has become oversimplified over time -- his priesthood has fallen into a routine.