Chaotic Vision

By Mark Goodman

Where does the love of man end and the love of God begin? Can an individual's passion be divided between the two without disaster to man or affront to God? Does God demand terrible sacrifice as atonement for an innocent appetite for earthly life? These are questions that Ingmar Bergman has grappled with in many of his 31 bleak, brooding films. In The Act of the Heart, Canadian Producer-Writer-Director Paul Almond tries to explore the same problems, while simultaneously creating a St. Joan-like allegory of a country girl's purity and passion.

Fortunately for the film, the girl is played by his wife, Genevieve Bujold. Martha Hayes is a young girl from rural Quebec who becomes a companion and governess to the eleven-year-old son of a lonely, cultured Montreal widow (Monique Leyrac). She divides her attentions between young Russ (Bill Mitchell) and singing in the choir of the nearby Anglican church. Otherwise her thoughts are confined to romantic musings about herself and her relationship with God. They are, that is, until she discovers the Augustinian monk (Donald Sutherland) who temporarily takes over as choir director.

Sutherland tries to achieve a proper balance between ethereal consecration and worldly wisdom. But the latter quality is principally conveyed by such lines as "Look, Ma, I'm human," and "Let's follow the monk and see what it eats." After the boy dies of hockey injuries, Martha and the monk consummate their tormented ardor at the foot of the church altar; the scene comes close to unintentional parody of the old de Sadistic monk-and-choirgirl routine.

Actress Bujold is incontestably a beguiling martyr, alternatingly childlike and womanly. But the force of her radiance is blunted by the conventionality of her role. Realizing that their love is an affront to man and God, Martha immolates herself. This is intended to be her act of the heart. Instead, it is simply the awkward denouement of Almond's chaotic vision. Mark Goodman

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