SILENT LIGHT

WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY CARLOS REYGADAS

"See it on the big screen while you can. From its stunning opening shot to its final, hauntingly spiritual finale, Carlos Reygadas's drama of adultery and penance set among the Mennonite community of Mexico is the kind of gorgeous, multilayered art film they just don't make anymore."
– Bilge Ebiri, New York magazine

“I was amazed by SILENT LIGHT – the setting, the language, the delicacy of the interactions between the people on screen, the drama of redemption. And most of all by Carlos Reygadas’s extraordinarily rich sense of cinema, evident in every frame. A surprising picture, and a very moving one as well.”
– Martin Scorsese

“At its very best, (it) has the richness of Malick or the transcendental simplicity of Ozu. A deeply considered, formally accomplished, beautiful-looking and unexpectedly gripping film from a director making a giant leap into the first rank of world cinema.”
– Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian (UK)

“I’ve seen SILENT LIGHT three times…
and find it more pleasurable and touching with each viewing.”
– Manohla Dargis, The New York Times
Click here to read The New York Times’ full review of SILENT LIGHT

“Distinguished by its formal rigor and deadpan audacity. Extraordinary…powerfully affecting.”
– J. Hoberman, The Village Voice

“The Best Film of 2008! ... Best Director" – Melissa Anderson, Time Out New York

2009 Independent Spirit Award Nominee for Best Foreign Film

From the acclaimed, provocative director of JAPON and BATTLE IN HEAVEN. SILENT LIGHT begins with an unforgettable sequence – a slowly unfolding, time-lapse shot of daybreak over a rural Mexican Mennonite community, whose inhabitants speak an archaic form of German (Plautdietsch) and wear traditional attire. Johan (Cornelio Wall Fehr) is a married farmer who, against the laws of his faith and traditional beliefs, falls in love with another woman, Marianne (Maria Pankratz). His conflicted behavior threatens to destroy the soul of his wife, Esther (Miriam Toews). This tale of profound love and conscience casts a spell, evoking the eerie religious tones and rigor of Carl Theodor Dreyer.

Official Website

MEXICO / FRANCE / THE NETHERLANDS • 2007 • 136 MINS.
IN PLAUTDIETSCH WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES • Distributor: Palisades Tartan