Beautiful and haunting

Although I needed to watch twice to understand exactly what was going on, I highly recommend one of the best gay themed stories it's been my pleasure to see.

The film is almost a theatrical experience, drawing intense emotion so it feels you're watching something staged right in front of you. Background accompaniment of sung Latin mass heightens the impact.

Early last century in rural Quebec two schoolboys are in love. Another is consumed by jealousy because he wants one of them for his own.

Forty years later, a Bishop is called to a prison by its chaplain to hear a dying man's confession.

How these stories relate to each other is the substance of the film.

It's haunting, a poignant story of gay love that effectively shows romance needn't be light and fluffy. I've seen many more explicit films, but few equal the eroticism of one memorable scene in this movie.

In a complex structure consisting largely of flashbacks shown as the staging of a play, gradually all is revealed. Inmates take all parts, including female characters, with acting so good that doesn't distract or annoy.