The Milky Way

The winding road of Catholic dogma, "how many heresies have been on this subject!" Paris to Santiago de Compostela, "the Way of St. James" has a cosmic side but for vagabond-pilgrims (Paul Frankeur, Laurent Terzieff) it also means a bonanza of alms. The august highway prophet (Alain Cuny) packs dwarf and dove under his cape, the divine limo ride is curtailed, the cerebral-madcap tone is set. Eucharist and transubstantiation, "what becomes of Christ once in our stomachs?" The curé (François Maistre) is affable until vexed by contradictions, then it's back to the loony bin. Digressions in a continuum, Jesus (Bernard Verley) is a self-impressed mamma's boy and De Sade (Michel Piccoli) has his own gospel to preach to a chained nymph. "Is it a crime to depict the bizarre inclinations with which Nature inspires us?" A shaggy picaresque, a relaxed dialectic, Luis Buñuel returning to the early non-sequitur revue of L'Age d'Or with a beautifully seasoned flow. Priscillianist orgies at midnight and swords crossed by Jesuit (Georges Marchal) and Jansenist (Jean Piat), a panorama for hitchhikers to shrug at. "Anathema" is something lisped by schoolgirls, the hobo in the audience finds more entertainment in a reverie naturally overheard by a nearby fellow. "Is there a shooting-range here?" "No, it's me. I was imagining they were shooting a Pope." Godard's Weekend is taken into account, the Angel of Death (Pierre Clémenti) broods over the Orphée radio bulletin of a wrecked car and recommends taking the dead driver's shoes. The target-practice rosary is returned by the Virgin Mary herself (Édith Scob), the shrine may be empty but there's the compensation of a roll in the hay with Delphine Seyrig. "My hatred of science and my horror of technology will lead me one day to an absurd belief in God," the Buñuel sigh of serene exhasperation. Pasolini's Trilogy of Life takes up the form, so does Monty Python. Cinematography by Christian Matras. With Julien Bertheau, Michel Etcheverry, Claudio Brook, Jean-Claude Carrière, Claude Cerval, Denis Manuel, Daniel Pilon, Georges Douking, Muni, Julien Guiomar, and Pierre Maguelon.