The director and star of First Reformed discuss the themes of their film.
Currently on release in the US, critics (ourselves included) are hailing First Reformed as one of the finest works of writer/director Paul Schrader.
In the film, Ethan Hawke plays a pastor who suffers an existential crisis following an encounter with a troubled parishioner.
In two new featurettes, Schrader and Hawke discuss the themes of existentialism and environmentalism that run through their film. Check them out below, along with the UK trailer.
First Reformed is in UK/ROI cinemas July 13th.
The official synopsis reads:
Reverend Ernst Toller (Ethan Hawke) is a solitary parish priest at a small church in upstate New York, which is on the cusp of celebrating its 250th anniversary. Now more of a tourist attraction catering to a dwindling congregation, it has long been eclipsed by its nearby parent church, Abundant Life, with its state-of-the-art facilities. When a pregnant parishioner (Amanda Seyfried) asks Reverend Toller to counsel her husband, a radical environmentalist, Toller is plunged into his own tormented past and finds himself questioning his own future and where redemption might lie. With the pressure on him beginning to grow, he must do everything he can to stop events spiralling out of control.