back to her parents' house and cuts her throat with a razor. Fearing the worst, Donissan goes there and finds her body. He carries it bleeding to the church, where he lays it before the altar in the hope that her soul will be saved. This outrageous behaviour earns him a transfer to another parish, where the people begin to recognise that he is a holy man though he is still in spiritual turmoil. A farmer from a neighbouring village asks him to come to his little son who is dying. Arriving too late, his first impulse is to leave but he then realises that the people expect more. Going alone to the bedroom, he lifts the corpse up and, as he prays, the child's eyes open. The strain of his mental torments and the demands of his parishioners make him increasingly ill. One night he is attacked by Satan, and asks God to keep him alive if there is still use for him. He recovers and returns to the church to hear confessions. Menou-Segrais has come over to see how he is and, after the last parishioner leaves, goes to the confessional box. Inside he finds Donissan dead. Cast Gérard Depardieu as Donissan Sandrine Bonnaire as Mouchette Maurice Pialat as Menou-Segrais Alain Artur as Cadignan Yann Dedet as Gallet Brigitte Legendre as Mouchette's mother Jean-Claude Bourlat as Malorthy Jean-Christophe Bouvet as Horse dealer Philippe Pallut as Quarryman Marcel Anselin as Bishop Gerbier Yvette Lavogez as Marthe Pierre d'Hoffelize as Havret Corinne Bourdon as Child's mother Thierry Der'ven as Sabroux Marie-Antoinette Lorge as Estelle Production The film is based on the 1926 novel Under the Sun of Satan by Georges Bernanos. It was the third time a novel by Bernanos was adapted for film. The two previous adaptations, Diary of a Country Priest (1951) and Mouchette (1967), had both been directed by Robert Bresson. Under the Sun of Satan was produced through Erato Films, Flach Films, Action Films and Les Films A2. Filming began on 20 October 1986 and took place in Fressin and Montreuil-sur-Mer, Pas-de-Calais. Release The film premiered on 14 May at the 1987 Cannes Film Festival, where it was met by boos and whistles from the audience. It also played at the Toronto International Film Festival and New York Film Festival the same year. It was released in French cinemas on 2 September 1987. The film had