First Reformed
Theatrical release poster
Directed byPaul Schrader
Written byPaul Schrader
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyAlexander Dynan
Edited byBenjamin Rodriguez Jr.
Music byLustmord
Production
companies
  • Killer Films
  • Omeira Studio Partners
  • Fibonacci Films
  • Arclight Films International
  • Big Indie Pictures
Distributed byA24
Release dates
  • August 31, 2017 (2017-08-31) (Venice)
  • May 18, 2018 (2018-05-18) (United States)
Running time
113 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$3.5 million[1]‬
Box office$4 million[2]

First Reformed is a 2017 American psychological drama film written and directed by Paul Schrader. It stars Ethan Hawke as a minister of a small congregation in upstate New York who grapples with mounting despair brought on by tragedy, worldly concerns, and a tormented past. Amanda Seyfried, Cedric Kyles, Victoria Hill, and Philip Ettinger appear in supporting roles.

The film had its world premiere at the 74th Venice International Film Festival on August 31, 2017, and was theatrically released in the United States on May 18, 2018, by A24. It grossed $4 million worldwide and received positive reviews from critics, who mostly praised Hawke's performance and Schrader's direction and screenplay. It was chosen by both the National Board of Review and American Film Institute as one of the top ten films of 2018, while Schrader earned a Best Original Screenplay nomination at the 91st Academy Awards. Hawke was nominated for Best Actor and Schrader won Best Original Screenplay at the 24th Critics' Choice Awards. The film also garnered nominations for Best Feature, Best Director, and Best Screenplay at the 34th Independent Spirit Awards, with Hawke winning Best Male Lead.

Plot

Ernst Toller is the pastor of the First Reformed Church in Snowbridge, New York, who is struggling with a crisis of faith. The film opens with him writing down his thoughts in a journal, which he plans to keep for a year, and then destroy.

The church is a 250-year-old Dutch Reformed Church and was once a stop on the Underground Railroad. It faces dwindling attendance, so the church has moved away from its historical focus on Calvinist theology and now serves mostly as a tourist attraction. Toller, a former military chaplain, is struggling with alcoholism and the death of his son Joseph, who was killed in the Iraq War. Toller seeks a deeper spiritual understanding through reading Roman Catholic writers (G. K. Chesterton and Thomas Merton) and mystical books (The Cloud of Unknowing). This leads him to seek support from Abundant Life, the evangelical megachurch in Albany that owns First Reformed.

He is approached by Mary, who is seeking counseling for Michael, her radical-environmentalist husband. Michael further challenges Toller's beliefs: he wants Mary to get an abortion, because he does not want to bring a child into a world that will be rendered almost uninhabitable by climate change.

Mary finds a suicide vest belonging to her husband in their garage. Toller takes it, promising to counsel Michael about it. They discuss going to the police, but Toller feels it would worsen Michael's state. Just before their next appointment, Michael sends him a text message asking to meet in a local park. Toller arrives to find Michael dead of a self-inflicted shotgun wound. In accordance with Michael's will and testament, a service is held at a local toxic-waste dump, where his ashes are scattered.

Meanwhile, plans are underway to celebrate the 250th anniversary of First Reformed with a service attended by the mayor, the governor, and Edward Balq, one of Abundant Life's key financial backers and the owner of a polluting factory. At a meeting in a diner, Balq takes issue with Toller honoring Michael's will, deeming it a political act, and they argue over climate change: Balq dismisses it as "complicated", but Toller sees it as a straightforward matter of Christian stewardship.

Experiencing physical pain, Toller reluctantly sees a doctor, who suspects stomach cancer and schedules some tests. Toller has Michael's laptop computer, which he took after Michael's suicide to prevent the police from discovering his radicalism and making trouble for Mary. He uses it to research Michael's concerns, including the materials on Balq's factory which inspired him to make the explosive vest. One night, Mary visits Toller in the parsonage of the church, and she asks him to play Michael's role in a nonsexual rite of physical intimacy the couple used to perform.

Toller begs Mary not to attend the anniversary service. Preparing for his role in the ceremony, he puts on the explosive vest, and arms it. When he sees her entering the church, he removes the vest and instead wraps himself in barbed wire under his alb. Toller pours a glass full of drain cleaner and is about to drink it when Mary interrupts him. They embrace, kissing passionately before the film abruptly cuts to black.

Cast

  • Ethan Hawke as Pastor Ernst Toller, leader of a tiny historic church who is going through several personal crises
  • Amanda Seyfried as Mary Mensana, a pregnant widow and parishioner at First Reformed
  • Cedric Kyles as Pastor Joel Jeffers, megachurch pastor at the evangelical Abundant Life church
  • Victoria Hill as Esther, a worker at Abundant Life who is in love with Toller
  • Philip Ettinger as Michael Mensana, a radical environmentalist and anti-natalist struggling with the implications of his wife's pregnancy
  • Michael Gaston as Edward Balq, local industrialist and financier of Abundant Life
  • Bill Hoag as John Elder, church organist at First Reformed (Performed by William E. Gati on the organ for Music Department and Soundtrack) [3]

Production

The film is a return to a restrained style that Schrader first identified in his 1972 book Transcendental Style in Film about the works of Yasujiro Ozu, Robert Bresson, and Carl Th. Dreyer.[4] Elements of the script allude to Bresson's Diary of a Country Priest (1951), Ingmar Bergman's Winter Light (1963), and the work of Dreyer,[5] as well as Schrader's own script for Taxi Driver (1976).[6] Schrader said he was inspired by Paweł Pawlikowski's film Ida (2013) to shoot in a 1.33:1 aspect ratio, saying "It ... drives the vertical lines, so you get more of the human body in the frame."[4] Before approaching Seyfried, Schrader had discussed casting Michelle Williams in the role of Mary.[7]

Principal photography lasted 20 days, with a budget of $3.5 million.[1]‪[8][9][10] The film was shot around Brooklyn and Queens, New York, including the building and grounds of the Zion Episcopal Church in Douglaston, Queens.[11]

Release

First Reformed premiered in the main competition section of the 74th Venice International Film Festival on August 31, 2017.[12][13] It was also screened at the 44th Telluride Film Festival on September 2 and the 42nd Toronto International Film Festival on September 12, 2017.[14][15]

In September 2017, A24 acquired North American distribution rights to the film.[16][17][18] It was given a limited theatrical release in the United States on May 18, 2018,[19] and was theatrically released in the United Kingdom on July 13, 2018.[20] The screenplay was published by Archway Editions on January 31, 2023, with an introduction by Masha Tupitsyn.[21]

Reception

The screenplay and direction of Paul Schrader and the performance of Ethan Hawke garnered critical acclaim, with the former receiving his first Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay.

Box office

First Reformed made $100,270 from four theaters in its opening weekend, an average of $25,067 per venue, one of the best of Schrader's career.[22][23] The film ultimately grossed $3,448,256 in the United States and Canada, and $540,356 in other territories, for a worldwide total of $3,988,612.[2][24]

Critical response

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 94% of 254 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 8.3/10. The website's consensus reads: "Brought to life by delicate work from writer-director Paul Schrader and elevated by a standout performance by Ethan Hawke, First Reformed takes a sensitive and suspenseful look at weighty themes."[25] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 86 out of 100, based on 48 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".[26]

A. O. Scott of The New York Times stated, "First Reformed wrestles with contemporary reality, but it isn't a work of realism in the way that term is conventionally understood. The dialogue is delivered with formal, almost stiff cadences, and the images are crisp, graceful and plain."[27] Justin Chang of the Los Angeles Times described the film as "a cinephile's delight and a believer's conundrum, an austere American art film with a bracing B-movie soul, and a story in which the cruelest of cosmic punchlines may finally be no different from the most beautiful accession of grace."[28] David Sims of The Atlantic called it "a tale of existential woe [...] an embittered look at our world through the eyes of someone who’s increasingly horrified to be a part of it, and a film that’s one of the most searing cinema experiences of the year."[29] Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian said, "the sheer Bunyanesque severity of this film is as refreshing as a glass of ice-cold water ... a passionately focused film but not a masterpiece" and noted that Ethan Hawke's character's name was an allusion to the German playwright Ernst Toller.[30] Michael Phillips of The Chicago Tribune stated that "for such a deliberate exercise in a specific, methodical style, First Reformed is oddly bracing, full of unresolved, contradictory, vital ideas."[31]

Accolades

The film received nominations at the Independent Spirit Awards for Best Film, and Best Director and Best Screenplay for Schrader while winning the Best Male Lead for Hawke.[32][33] At the Critics' Choice Movie Awards, the film received two nominations for Best Actor and Best Original Screenplay, winning in the latter.[34] Schrader and Hawke were awarded Best Screenplay and Best Actor respectively at the Gotham Awards.[35] Both the National Board of Review and American Film Institute listed it as one of the Top 10 Films of 2018, with the former's awarding Schrader the award for Best Original Screenplay.[36][37] Schrader's screenplay also was nominated for an Academy Award,[38] marking the first Oscar nomination of Schrader's long career.[39]

References

  1. 1 2 ‪Johnson, Ted (May 19, 2018). "PopPolitics: Paul Schrader on How 'First Reformed' Reflects His Own Despair Over Climate Crisis". Variety. Archived from the original on July 15, 2023. Retrieved January 12, 2024.
  2. 1 2 "First Reformed". The Numbers. Nash Information Services, LLC. Archived from the original on December 3, 2022. Retrieved January 12, 2024.
  3. ↑ "William Gati". IMDb.
  4. 1 2 Prokopy, Steven (May 25, 2018). "Paul Schrader on Directing 'First Reformed'..." slashfilm.com. Retrieved January 13, 2019.
  5. ↑ Cortellessa, Eric (June 13, 2018). "Paul Schrader on First Reformed's Provocative Ending and Its Many Influences". Slate. Retrieved November 10, 2019.
  6. ↑ Haun, Harry (January 5, 2019). "From "Taxi Driver" to "First Reformed," an interview with Paul Schrader". America Magazine. Retrieved November 10, 2019.
  7. ↑ Schrader, Paul. "FIRST REFORMED Q&A with Paul Schrader & Ethan Hawke". YouTube. Angelika Film Center. Retrieved July 22, 2022.
  8. ↑ Kay, Jeremy (September 7, 2017). "Paul Schrader talks Toronto title 'First Reformed', 50 years in the making". Screen Daily. Archived from the original on June 20, 2021. Retrieved January 13, 2024.
  9. ↑ Nicholson, Amy (May 17, 2018). "'First Reformed': Paul Schrader on Faith, Hope and Returning to Form". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on October 21, 2023. Retrieved January 13, 2024.
  10. ↑ Utichi, Joe (January 4, 2019). "'First Reformed' Q&A: Paul Schrader Shocked He Wasn't Attacked As "Liberal Jihadist" After 'Last Temptation' Protests". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on February 3, 2023. Retrieved January 13, 2024.
  11. ↑ Soterakis, Alexis (June 9, 2018). "The Zion Church Strawberry Festival". Bayside Patch. Patch Media. Archived from the original on June 24, 2018. Retrieved June 23, 2018.
  12. ↑ Anderson, Ariston (August 31, 2017). "Venice: Paul Schrader Predicts Post-Human Species Will Replace Human Race". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on August 12, 2022. Retrieved January 12, 2024.
  13. ↑ Debruge, Peter (September 3, 2017). "Paul Schrader Digs Into Explosive Themes of Venice Pic 'First Reformed'". Variety. Archived from the original on April 14, 2023. Retrieved January 12, 2024.
  14. ↑ Chang, Justin (September 10, 2017). "Toronto Diary: Festival highlights from 'First Reformed' to 'Lady Bird'". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on September 29, 2022. Retrieved January 12, 2024.
  15. ↑ Tartaglione, Nancy (September 12, 2017). "'First Reformed': Paul Schrader On His "Dark Night Of The Soul" Movie". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on December 31, 2023. Retrieved January 12, 2024.
  16. ↑ Lee, Ashley (September 15, 2017). "Toronto: Ethan Hawke Thriller 'First Reformed' Goes to A24". Archived from the original on September 30, 2022. Retrieved January 14, 2023.
  17. ↑ Busch, Anita (September 15, 2017). "A24 Acquires U.S. Rights To Paul Schrader's 'First Reformed'". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on February 10, 2023. Retrieved January 14, 2023.
  18. ↑ McNary, Dave (September 15, 2017). "Ethan Hawke-Amanda Seyfried Thriller 'First Reformed' Bought by A24 for U.S." Variety. Archived from the original on April 11, 2023. Retrieved January 14, 2023.
  19. ↑ Pedersen, Erik (March 29, 2018). "'First Reformed' Trailer: Ethan Hawke & Amanda Seyfried In Paul Schrader's Crisis-Of-Faith Thriller". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on May 22, 2022. Retrieved January 14, 2023.
  20. ↑ Macnab, Geoffrey (June 7, 2018). "'First Reformed' starring Ethan Hawke secures international distribution deal". Screen Daily. Archived from the original on January 29, 2022. Retrieved January 14, 2023.
  21. ↑ Schrader, Paul (January 31, 2023). First Reformed. Archway Editions. ISBN 9781576879740 – via Simon & Schuster.
  22. ↑ Brooks, Brian (May 20, 2018). "'First Reformed' Nabs Top Spot; 'Pope Francis' Mixed: Specialty Box Office". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on June 9, 2023. Retrieved January 14, 2024.
  23. ↑ Brueggemann, Tom (May 20, 2018). "Paul Schrader's 'First Reformed' Is a Hit, and the '2001' Reissue Finds New Box-Office Life". IndieWire. Retrieved January 14, 2024.
  24. ↑ "First Reformed". Box Office Mojo. IMDb. Archived from the original on December 25, 2022. Retrieved January 12, 2024.
  25. ↑ "First Reformed". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Archived from the original on January 10, 2024. Retrieved January 14, 2024.
  26. ↑ "First Reformed". Metacritic. Fandom, Inc. Archived from the original on September 26, 2023. Retrieved January 14, 2024.
  27. ↑ Scott, A. O. (May 17, 2018). "Review: 'First Reformed' Is an Epiphany. Ethan Hawke Is, Too". The New York Times. Archived from the original on December 31, 2023. Retrieved January 14, 2024.
  28. ↑ Chang, Justin (May 17, 2018). "Review: The bracing 'First Reformed,' starring a superb Ethan Hawke, resurrects Paul Schrader's career". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on September 13, 2023. Retrieved January 14, 2024.
  29. ↑ Sims, David (May 18, 2018). "The Bracing, Grim Power of First Reformed". The Atlantic. Retrieved January 18, 2022.
  30. ↑ Bradshaw, Peter (July 12, 2018). "First Reformed review – Ethan Hawke faces Paul Schrader's spiritual apocalypse – Peter Bradshaw's film of the week". The Guardian. Guardian News and Media. Retrieved August 3, 2018.
  31. ↑ Phillips, Michael (May 24, 2018). "'First Reformed' review: Ethan Hawke's bracing dark night of the soul". The Chicago Tribune. Retrieved January 18, 2022.
  32. ↑ "These Are Your 2019 Film Independent Spirit Award Nominees!". Film Independent. November 16, 2018. Retrieved July 17, 2020.
  33. ↑ ETHAN HAWKE wins Best Male Lead for FIRST REFORMED at the 2019 Film Independent Spirit Awards on official YouTube channel
  34. ↑ "Best Adapted Screenplay - Critics' Choice Awards: 'Roma,' 'Americans,' 'Mrs. Maisel' Top Winners". The Hollywood Reporter. January 13, 2019. Retrieved July 17, 2020.
  35. ↑ "'Marriage Story' Sweeps Gotham Awards; Full Winners List". The Hollywood Reporter. December 2, 2019. Retrieved July 17, 2020.
  36. ↑ Sharf, Zack (November 27, 2018). "National Board of Review 2018 Winners: 'Green Book' Named Best Film, Lady Gaga Best Actress". IndieWire. Retrieved July 17, 2020.
  37. ↑ "AFI AWARDS 2018". American Film Institute. Retrieved July 17, 2020.
  38. ↑ 2019|Oscars.org
  39. ↑ "Oscar Nominations 2019: See Full List of Nominees". Retrieved July 17, 2020.
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