This is a small, slow-paced, poised, beautiful movie only the French can make. Of course, the old buildings, paint-flaking doors, and the sounds of the French language help to set the tone.It is about childhood and priesthood, friendship and love, honesty and lack of malice, and how a religious, heterosexist culture can mess them up. It is worth watching even if you don't buy the whole catholic/theological argumentation (I don't).It also alludes to the oft-pointed fact that the Church - while despising same-sex love/sex - has been a safe haven for those God-fearing individuals who cannot act/feel otherwise.Enjoy!

We are told that this is the story of the love/friendship between two pupils at a repressive Catholic School for Boys in post-war France. One of the boys is a brilliant upperclassman, the other a much younger poor pupil with behavioral problems. As the movie opens, the friendship between these two is already established, but no explanation or dramatic incident is shown to justify this unlikely combination. Why would the older kid, about to graduate, bother with the younger boy? I know about schoolboy crushes, but aren't they usually between peers or from student to teacher? At the same time, the strict Abbot (the #2 priest at the school) has developed a powerful attraction to the younger boy as well, so that a rivalry is set in motion between the Abbot and the older boy for the affections of the younger one. All of this might be more believable if the child actor, the object of their affections, displayed some sort of magnetic charm/beauty/attraction. He doesn't. The two boys are meeting in secret. When eventually the older one bestows a kiss, the camera cuts away quickly and leaves the impression that something nasty is about to take place. I doubt it.What IS nasty is the power play and the the games used by the Abbot to eliminate his rival. All of this has been observed silently by the Father Superior who runs the school. The Abbot has his rival expelled, and the Father Superior gets rid of the younger one. Both boys disappear and are not seen again. So much for the "story" of their friendship!What remains is the powerful and extended final scene in which the Father Superior confronts the Abbot and chastises him for his abuse of power. They debate the issue of Christian love and charity, and the Abott must inevitably yield to the censure of his boss.We have here, then, a film that is primarily a character study of the repressed and devious Abbot, and how, in the name of "love," he abuses the students without laying a finger on them. This puts in perspective the later abuses of the Catholic clergy in times of looser restraints and more overt sexuality. It is fascinating, and the film will stay with you. I just wish they had expanded on the original stage play to make the basic situation more believable. A more charismatic actor as the youngster might have helped.

THE FIRE THAT BURNS may seem like an odd title for this French film originally titled LE VILLE Don't LE PRINCE EST UN Infant ("The Land Where the King is a Child") - until the final scene. But such idiosyncrasies abound in this story set in Paris and at times the blend of surrealism, nascent passion, mysticism, philosophy, and ecclesiastic order makes this film feel like visual and cerebral flights of fancy. The trip is worth it! Abbot de Pradts (Christophe Melavoy, who also directs) is a handsome, sensitive priest in a Catholic boys school in Paris, a school whose boys live both on-campus or at home. de Pradts has taken under his wing a poor, beautiful young boy Souplier (Clement van der Bergh) whose studies suffer and who is somewhat of a behavior problem. Souplier thrives on the attention paid him by de Pradts, but is more focused on another older student Sevrais (Nael Marandin) with whom he spends time skipping classes, exploring, and actually loving: the very pure and lovely love affair between these two lads is beautifully captured by both the actors and the director. It is not long before de Pradts feels jealousy for the influence of Sevrais on Souplier, and eventually de Pradts finds a way to remove Servais from the school. This of course results in his demanding that Souplier forsake Sevrais and the results of this demand constitute the finale of the film best saved for the viewer to discover. Though the suggestion of de Pradts' physical attraction to Souplier is sub rosa, the head of the school Father Superior (Michel Aumont) observes the dynamics and in a visceral confrontation between the two priests probes the meaning of sacred vs. profane love. The sublime intelligence of this duet is some of the best writing ever for film on this difficult subject and both Malavoy and Aumont give performances of great power and depth."The Fire That Burns" is that passion within the soul that can lead to evil if not sublimated. de Pradts has fallen victim to that fire and allowed 'the child to be the king of his land'. This is a powerful movie, graced with stunning sets and photography, and a score that is based on Gounod's music ('Kyrie eleison') throughout. Highly recommended. Grady Harp, November 2004

This story of a priest scrutinizing the close friendship of two young boys in a highly-religious, regulated catholic school, was well treated and in tune with the author's book. The poised and repressed sentiments lead to a slow, uneventful movie that succeeds however in getting its point across. A nice tableau of a time not so far away.