However reductive it might be to frame “By the Grace of God” as a French riff on “Spotlight,” that’s exactly what writer-director François Ozon was hoping to make when he decided to make a film about the ongoing trial of Lyon-based Cardinal Philippe Barbarin, who stands accused of covering up the fact that a charismatic priest in his dioceses has been sexually abusing children for more than 30 years.
More to the point, that’s also exactly what Bernard Preynat’s victims asked Ozon to make for them.Not a documentary exposé, as the filmmaker once intended, because that would do little more than reiterate the facts these brave men have already worked so hard to disseminate through the media.
And certainly not a psychosexual thriller in the vein of Ozon’s previous work, as it’s easy to imagine how this story might not be well-suited for someone whose
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