• Director(s):

    LE CLAIR (FREDERIC)

  • Producer(s):

    ARTE GEIE

  • Territories:

    Worldwide.

  • Production year:

    2001

  • Language(s):

    German, French

  • Rights:

    NON-THEATRICAL, TV

During the 19th and 20th centuries, people seized on Catharism and projected their own fantasies onto it.

The 1944 film "La Fiancée des ténèbres" (Bride of Darkness) is a classic masterpiece based entirely on fantasy. It would make the perfect turn in their graves - if the Church had allowed them to be buried... But the film is significant for that very reason. Catharism fired people's imaginations. During the 19th and 20th centuries, people seized on Catharism and projected their own fantasies onto it, seeing it as a search for purity, for universal truths, for independence or even regional sovereignty or emancipation. The wish-list associated with Catharism is a long one.
Actor Michael Lonsdale sets off on a cyber-quest to find the scholars most versed in the myth of the Cathars, and summons them for questioning in the beautiful, ascetic Abbey of Lagrasse.