Who was the priest? Were there inside jokes here?
[jp,se] The priest was Rev Norris, and he visited Juliet in the sanatorium. The scene with Rev Norris was probably included for three reasons. First, it is a timely reminder of the religious themes that permeate the film (see 3.1.15). Second, for irony. Rev Norris attempts to ‘comfort’ Juliet with standard Christian fire-and- brimstone rhetoric; taken literally, his words conjure up violent and disturbing images, of course–hardly comforting for a sick and lonely child. And his pamphlet shows a picture of a bloody Jesus suffering under torture on the cross. Juliet imagines her own salvation from this annoying man and it is comparably violent–Diello dispatches Rev Norris by dragging him to Borovnia and publicly beheading him. Funny, but Rev Norris didn’t seem to be pleased to be meeting his Maker and Saviour… The third reason was probably to illustrate and emphasize Juliet’s contempt for organized religion. Earlier in the film she makes some withering comments about the distinction b
