Film review: Paradise: Faith from Ulrich Seidl

Ulrich Seidl, 113mins. Starring: Maria Hofstätter (18)

The second part of Austrian director Ulrich Seidl's trilogy about three women on a quest for happiness follows a middle-aged Catholic missionary in Vienna (Maria Hofstätter.)

She's a stern, self-punishing woman who has sublimated her own sexual feelings into her religion. The film plays like a Germanic version of a Luis Buñuel film about sexual and religious obsession. It's claustrophobic, well acted and brilliantly shot but for all its dark humour, remains uncomfortable to watch. Seidl is harsh and unforgiving toward his strange heroine.