Into Great Silence (U)
- Consumer Advice: Contains no material likely to offend or harm
- Run time: 2 hours 49 mins
- Language: French
- Genre: Documentary
- Release date: 29th December 2006
- Starring: Monks of the Grande Chartreuse Monastery
- Directed by: Philip Gröning
- Distributor: Soda Pictures
Plot Synopsis
And the Lord passed by. Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart
and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind.
After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake.
After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire.
And after the fire came a gentle whisper.
1 Kings 19, 11-13
Silence. Repetition. Rhythm.
Into Great Silence' is a very strict, next to silent meditation on monastic life in a very pure form. No music except the chants in the monastery, no interviews, no commentaries, no extra material. Changing of time, seasons, and the ever repeated elements of the day, of the prayer.
A film to become a monastery, rather than depict one. A film on awareness, absolute presence, and the life of men who devoted their lifetimes to God in the purest of form.
Contemplation. An object in time.
'Into Great Silence' is the first film ever about life inside the Grande Chartreuse, the mother house of the legendary Carthusian Order in the French Alps.
From the director of the award-winning 'L’amour, l’argent, l’amour' and 'The Terrorists'.