The Story:
Father Marc Aubray (Lambert Wilson) is a hero in his community. He still lives with his mother, and extols the virtues of virginity. He has written books on the need for celibacy until marriage. He does the talk show rounds. He teaches seminars to his teen parishioners about remaining chaste as he has his entire life. So it becomes a real "nuisance" when 14-year-old Dimitri (Adrien Aumont) shows up at his church steps claiming to be his son. The priest tries to deny it, but Dimitri has a picture showing a young Marc with his mother (who is now in jail for selling fake Mother Mary lamps that cry "miracle" tears). Dimitri may seem to be blackmailing Marc when he threatens to tell everyone about Marc's loss of virginity, but all Dimitri really wants is a father. Things become even more complicated when Dimitri's mother, just out of jail, shows up at Marc's doorstep looking for their son. And as if all this madness isn't enough, Marc is about to be blackmailed by a young female parishioner to whom he teaches celibacy!

This movie does an incredible job of dealing with heavy religious issues with cleverness, charm, and hilarity. It was such a refreshing change to watch a movie that looks at the extremes of certain religious teachings without preaching or bashing. Very real, very likeable characters on every side of the argument for abstinence keep this funny little movie on a human level, and it never crosses the line into sappiness. And best of all, it's one of those movies that you watch assuming it will have a predictable happy endings, and you resign yourself to that fact. But I was overjoyed (okay, maybe I'm being dramatic) when there was a tiny twist in about the last 30 seconds of the film that worked perfectly with the ironic tone of this smart, funny movie.

The DVD

Video:
The film is presented in a 1:66:1 letterbox aspect ratio. The flesh tones are quite natural and the color levels are excellent. Blacks offer depth and nice contrast to the brights. The print is very clean with few signs of dirt. The only downside to the transfer is a bit too much edge enhancement, which leads to some haloing and an overall soft look to the image, but it never leads to distraction.

Sound:
5.1 surround and 2.0 stereo options are available. Subtle 5.1 surround makes occasional use of left/right separation and slight use of the rear channels, coming across mostly as background echoing for ambience rather than any surround travel, this due to the fact that this is a dialogue driven film which takes place mostly indoors.

Extras:
This is a straightforward release without many extra features. The main menu shows clips from the film. English subtitles are automatic and cannot be turned off. There are 21 scene selection chapter breaks, and a preview section for other films from the Tales from the Orphanage series, of which this film is a part.

Final Thoughts:
The Holy Child is a charmer about a priest known for teaching celibacy who finds out he fathered a son, who has now shown up at his doorstep at the age of 14. Sure, there's a little lesson on the hypocrisy of the church to be learned, but this film is primarily about human relations, and the madcap domino effect that can result from not following our hearts—and natural desires.