Featured image: Ali Skovbye in The Corruption of Divine Providence. (Courtesy of White Bear Films.)
The Corruption of Divine Providence is one of the strangest films I’ve seen in some time, and in this film’s case, that’s just a compliment to its ambitious world building. It follows the Séraphin family in the fictional, bilingual town of St-Michel, Manitoba, as the youngest daughter, Jeanne (Ali Skovbye), is nearly killed by a mysterious bleeding and is rushed to the hospital. That’s the jumping point for a film with near-exorcism, characters questioning their faith, and the town believing Jeanne is a miracle as everyone vies to figure out what’s happening. The film also stars Elyse Levesque, Tantoo Cardinal, Cory Sevier, David La Haye and Paul Amos, and is written and directed by Jeremy Torrie.
If you end up watching the film, you might question whether it’s drama or horror – especially with that opening sequence that gets gnarly quickly – but director, writer and producer Jeremy Torrie assures me it’s meant to be drama. Torrie was my guest today for this episode of The Filmcraziest Show, where we chat about the influences behind the film, originally wanting to make a miniseries, the kidnapping in the film and an underground lair, exploring the beliefs in the film, the world building and filming in the Prairies of Manitoba, making a film like this where it feels like it could go horror but it mostly stays drama, as well as the whispering lizards, preachers, Canadian movies and much more in between.
You can listen to the episode directly below or go here to download it. The Corruption of Divine Providence is now available to watch online like on YouTube (and here’s a link to rent or buy it).
*Podcast music courtesy of bensound.com
