‘The Club’ is a flawed film about church sexual abuse

By Kyle Smith
New York Post
February 3, 2016

http://nypost.com/2016/02/03/the-club-is-a-flawed-film-about-church-sexual-abuse/

Picking up where “Spotlight” left off, Chile’s “The Club” wanders through a purgatory where ex-priests reflect upon their many sins.

In a tranquil beach town, four defrocked priests live in the Catholic Church’s version of house arrest, isolated from the community and tended to by an ex-nun (Antonia Zegers). But an act of violence and an investigation by a visiting church official (Marcelo Alonso) shatter their equipoise.

Pablo Larrain’s film is sure to please haters of the Catholic Church, especially when a victim (Roberto Farias) of one priest delivers a lengthy monologue providing graphic details of sexual abuse, but the near-pornographic frisson of that scene’s score-settling doesn’t mitigate the film’s flaws. In effect it’s a slow-developing and pointless detective story (it doesn’t really matter whether the visiting inspector discovers the truth) that segues into a morality play with a hazy resolution. “The Club” offers plenty of stifling, agonized atmosphere, but it’s all penitence and no redemption.