Jonathan Gaisman

Collected essays, reviews and articles

Only the movies have kept the faith

June 2019, Standpoint

Victor Sjostrom in “Wild Strawberries”, 1957

Preface

Mark Le Fanu and James Lefanu are brothers who have the unusual characteristic of spelling their surnames differently. James is a neighbour of mine in London; at his house I met Mark, who asked me to review his book Believing in Film: Christianity and Classic European Cinema. I think this was on the strength of his having read my essay The Devout Sceptic. It certainly wasn’t on account of my expertise in film about which, as is painfully obvious, I know nothing. So this short essay is an exercise in treading water, and knocking out a few of my thoughts about religion which did not make it into the earlier essay or were the product of subsequent reading.