Main cast: David La Haye (Father Romuald), Audrey Benoît (Clarimonde), and Terence Stamp (The Host)
Director: Tom Dey
Clarimonde is loosely based on Théophile Gautier’s La Morte amoureuse, which was published in 1836.
The basic premise is still the same: the newly ordained priest Romuald is horny for a mysterious beauty named Clarimonde. Surprisingly enough, this one is set in 1856, thus breaking the pattern of this show to turn any tale set in a bygone time to one set in the present day.
His new posting, at a village in Quebec, sees him arriving in the middle of a heavy snow storm, and he also learns that the priest before him hanged himself, oh dear. Still, there is plenty of heat to be had, as he’s soon lured into sin by Clarimonde.
Where this episode differs from the source material is the nature of Clarimonde and the way the episode plays out toward the end. That’s where the problem lies.
Sure, the original story is something like a MGTOW paean, telling guys everywhere not to bother with women because they aren’t worth the trouble and the drama.
This episode, on the other hand, tries to present the relationship between Romuald and Clarimonde like some sappy love story complete with tinkly piano bit music and all, but this show doesn’t do that kind of drama well.
It has the same issues as The Lighthouse, although it is a far better episode: the pacing is off. Too much time is spent on trivial scenes, and not enough on key scenes, and as a result, it’s hard to be emotionally invested when it comes to Romuald’s “angst” and “spiritual conflict”. What angst, what conflict? The episode spends so little time developing what is supposed to be the crux of the episode, so the ending just leaves me feeling meh.
Also, while David La Haye tries to do his best here, the other cast members are either under- or overacting to a degree that makes it hard to take the whole thing seriously.
All in all, this episode tries to do something far beyond its capability and capacity, and the end result is sadly and predictably nothing worthwhile.
