100 Movies Every Catholic Should See #13: I Confess (1953)

Directed by Alfred Hitchcock. Written by William Archibald and George Tabori. Starring Montgomery Clift, Anne Baxter, Karl Malden, and O. E. Hasse.

Between Strangers on a Train and Dial M for Murder, right at the beginning of what many consider Alfred Hitchcock’s golden age of cinematic thrillers, the Master of Suspense directed I Confess, a legal thriller centered around a Roman Catholic priest’s refusal to break the seal of the confessional. It is not as well-known or beloved as some of Hitch’s other films, perhaps because if the audience does not understand the absolute sacrality of the confessional, the main conflict seems like it could be avoided with just a few words. However, to a Catholic audience this film not only deals respectfully and innovatively with our sacramental traditions but also explores Christlike self-sacrifice and heroism in a powerful way.

The film opens with our protagonist, Fr. Michael Logan (Montgomery Clift), meeting a penitent in the confessional. The penitent, a church employee named Otto Keller, confesses to Fr. Logan that he has killed a local solicitor during a burglary. By an unfortunate coincidence, this solicitor is blackmailing an old flame of Fr. Logan’s, Ruth Grandfort (Anne Baxter), and Inspector Larrue (Karl Malden) suspects Fr. Logan of committing the murder. Unable to give the police the true identity of the murderer without breaking the seal of the confessional, Fr. Logan answers questions evasively and only attracts more suspicion to himself. The case finally goes to trial and although he is acquitted in court, the public believes that Fr. Logan not only murdered the solicitor but has been carrying on an adulterous affair with Madame Grandfort, ruining his reputation and threatening his clerical status.

Alfred Hitchcock was a lifelong practicing Catholic and if Fr. Mark Henninger, a Jesuit priest who knew him at the end of his life, is to be believed, Hitch was deeply devoted to the sacraments. It is not surprising, then, that his depiction of Catholic teaching regarding the seal of the confessional is accurate to a fault. It is not often that one sees a Catholic tradition portrayed on film with such scrupulous accuracy. There are no clerical stereotypes, no misunderstandings; Fr. Logan behaves precisely how the Church teaches a priest should when it comes to confession. Keller watches him intensely for any signs of breaking; he tests him regularly, becoming almost neurotic in his fear that Fr. Logan will reveal his crime. However, Fr. Logan does not treat Keller any differently in their day-to-day interactions; when questioned about the crime, he answers questions that might reveal Keller’s confession with “I can’t say”. This response is taken as breezy deflection by Inspector Larrue, but Fr. Logan is deadly earnest: he literally cannot say any more on this subject without violating the seal. Indeed, Larue does not put two and two together until the very end of the film, when a crazed Keller is the one who reveals the confession during a police chase. Regardless of the consequences, Fr. Logan remains faithful to his priestly duty.

And the consequences are severe. Because Fr. Logan is unable to reveal Keller as the murderer, his life begins to unravel. He loses the trust of his parishioners, who now see this young priest as violent and unchaste. As the police continue to circle around him, the possibility that he will be hanged in Keller’s place becomes more and more real. On the day that the police decide to arrest him, he is faced with three choices: flee the country, break the seal, or turn himself in even though he is innocent. As he ponders these choices, he walks around the hilly Quebec neighborhood of his parish, contemplating the different options lying before him. Clift’s acting here is superb; the combination of the route he takes, the symbols he sees around him, and the various expressions darting across his face combine to depict Fr. Logan’s via crucis, an image made explicit by one incredible Hitchcockian shot composition. If he wishes to save his life, it seems that he must break his vows and reveal Keller’s confession. The only other option is to take up the cross and follow the footsteps of the Crucified Lord.

This option is ultimately the one that Fr. Logan heroically chooses, turning himself into the police and facing an incredibly public trial. All of the dirty laundry is aired at this trial: Madame Grandfort’s unrequited love for Fr. Logan; the blackmail attempt; an earlier assault that (pre-seminary) Logan made on this same solicitor when he impugned Madame Grandfort’s honor; the fact that a figure in a cassock (Keller in disguise) was seen leaving the scene of the crime; Fr. Logan’s suspiciously evasive answers. Despite all of this, the jury rightly decided that there was no evidence that Fr. Logan had actually wielded the weapon which killed the solicitor; however, the court of public opinion judged him completely guilty. As he leaves the courthouse, he is met with taunts and jeers; a mob seems ready to lynch him right there on the spot. Fr. Logan maintains a stoic silence, ready to be the innocent victim sacrificed for the guilty if need be.

However, Keller’s wife Alma, moved by Fr. Logan’s heroism, breaks her silence and cries to the crowd that Fr. Logan is innocent. Keller, driven to the brink of madness by his guilt and fear, shoots Alma, prompting Inspector Larrue to rethink his conclusions about Fr. Logan and causing a police chase through a Quebec hotel. Keller, holed up in a ballroom, believes that Fr. Logan has broken the seal and taunts him and the surrounding police, confessing all. He is killed in a shootout with the police and Fr. Logan rushes to his side, arriving just in time to hear the dying Keller whisper “forgive me!” This man, a burglar and a murderer, who tried to pin his crimes on his innocent benefactor to save his own skin, who has been shown in an almost demonic light tempting and taunting Fr. Logan throughout the film, who abused the sacrament of confession in order to frame a priest, has the audacity in his dying moments to ask once more for forgiveness!

Fr. Logan responds quietly: “Ego te absolvo in Nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti”. Despite everything Keller had done to Fr. Logan, the priest still shows Christ to him in his final moments and forgives him for everything. Throughout the entire film, Fr. Logan practices heroic Christian virtue under the most difficult of circumstances, displaying an ideal of priestly conduct that stands in contrast to the many anti-clerical stereotypes we often see in modern Hollywood films.

Some critics do not believe that I Confess stands up to the quality of the rest of Hitchcock’s filmography. It has been criticized for revealing the killer too early, which some believe breaks the suspense of the film. The precise rules around the seal of the confessional are not well-explained, leading some to not understand Fr. Logan’s motivations for undergoing this ordeal. And the final moment of forgiveness takes place entirely in the Latin liturgical language of the confessional, confusing those who are unfamiliar with Catholic sacramental ritual. These elements make the film almost inaccessible for an uninformed audience, which is perhaps why it is not as well-regarded as some of Hitchcock’s other masterworks. However, for a Catholic audience all of these elements combine to create a truly wonderful portrayal of clerical virtue and Christlike self-sacrifice. If we ourselves suspected Fr. Logan, his via crucis would not hit as strongly. A good understanding of the rules and rituals of confession unlock layers of this film which make it one of the best portrayals of Catholicism on film. And the suspense and human drama involved keep the audience engaged throughout even as they portray a Catholic understanding of the fallenness of man, sin, temptation, redemption, and forgiveness. I Confess is both a great Catholic film and a great Hitchcock thriller. Although the Master of Suspense did not often allow his faith to overtly influence his art, when he did the results were truly amazing.