The Mill and the Cross

The Mill and the Cross Polish Myn i krzy is a 2011 drama film directed by Lech Majewski and starring Rutger Hauer, Charlotte Rampling and Michael York. It is inspired by Pieter Bruegel the Elders 1564 painting The Procession to Calvary, and based on Michael Francis Gibsons book The Mill and the Cross. The film was a PolishSwedish coproduction. Filming on the project wrapped in August 2009. It premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 23, 2011.

Joe Bendel ... one of the standouts at this years Sundance. Variety s Dennis Harvey wrote While hardly an exercise in strict realism a la The Girl With the Pearl Earring, the pic details rustic Flanders life with loving care, from costuming to simple machinery. Pics narrative content ... is hardly straightforward or propulsive. ... the film is never dull, and frequently entrancing. Harvey thought that if marketed cleverly, the film could prove the Polish helmers belated international breakthrough. Neil Young of The Hollywood Reporter complimented the technical achievements, but called the film ambitious but frustratingly flat. He described the English dialogue as mostly clunky and thought the film has too much of a stodgy Europudding feel. On the other hand, in his review for the San Francisco International Film Festival, executive director Graham Leggat wrote ...the narrative is not the pointthe extraordinary imagery is. The painting literally comes to life in this spellbinding film, its wondrous scenes entering the viewer like a dream enters a sleeping body.

Source: Wikipedia