# Calvary (2014 film)
**Calvary** is a 2014 black comedy-drama film written and directed by [John Michael McDonagh](https://www.edgepedia.org/john-michael-mcdonagh), starring [Brendan Gleeson](https://www.edgepedia.org/brendan-gleeson) as Father James Lavelle, a good-hearted Catholic priest in a small Irish town who is told during confession that he will be killed in one week by an unseen parishioner.[1](https://www.rte.ie/entertainment/movie-reviews/2014/0410/608004-calvary/) It was McDonagh's second feature, following his 2011 comedy thriller *The Guard*, which also starred Gleeson.[2](https://www.kviff.com/en/programme/film/31/8192-calvary)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Director and writer | John Michael McDonagh, his second feature after *The Guard* (2011)[2](https://www.kviff.com/en/programme/film/31/8192-calvary) |
| Lead performance | Brendan Gleeson as Father James Lavelle, a widower-turned-priest; Kelly Reilly plays his daughter Fiona[1](https://www.rte.ie/entertainment/movie-reviews/2014/0410/608004-calvary/) |
| Premise | An unseen man, abused by clerics as a child, tells the priest in confession he will kill him in one week, saying "There's no point in killing a bad priest"[2](https://www.kviff.com/en/programme/film/31/8192-calvary) |
| Release | UK and Ireland 11 April 2014; United States 1 August 2014 (Fox Searchlight, limited)[3](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/film-week-calvary) • [4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/calvary_2013) |
| Critical reception | 89% on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer (167 reviews); Metascore of 77 on Metacritic based on 42 critics[4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/calvary_2013) • [5](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/calvary/) |
| Box office | Over $11 million internationally, including over €1.6 million in Ireland[6](https://www.screenireland.ie/news-archive/view/2596) |
| Major awards | IFTA wins for Best Film, Best Actor (Gleeson), and Best Screenplay (McDonagh); Prize of the Ecumenical Jury at the 2014 Berlin International Film Festival[7](https://cineuropa.org/en/newsdetail/254622) • [8](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2234003/awards/) |
## Spoilers
### Plot and premise
The film opens in a confessional, where an unseen man tells Father James that he was sexually abused as a child by a priest and intends to take revenge by killing James, a good priest, the following Sunday. He explains the logic of the choice: killing a bad priest would accomplish nothing, while the murder of an innocent man would make a point about the discredited church.[2](https://www.kviff.com/en/programme/film/31/8192-calvary) • [3](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/film-week-calvary) Bound by the sanctity of the confessional, James cannot report the threat, and the story follows him through a week of encounters with the townspeople as the deadline approaches.[9](https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/film/film-review-calvary-1.1755673)
At his lowest point, his daughter Fiona ([Kelly Reilly](https://www.edgepedia.org/kelly-reilly)) arrives needing his help after a half-hearted suicide attempt; James had taken holy orders only after his wife died.[1](https://www.rte.ie/entertainment/movie-reviews/2014/0410/608004-calvary/) • [10](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/calvary-2014) The community around him is drawn as a gallery of flawed and hostile figures, including a butcher ([Chris O'Dowd](https://www.edgepedia.org/chris-odowd)), an atheist doctor ([Aidan Gillen](https://www.edgepedia.org/aidan-gillen)), a drunken ex-financier (Dylan Moran), and a sinister publican (Pat Shortt).[1](https://www.rte.ie/entertainment/movie-reviews/2014/0410/608004-calvary/) • [11](https://www.maynoothcep.com/Archives/Newsletters/2014/Year2014.pdf) The cast also includes Domhnall Gleeson, Isaach De Bankolé, David Wilmot, and M. Emmet Walsh.[5](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/calvary/)
## Themes and context
The film emerges directly from the crisis of Irish Catholicism caused by sexual abuse by priests and its institutional covering-up.[3](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/film-week-calvary) The title points to Calvary, the hill where Jesus was crucified: James is framed as a Christ-like figure, an innocent man atoning for the sins of others, and the story parallels the last days before his death.[12](https://www.cbcew.org.uk/plain/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2019/07/calvary-review.pdf) Faith is challenged throughout, from insult to physical threat.[13](https://www.lfs.org.au/uploads/downloads/Newsreel-36-1.pdf)
McDonagh named [Robert Bresson](https://www.edgepedia.org/robert-bresson)'s *Diary of a Country Priest* as an influence, describing his own film as "Bresson's *Diary of a Country Priest* with a few gags thrown in"; the critic Jonathan Romney sums it up as a hybrid of Bresson's film and *High Noon*, since it climaxes with its solitary hero striding alone to his appointed showdown.[9](https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/film/film-review-calvary-1.1755673) • [3](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/film-week-calvary) McDonagh and Gleeson described the film as the second part of a planned "suicide trilogy" that began with *The Guard*.[14](https://www.bfi.org.uk/interviews/soutane-impact-brendan-gleeson-john-michael-mcdonagh-calvary)
## Production
The film was shot on location in [County Sligo](https://www.edgepedia.org/county-sligo), in rural western Ireland near McDonagh's mother's hometown, and the director called shooting there the best feeling he took away from the production.[15](https://www.rte.ie/entertainment/2014/0808/635935-interview-john-michael-mcdonagh/) • [16](https://www.dmagazine.com/arts-entertainment/2014/08/calvary-director-john-michael-mcdonagh-on-his-unconventional-muses/) [Cinematography](https://www.edgepedia.org/cinematography) was by Larry Smith, the score by Patrick Cassidy, and editing by Chris Gill; it was produced by Chris Clark, Flora Fernandez-Marengo, and James Flynn through Reprisal Films, Octagon Films, and partners including the Irish Film Board.[17](https://www.europeanfilmawards.eu/efa-movie/calvary/) • [4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/calvary_2013) The British Board of Film Classification classified the cinema version at 100 minutes 52 seconds with advice for very strong language, strong sex references, and bloody violence.[18](https://www.bbfc.co.uk/release/calvary-q29sbgvjdglvbjpwwc0zotmxodk)
## Reception
*Calvary* was well received at the Sundance and Berlin film festivals and opened the Jameson Dublin International Film Festival.[1](https://www.rte.ie/entertainment/movie-reviews/2014/0410/608004-calvary/) At the 2014 [Berlin International Film Festival](https://www.edgepedia.org/berlin-international-film-festival) it won the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury in the Panorama section.[8](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2234003/awards/) Reviewers singled out Gleeson's performance: Anthony Lane wrote in *The New Yorker* that in Gleeson "we see the plight of the lonely believer in a world beyond belief," while the Rotten Tomatoes critics consensus credits his "brilliant performance" for carrying the film's weighty issues with humor, intelligence, and sensitivity.[4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/calvary_2013) Not all reviews were positive; Donald Clarke in *The Irish Times* called it a "scattershot, nihilist Irish dramedy" whose emblematic characters prevented momentum, though he praised Gleeson's "touching, nuanced portrayal".[9](https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/film/film-review-calvary-1.1755673)
**Awards.** At the 11th Irish Film and Television Awards, *Calvary* won three prizes: Best Film, Best Actor for Gleeson, and Best Script for McDonagh.[7](https://cineuropa.org/en/newsdetail/254622) Gleeson also won Best Actor at the 2014 British Independent Film Awards, where the film was additionally nominated for Best British Independent Film, Best Director, and Best Screenplay.[8](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2234003/awards/) The film won the FIPRESCI Prize at the Transilvania International Film Festival, and Gleeson was nominated for the European Film Award for European Actor in 2014.[8](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2234003/awards/) • [6](https://www.screenireland.ie/news-archive/view/2596)
**Box office.** Against glowing reviews, the film opened at number one at the Irish box office with €1.5 million, the highest opening weekend for any Irish film released in 2014 to that point.[19](https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/arid-20268372.html) It went on to take over $11 million internationally, including over €1.6 million in Ireland.[6](https://www.screenireland.ie/news-archive/view/2596) In the United States, released by Fox Searchlight on 1 August 2014, it grossed $3.6 million.[4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/calvary_2013)
## References
1. [Calvary review, RTÉ Entertainment](https://www.rte.ie/entertainment/movie-reviews/2014/0410/608004-calvary/)
2. [Calvary, Karlovy Vary International Film Festival archive](https://www.kviff.com/en/programme/film/31/8192-calvary)
3. [Film of the week: Calvary, Sight and Sound (BFI)](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/film-week-calvary)
4. [Calvary, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/calvary_2013)
5. [Calvary Reviews, Metacritic](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/calvary/)
6. [Brendan Gleeson and 'The Missing Scarf' are Nominated at European Film Awards 2014, Screen Ireland](https://www.screenireland.ie/news-archive/view/2596)
7. [Calvary, Byzantium and Philomena triumph at IFTAs, Cineuropa](https://cineuropa.org/en/newsdetail/254622)
8. [Calvary (2014) Awards, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2234003/awards/)
9. [Film review: Calvary, The Irish Times](https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/film/film-review-calvary-1.1755673)
10. [Calvary movie review & film summary, RogerEbert.com](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/calvary-2014)
11. [Maynooth newsletter on Calvary](https://www.maynoothcep.com/Archives/Newsletters/2014/Year2014.pdf)
12. [Calvary review, Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales](https://www.cbcew.org.uk/plain/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2019/07/calvary-review.pdf)
13. [CALVARY (MA 15+), Jewish Film Festival Newsreel](https://www.lfs.org.au/uploads/downloads/Newsreel-36-1.pdf)
14. [Soutane impact: Brendan Gleeson and John Michael McDonagh on Calvary, BFI](https://www.bfi.org.uk/interviews/soutane-impact-brendan-gleeson-john-michael-mcdonagh-calvary)
15. [Interview: Calvary director John Michael McDonagh, RTÉ Entertainment](https://www.rte.ie/entertainment/2014/0808/635935-interview-john-michael-mcdonagh/)
16. [Calvary Director John Michael McDonagh, on his Unconventional Muses, D Magazine](https://www.dmagazine.com/arts-entertainment/2014/08/calvary-director-john-michael-mcdonagh-on-his-unconventional-muses/)
17. [CALVARY, European Film Academy](https://www.europeanfilmawards.eu/efa-movie/calvary/)
18. [Calvary, British Board of Film Classification](https://www.bbfc.co.uk/release/calvary-q29sbgvjdglvbjpwwc0zotmxodk)
19. ['Calvary' goes straight to the top of the box office, Irish Examiner](https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/arid-20268372.html)
---
*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Drama and biographical films (individual works) › Drama films 2010 to 2014*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license