Plot

After he is threatened during a confession, a good-natured priest must battle the dark forces closing in around him.

Father James is a small-town priest in Ireland whose Sunday confessionals suddenly include a threat to kill him in a week's time as a matter of principle. Deeply troubled and conflicted about how to respond, Father James tries to go on with his calling through that week. However, that proves impossible as he is confronted with a troubling variety of spiritual challenges from both his estranged daughter and his own parishioners. In those dispiriting struggles, Father James' life begins to fall apart as time runs out towards a confrontation that seems to crystallize his values and what he wants his life to be.—Kenneth Chisholm (kchishol@rogers.com)

Father James is a good priest living in a small town in Ireland. During a confessional, a parishioner declares that after being abused as a kid at the hands of another priest, he is going to kill Father James. In daily visits to all the town members, Father James discovers that there is no shortage of domestic abuse, racism, suicidal tendencies and extreme nihilistic views. A lack of innocence runs deep and a series of criminal acts forces Father James to face his persecutor and the dark consequences from the past of the Catholic Church.—Anne Campbell

In a Sunday morning in a small town in Ireland, a parishioner confesses to Father James the sexual abuse he was submitted by a priest when he was a child. He says that he will kill James, who is a good priest, at the beach on the next Sunday instead of a bad priest to disturb the Church. During the week, Father James has to deal with his troubled and estranged daughter Fiona Lavelle who tried to commit suicide; with the disturbed butcher Jack Brennan who hit his unfaithful wife Veronica; with her aggressive lover Simon; with an old writer who needs attention; with the cynical and atheist Dr. Frank Harte; with the problematic and spiritually empty millionaire Michael Fitzgerald who wants to donate money to the church. Meanwhile his church is burnt to the ground and Father James gets a gun from the local chief of police; then he decides to travel to Dublin. What will be Father James's final decision?—Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

In a dark Catholic confessional, an unseen man tells Father James (Brendan Gleeson) he was horribly sexually abused as a child by a priest, promising to kill James at the beach the next Sunday. The confessor says their abuser is dead and the Catholic community is largely indifferent, so they will murder an innocent priest to draw greater outrage. James being a good man whose death will impact the church more than would that of an abusive priest. James has a week to arrange his affairs. His bishop Montgomery (David McSavage) leaves it to James to decide whether to notify the police. The sin is pending, and forgiveness wasn't sought, so James wouldn't break the seal of confession. James' daughter Fiona (Kelly Reilly) has attempted suicide after feeling abandoned following her mother's death and her father's entry into the priesthood. James continues his parish duties, encountering antagonism from many locals.

Local butcher Jack Brennan (Chris O'Dowd) has hit his unfaithful wife, Veronica (Orla O'Rourke), and James confronts him. Jack denies it, blaming Veronica's African lover, Simon (Isaach De Bankole). Simon refuses to talk with James, citing violent missions in his native Africa. James struggles to discuss Simon with Father Leary (David Wilmot), who suggests ignoring everything as Simon could accuse them of racism. James goes about his pastoral duties and obtains a revolver for an elderly American writer Gerald (M. Emmet Walsh) who is contemplating suicide to thwart senile decay.

James visits Inspector Stanton (Gary Lydon) and borrows an antique revolver from The Troubles. Stanton confides that he once arrested a priest on rape accusations but was reassigned while the priest escaped as a missionary. Banker Michael Fitzgerald requests a house visit from James. Millionaire Michael Fitzgerald's (Dylan Moran) family has deserted him, and he feels directionless and detached from reality. James responds that penance requires seeking forgiveness; Fitzgerald responds by urinating on a rare painting.

At the hospital, following a car crash, James performs the last rites for the French driver, and comforts the widow, Teresa (Marie-Josée Croze). She stoically accepts her husband's fate, believing premature death unfair only if the victim has never felt real love.

James visits Freddie Joyce (Domhnall Gleeson) in jail, a killer who ate his female victims and now, asking for forgiveness, cannot recall where one particular victim is buried. James accuses him of insincerity, saying if God cannot understand Freddie, nobody can. Through James's dealings with Freddie, Michael, another potential suicide (Milo), Teresa and Fiona, the film reflects on guilt, sin, virtue, depression and suicide.

That night, James witnesses the burning down of his church. Montgomery blames James' would-be killer and presses him to report them; James refuses, noting every villager has grievances with him or the church. Fitzgerald offers a large sum for a new church, to the delight of Leary and the distaste of James. Fiona confronts James, saying he abandoned her after her mother's death, first by alcohol and then by priesthood. James later tells Veronica he will never abandon her, spiritually at least, and she reciprocates. Finding his dog dead with its throat cut, he buries it, weeping, but keeps the death from his daughter the next morning as she leaves.

Walking a country lane, James chats innocently with a young girl when the father drives up, grabs the girl and crudely questions James's motives. At the pub, the doctor/pathologist tells James a horrifying story about a small child rendered deaf, mute, paralyzed and blind after botched anesthesia, and contemplates the ineffable terror of such sensory isolation. James, angered, gets drunk, argues with cynical publican Brendan Lynch (Pat Shortt) and empties the revolver into the furnishings. Brendan wields a baseball bat and later, a beaten-up James is recovering at home.

He violently berates his house guest, Father Leary (David Wilmot) who, offended, leaves the next morning. James berates Leary's ignorance and his uselessness as a priest. James wakes to find Leary entering a taxi. Leary confesses religious doubts and James apologizes, telling Leary he doesn't hate him, but that Leary has no integrity.

James decides to fly to Dublin but happens across Teresa. Seeing her husband's coffin being disrespected by airport staff, James returns to his parish. Heading to the beach on the fateful Sunday, James chats with the aging writer Gerald (M. Emmet Walsh) in route, then by phone to Fiona, saying sin is considered too much and virtue not enough. He stresses the importance of forgiveness, and they forgive one another.

After James throws his revolver into the sea, a distressed Michael walks up and James promises to visit him. Later, the altar boy, painting a seascape at the top of the beach, witnesses James waiting on the beach as Jack Brennan strides along the shore towards James, a revolver outstretched. Jack confesses to the arson and to hitting Veronica but denies killing the dog. Jack, hearing that James shed tears over his dog, asks if he cried similarly over news reports concerning children abused by priests. James says no, he had felt detached from such stories-whereupon the enraged Jack shoots James in the side. The boy runs towards them but James shouts at him to flee. Jack says it is too late to stop, telling James to say his prayers. When James says he already has, Jack delivers a mortal shot to the priest's head.

In brief tableaux, we see the parishioners and Teresa going about their quotidian lives. The final scene ends as Fiona visits Jack in prison, each tentatively picking up a telephone handset to talk across the intervening glass panel.