From the film-maker:

Aside from certain compositions, colour references and other visual allusions to the painting, I drew mainly on the theme of mourning a loss. As the monks and holy women mourn over the body of Christ in the painting, Father Thomas mourns over his faith in the film. Father Thomas assumes both the role of the mourners and that of Christ. The death of faith is followed by its pseudo-resurrection the following morning. Whilst he puts the clothes back on, the items remain in the bin, suggesting that his religion has been reduced to institution rather than faith. I didn't want to deal with why Father Thomas loses his belief - that would inevitably be too complex to explore in such a short film. Instead I chose to look at how people deal with loss of faith and their inability to face the horrors of life without it.

John Craine

A piece inspired by After Massimo Stanzione, Monks and Holy Women mourning over the Dead Christ,18th century or earlier