François Ozon’s By the Grace of God is a gripping and urgent story of the survivors who banded together to expose and dismantle the French Catholic Church’s code of silence surrounding pastoral abuse. France’s pre-eminent director focuses on the victims’ risky endeavor that tests their beliefs, endangers their relationship to their loved ones, and compromises their own fragile selves. The true story upon which the film is based is an ongoing scandal in France, with the Cardinal of Lyon convicted in March for concealing the conduct of the accused priest. Father Preynat tried unsuccessfully to block the film’s release and was defrocked in July. Compassionate, deeply moving and riveting from beginning to end, By the Grace of God may be Ozon’s finest film to date.