Film

The Last Temptation of Christ

Name: The Last Temptation of Christ
Genre: Drama
Released: 1988
Cast: Willem Dafoe, Harvey Keitel, Paul Greco, Steve Shill, Verna Bloom

Drama
Very dark
Slow-burning

Scorsese's radical, challenging vision of Jesus as a conflicted man wrestling with doubt, desire, and his own divinity. Willem Dafoe carries the film through spiritual agony and temptation. It's a work of genuine theological engagement, not exploitation—demanding but unforgettable for those willing to sit with its questions.

TMDb rating

3.6

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you want a sceptical, deeply personal reading of Jesus that treats faith as a struggle, with a raw, human performance from Dafoe carrying the weight.

Skip it if the running time is a long 164 minutes, and its contemplative pace and frequent stillness can feel like a test of patience if you came for scripture or spectacle.

What it asks of you: Settle in for nearly three hours of slow, searching scenes where quiet conversations and long silences matter as much as the dramatic moments.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

The Seventh Seal1957

Bergman's masterpiece about faith, doubt, and mortality, shot through with philosophical depth and genuine dread. A man plays chess with Death itself. If you want cinema that takes the sacred seriously, this is the standard.

But It's bleak, glacially paced, and works in symbols rather than plot. Black and white 1957 Swedish cinema is not for everyone.

Andrei Rublev1966

Tarkovsky's epic about a medieval icon painter doubting his vocation and God's will. Visually overwhelming, morally complex, and utterly sincere. Three and a half hours of cinema as meditation.

But It's very long, very slow, and demands active attention rather than passive watching. Tarkovsky assumes patience you may not have.

The Sacrifice1986

Also Tarkovsky, closer in era to Temptation, but focused on faith tested by imminent nuclear annihilation. A man must choose between his beliefs and his family's survival. Spiritually dense and haunting.

But Slow cinema about waiting, with minimal plot. If you found Andrei Rublev exhausting, this won't convert you.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from The Last Temptation of Christ

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans1927

Both films use temptation as the core of their moral architecture—the moment a man must choose between base desire and spiritual commitment. Both are maximalist in their visual language about inner struggle.

Murnau's silent masterpiece about temptation, guilt, and redemption expressed through pure cinema. A man nearly drowns his wife after a seductress enchants him; he must choose between desire and love. It's the visual and moral ancestor to Scorsese's film.

But It's silent and from 1927. If you need dialogue and modern pacing, you're fighting the medium from the start.

A Serious Man2009

The Coens asking whether God exists and whether it matters. A Jewish Job figure navigates loss, confusion, and bureaucratic absurdity. Darkly funny, philosophically urgent, set in 1960s Minnesota.

But Its humour comes from watching a good man suffer almost constantly. You have to find meaning in that despair yourself.

Winter Light1963

Bergman's bleaker partner to The Seventh Seal—a pastor losing his faith while trying to console his congregation. Chamber-play intensity with nowhere to hide. Raw emotional honesty about spiritual collapse.

But It's austere and depressing, shot in grey Swedish winter. Nothing happens; everything matters.

The Gospel According to St. Matthew1965

Pasolini's earlier, more straightforward Christ film. Shot mostly with non-actors, cast from street casting. Feels documentary-real and surprisingly tender. A counterpoint to Scorsese's anguish.

But It's in Italian with subtitles, and while accessible, it lacks the formal daring of his later work.

The Gospel According to St. Matthew poster

Babette's Feast1987

A Danish meditation on grace, sacrifice, and redemption through a single meal. Isak Dinesen's story becomes a quiet theological statement. The opposite of Temptation in tone but asking similar questions about grace.

But It's gentle where you might expect drama. If you want conflict and struggle, the peace here may feel evasive.

Stalker1979

Tarkovsky again, this time about a guide leading two men through a mysterious zone toward a room that grants wishes. Metaphysical, hypnotic, about longing and what faith demands of us.

But Extremely slow, extremely long, almost nothing happens. It's cinema as philosophy lecture, not entertainment.

First Reformed2018

Schrader co-wrote Taxi Driver with Scorsese; this is his answer to Temptation. Both films use Christianity's central figure (Christ or the pastor as failed Christ) to interrogate suffering and salvation. Both are confessional works by artists in genuine doubt.

Paul Schrader's slow-burn agony about a pastor losing faith while the world burns. Willem Dafoe again, in a role that echoes and inverts his Christ—now an aging man wracked by guilt. Anguished, meditative, shot in Academy ratio like scripture.

But It's contemporary and bleak, with little comfort offered. The environmental despair never lifts. Many will find it punishing.

A Prophet2009

Both films follow a man's journey through temptation, isolation, and visions of power—one spiritual, one criminal. Both use close, unadorned filmmaking to show the face of someone being broken and remade by forces beyond themselves. Audiard makes the sacred and profane mirror each other.

Jacques Audiard's prison epic about a young Arab man becoming a kingpin. Shot like Bresson—faces, hands, barely any score, immense moral clarity despite the brutal subject. A profane film about corruption and spiritual transformation in a locked space.

But It's bleak, violent, and unsentimental. The 'temptation' here is earthly power, not salvation. If you need beauty or redemption, this offers neither.