Storyline   

​

Every event has a seed. The little bang where it all started and where it’s all moving towards. 

​

Many years ago, when he was an altar boy he was kissed by another boy in the very Church he now works. It happened right at the altar, before the statue of Christ on the cross. He tried to ban his wrongdoing into the farthest unlit corner of his soul. But that Jesus was lurking over his shoulder all through the years while it kept boiling under his robe.

 

One evening this tension finds relief in a sinful act right at the same spot, before his Christ. 

It’s over, the vessel started to crack. 

Act 1
 

The tale of Will and Fo starts in a cemetery in Berlin, on a bench before a gigantic wooden cross, preaching “GOD IS LOVE”. William and Ferdinand are in the midst of a heated argument.

 

Ferdinand is a bohemian free spirit, a seeker of ecstasy and liberation at the edge of life. To others he is just a bum living in a bush. He is a blend of Jim Morrisson with the usual drunk on the street, raw but wildly beautiful. He lives far outside the standards of our society, ready to burn up his life. But what’s he running from? Or where to?

 

Fo doesn’t miss one single chance to provoke William and his false Catholic crap. He gets under his skin so deep that Will punches him, which fires Fo up even more leading to him masturbating publicly to the big wooden cross; all the while Will’s resistance is crumbling away in shame of his own arousal. And he realizes that as much as he repels him, he is bound to this dirty urban shaman and can’t help but follow him.

 

The first third of the film keeps jumping back and forth between two timelines, this present day and the day before, when Will, during a marriage ceremony in his small-town Church in France, reaches his breaking point prompting him to flee out the bathroom window embarking on his spiritual goose chase.

 

Fleeing on his bike, he ends up in a rural gas station, exhausted and bloody. 

That’s where he meets Markus, a German truck driver, who is headed to Berlin. Will follows his inner call to ride along with him, still in his robe, without a wallet and nothing but his crumbling faith. He is repelled by Markus, who just had a visit from a prostitute before Will’ eyes. But he steps into the truck’s cabin anyway. 

 

Markus is the sad type of truck driver, overweight, his heart in the right place, but lonely and torn between doing the right thing for his family and giving in to his urges.

 

After a failed conversation Will falls asleep and wakes up to the city lights of nighttime Berlin.

 

He roams about town and ends up entering a nightclub together with the attractive Samantha, who will be the one starting to loosen his moral corset. But her tender kiss makes him run once again, fleeing into the dark living room of a random German Catholic priest, confessing.

 

As the two preachers talk through the dry motions of repenting, the air is crackling with sexual energy, which the German priest beats down with cold thumps on William’s face. 

 

Once again out in the cold, Will hits his darkest spot so far, questioning his motive to live. 

 

The next morning though he wakes up under a bridge, to Ferdinand’s face, who is on his way to a bum’s morning ritual. And the mocking begins.

 

They journey through the day together like two opposing poles, constantly battling their closeness like two brothers that love and hate each other. 

 

After that outrageous moment at the cemetery they share some food in a shabby bistro. But as Will is such a magnet for calamity, he chokes on a ball of falafel, which creates this moment of bonding between the two, as the absurdity of it lightens the mood. Will opens up to Ferdinand about his dilemma of being a gay priest, he tells him about the young boy he loved, he is seeking his acknowledgement, but Fo, being who he is, drops it all in his uninvolved ways. 

He talks about the genius of fries and that when he dies, he wants to be dropped into a volcano, that’s a way to go.

 

They visit Fo’s dement mother in an elderly home, where Will sees Fo’s tender side, yet is ready to walk away from him after some more insults. Looking like a priest, he is spontaneously forced to perform a last ritual for a dying old man, his lover and family. The message of love comes in mysterious ways and so, once again, he is stuck with Ferdinand, begging him for his company as he has nowhere to go and knows no one else.

 

They visit a laundromat, where Will washes his robe. Chito, the African drug-selling owner of this place and Fo enjoy humiliating him as they make him strip buttnaked. 

As the two tend to some “business”, Will encounters Alec, an attractive student, who catches him half-naked, putting on some of his clothes. This embarrassing moment leads to a spark and an invitation to a party later that night. 

 

Now Will is right in the “middle of it all”, stripped of his former identity, forced into a silly in-between-state underlined by Alec’s pink shorts Fo stole for him.

 

As they walk through the city towards Ferdinand’s “home”, William openly asks Fo for guidance. But once again he hits that wall of self-indulging cynicism.

 

Fo’s place though is a true surprise. Within the veils of a big bush in some park, Will finds himself in a cosy, bohemian, hippie-like living room, that feels free and alive. They listen to some music on an old turntable and have tea before “taking a shower” in the park’s pond and getting ready for that party.

 

The tea was a special one.

 

The two uplifted men take a cleansing bath in Fo’s holy waters, philosophizing about life’s profoundness. They play like innocent boys, diving around, refreshing their spirit. William tells Fo about the incident that made him flee from France. They both understand each other. They are naked. And there is just water.

​

​

Act 2

 

Then it’s time for the big party. Neatly dressed they make their way to the designated location. Will is joy himself shouting his coming-out to the people on the street, dancing his sins away. 

 

On arrival, Fo ditches him for better plans.

 

Will meets Alec and his partying friends. They play a drinking game, which allows Will and his “lifted spirit” to blend in with the high-vibing crowd. Then Alec and him split to find a more private corner for them to explore their spark.

Will has never been with a man, or anyone that close before, since that one kiss as a child. Well, there was Sam, the night before, but that wouldn’t count.

Will’s orgasm is pure, beautiful and a virgin adventure of lust. Someone sees and loves him just as he is. For once it all seems to be right.

 

But Will is still in the middle of it. And it all turns sideways right there.

 

Flashing blue lights anticipate a scene of Ferdinand fighting his arrest and the electrical current of the cop’s taser. As he stares at Will in unapologetic agony his heart gives up, as hard drugs already pushed it to the edge.

 

Later that night in the hospital Will and Alec are having a straight conversation while they wait for news about Will’s “friend”. But as Will opens up, Alec gets more and more disillusioned, feeling crossways with any religion and Will’s erratic behavior. He leaves him broken-hearted under the flickering of the cold hospital-lights.

Ferdinand is in intensive care and Will is not allowed to see him. So he leaves and goes to The bush to get some rest.

During the night all those crazy events sink in and in his solitude he tries to sort himself out. As the sun dawns, he puts back on his cassock and goes to the hospital to check on Fo.

 

To his surprise, well, not really, Fo is already hated by the nurses, who point Will to the roof-terrasse, where he will most likely find him, having a smoke. And so he does.

 

Both in robes, one blue, one black, Will confronts him about his life’s decisions and Fo keeps bashing these attempts with the usual wildness of mind. There is a strange atmosphere in the air up there on the roof, the climax of an act.

 

Fo steps up onto the ledge of the roof, facing the heavy winds of fate. He always provoked Will to the utmost, but this? Fo asks him if he really believes in God.

Will can’t think straight, he’s scared, angry but still caught in the threads of this shamanic play. He joins him on the edge and grabs his hand ready to go with him, either way. How are their Gods feeling today? A sudden strong gust pushes them and they fall.

 

Back on the floor of the roof they share a smoke and as Will states his decision to go back to France to his life that was full of so many good things, Ferdinand drops a last mockery and walks off the terrasse out of Will’s life. Forever?

​

 

Act 3

​

Will goes back home. He tends to his duties as the local priest, returns to his daily routines and finds a quiet relief within all that.

 

But the crack within him is wide open.

 

Feelings of satisfaction, love and adventure secretly blow through the huge gap in his heart. 

No one knows. All they know is, he had a bad fish on that wedding day, threw up in the baptism bowl and was sick for a few days.

But when he goes for his fitness runs, now he wears pink shorts. 

 

The baptism.

 

Before him stands a gay female couple with a beautiful child. The Church’s congregation is clearly split. As he holds the vessel filled with holy water and looks upon those two happy people he, once again, can’t go further. Did he have bad fish again?

 

It’s that moment, when the wheel of life makes one big turn forward and we feel the change inside as it snaps into place once again. He interrupts the ceremony and confesses to everyone present. About being gay and about his sins towards Jesus on the cross. 

 

He packs his bags and heads back to Berlin.

 

Since Alec won’t answer his calls he goes to Fos place, where he finds Chito, chilling, listening to some music. 

 

Ferdinand died, a couple of days ago. 

 

Chito shows him some pictures of Fo, when he was a boy. He had a little brother, who died as a child.

Will’s train is being halted right there.

 

He goes to the small cafe, where him and Fo had their breakfast before walking through the cemetery. He sits and feels empty.

 

Then a familiar voice tends to him and snaps him out of it. Samantha. She works here. She joins him and as they talk they discover their common grounds. Sam was Fo’s girlfriend, for lack of a better word. Will remembers Fo’s inappropriate sex-stories about a waitress.

She reads out a letter from Fo, saying goodbye, as he anticipated his nearing death.

Now, as he’s not physically present anymore, Fo is able to show his true colors. He still doesn’t give a shit, but between the lines - he does. The funeral is scheduled for the next day. Sam asks Will to speak there, but his mind is already somewhere else.

 

He got his spark back. He tells Sam to seek out Markus’ contact and meet him later at Fo’s mother’s place as he goes to get Chito and leaves one more message for Alec, asking him to join the big meeting in the nursing home.

 

They all came. Markus, happy to see him again, Sam with her infectious smile, Chito, slightly misplaced and Alec, dramatically late, but just on time for Will’s announcement.

 

He confesses his love To Alec, gives a little speech about Fo being their friend - in his own way - and that he needs them to help him with his plan to honor Ferdinand.

 

CHITO

 Did you say vulcano?

Sam has to laugh. 

ALEC 

And the crazy continues. (he gets up) 

 

Of course they all leave.

 

Alec emotionally confronts him outside the nursing home. Will tells him once again how he feels and about his plan and that he will follow through, 5 A.M. the next morning, come who or what may.

 

He preps Sam about where and when to meet and goes off, disappearing once again in the city and its nightlights. Only this time, he knows who he is.

 

He visits the German priest and kisses him on the cheek. He roams through town like Fo would be proud of him. He drinks, eats Falafel, visits strippers, has fun and lets lose in a way he never has before, just for himself - and his big brother.

 

5:07 - He waits for Alec.

5:11 - Fuck him, he goes in alone.

5:16 - Markus startles him, he did change his mind.

5:29 - At the morgue, to Will’s surprise, Sam, Alec and Chito throw Fo’s taped up dead body 

    over the gate. 

5:42 - The engine starts, Will kisses Alec and the road-trip begins.

 

​

Act 4

​

From here on, the film becomes a go-pro documentary of the group’s adventure of reaching the crater of Italy’s Stromboli.

 

There is fun, conflict, excitement, criminal activity, ice-cream and a ferry-trip.

 

They pull Fo’s body on a handcart up the mountain. 

 

Will gives his valediction as a free man, his lover and new friends beside him. He throws the cassock behind Fo into the crater. Markus beautifully sings a mine-worker’s song. 

And Chito accidentally drops the go-pro into the hole. 

​

The story of a horny priest.