Jesus of Montreal (French: Jésus de Montréal) is a 1989 Canadian comedy drama film written and directed by Denys Arcand, and starring Lothaire Bluteau, Catherine Wilkening and Johanne-Marie Tremblay.

In Montreal, an unknown actor named Daniel is hired by a Roman Catholic pilgrimage's site ("le sanctuaire") to present a passion play in its gardens.

Mireille is told to remove her top, causing an outburst from Daniel in which he damages equipment and assaults a director, resulting in criminal charges.

When the higher authorities of the Roman Catholic Church strongly object to his interpretation of Jesus and security forces stop a performance, the audience and actors oppose them and Daniel is injured in an ensuing accident.

His doctor asks for the consent of his friends, since he has no known relatives, to take his organs for donation, stating that they would have been able to save him if he had been brought in half an hour earlier.

[21] At the end, Daniel's organs are donated to distant patients who speak various languages, echoing Jesus' miracles restoring sight to the blind and raising of the dead, as well as symbolizing his own resurrection and influence around the world.

[22] Daniel's "disciples" also continue his work after he dies,[18] led by Martin, played by Rémy Girard, who is an analogue of Saint Peter, but under the guidance of Cardinal, suggesting that by institutionalizing their message it may become corrupted.

[7] The idea for the film came to director Denys Arcand after an actor apologized for appearing with a beard at an audition at a Montreal conservatory, saying "I'm sorry, I'm Jesus.

"[24] The actor also spoke to Arcand about the difficulties he and his friends had in the acting profession, taking undesirable roles in TV advertisements and pornographic films.

[29] Robert Lepage, who played René, one of Daniel's "disciples", was a playwright and said that aside from TV and student films, Jesus of Montreal was his first major acting role.

[35] Jesus of Montreal did not enjoy the degree of success in France as Arcand's prior The Decline of the American Empire (1986),[37] drawing an audience of 187,827 people, the eighth highest for a Quebec film to date.

[38] Generally, the film did not meet expectations in drawing audiences in countries with predominantly Roman Catholic populations, with Arcand claiming using the name Jesus in the title made the subject matter appear cliché.

[17] Caryn James of The New York Times called the film "intelligent" and "audacious", particularly praising the first half "before it gives in to leaden, self-conscious Christ imagery".

[42] Peter Travers of Rolling Stone wrote "Arcand has exposed a world that can't recognize its own hypocrisy or hear a voice in the wilderness".

[47] In terms of religious response, Jesus of Montreal met "dead calm" on its release, in contrast to Scorsese's more controversial The Last Temptation of Christ.

[51] In 2010, British critic Mark Kermode named Bluteau as one of "The 10 best screen faces of Jesus," calling him "mesmerising" and praising the film as a "genuine masterpiece" and "real cinematic miracle".