Simon of the Desert
- measured
- surreal
- bleak
- cold
- signature
Neutral, measured, measured drama / comedy, surreal in texture. Nihilistic, intimate, cold, hand-scored across twelve axes of taste.
How every film is hand-scored →Simon, a deeply religious man living in the 4th century, wants to be nearer to God so he climbs a column. The Devil wants him come down to Earth and is trying to seduce him.
Our read · Simon of the Desert (1965) reads as a neutral, measured, surreal drama · comedy entry — measured in intensity, intimate in scope, cold in temperature, nihilistic in outlook, with a strong directorial signature. Hand-scored on twelve axes of taste — mood, pacing, weirdness, hope, stakes, humour, reality, density, warmth, auteur, intensity, and era — with a derived palette drawn from its dominant cinematography.
Availability in the UK · via JustWatch
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The shape of Simon of the Desert
What watching it is actually like.
“You want surreal Buñuel blasphemy about faith and temptation in forty-five minutes.”
Skip it tonight — You want coherent plot or are uncomfortable with religious satire and nudity.
The reading.
Each axis is hand-scored — not derived from votes or genre averages. The marker shows where this film sits; the gradient fill uses the film's own cinematography palette.
Eight films that read most like this one.
Closeness in the twelve-axis space — how the film actually reads, not “people also liked.”
Discussion
What does your Movie DNA look like?
Rate a few films you've seen. We map your taste across the same twelve axes and find the films you'll actually want to watch tonight.
Calibrate yourself