`LIFE OF JESUS' EMOTIONALLY POTENT, COLD, MELANCHOLY.

Byline: Janet Maslin The New York Times

In a northern French village as quiet as a ghost town, trouble is brewing. It develops slowly and precisely in ``Life of Jesus'' (``La Vie de Jesus''), the first film by Bruno Dumont, who works with grim exactitude to capture the essence of unhappiness in this becalmed setting. His film's main character, with a sad, inexpressive face and a brutish skinhead look, is Freddy (David Douche).

Gradually adding layer upon layer of vague dread, Dumont finally conveys the full misery of Freddy's world.

``I wanted a character who would be highly ambiguous,'' the filmmaker has said. ``Someone who could win over the moviegoer and take him where he didn't want to go.'' Freddy does ultimately have that effect as ``Life of Jesus,'' which is as oblique as its title, watches him so intently.

He lives with his mother. He is plagued with epilepsy. He doesn't work, and loafs with a group of equally dead-end friends whose hard, raw-boned faces the filmmaker studies as unflinchingly as a portraitist might. Freddy's only happiness comes from an intense sexual connection with his girlfriend, Marie (Marjorie Cottreel). The film shows their lovemaking in clinical and perfunctory detail, without any component of joy.

Beyond his sexual success, which is a great anomaly among the story's 20ish layabouts, Freddy seems to feel a terrible impotence. Dumont somehow conveys this with long, patient shots of Freddy aimlessly roaming the countryside on his motor scooter and with a precise evocation of his frustration and boredom. But the young men's restlessness manifests itself most clearly as bigotry aimed at an Arab couple and their son, Kader (Kader Chaatouf). It doesn't help that Kader is fearless, good-looking and stubbornly interested in Marie.

``Life of Jesus'' unfolds with a slow, terrible inevitability, a mood heightened by occasional dark events along the way. Freddy and friends linger during a long, silent scene at the bedside of one boy's brother, who is dying of AIDS. This confrontation with death presumably fuels some of the desperate behavior that comes later. For instance, for no particular reason the boys (whose membership in a marching band is their only apparent occupation) abruptly molest a majorette and are dumbfounded when she complains afterward.

``I wanted to show how the underlying racism of society can transform a banal love story into a tragedy,'' Dumont has also said. His film, for all of its characters' uncommunicativeness, is too flat and unswerving to convey that idea surprisingly. But it does bring haunting power to the bitter, tongue-tied helplessness that sets its tragedy in motion.

THE FACTS

The film: ``Life of Jesus'' (not rated).

The stars: David Douchee, Majorie Cottreel, Genvieve Cottreel and Kader Chaatouf.

Behind the scenes: Written and directed by Bruno Dumont.

Running time: One hour, 36 minutes.

Playing: Nuart in West Los Angeles.

Our rating: Three Stars.