"A poor, pregnantwoman, abandoned by her lover, is given a young angel by Christ in hisstead, but she destroys him on their wedding night by the violence ofher sexual embrace. Christ refuses to help a second time, thus sinningagainst her fated humanness, and is refused forgiveness by her. A blendof stark realism and lyrical fantasy...adapted from an Isaac Babel shortstory" (Amos Vogel, Film as a Subversive Art). "The film's texture,black and grey with flashes of white, matches its spirit. The cameradraws on field and trees, barns and coops, sunlight and snow, as anemotional vocabulary with which to speak of loneliness, transfiguration,doom, despair" (Elizabeth Sutherland, Film Quarterly).