religious elements

His films obsessively interrogate Catholic theology, spirituality, and the conflict between sacred and profane through provocative narratives like The Gospel According to St. Matthew and Salò.

He created transcendent explorations of faith, doubt, and martyrdom in works like The Passion of Joan of Arc and Vampyr that treat religious experience with profound visual and spiritual depth.

His metaphysical cinema weaves theological questions, grace, and spiritual yearning throughout his filmography, most explicitly in The Tree of Life and A Hidden Life.