Confess in Confidence: Difference between revisions

 

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* Happens in [[Osamu Tezuka]]'s ''[[MW]]'', where Michio taunts Garai by confessing to many of his more horrible misdeeds in church.

 

 

* Subverted in ''[[For Your Eyes Only (film)|For Your Eyes Only]]'': After [[Big Bad|Kristatos]] has taken the [[MacGuffin|ATAC]] from Bond, Bond goes into a confessional at a Greek Orthodox church and says "Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned...", and it turns out the Priest is actually Q, who says "That's putting it mildly, 007.".

* This is the central plot of [[Alfred Hitchcock]]'s film ''[[I Confess]]''.

 

 

* A minor plot point in ''[[Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn|Memory Sorrow and Thorn]]'' is [[Shell-Shocked Veteran]] Camaris' confession of his <s>sins</s> role in the plot to Father Strangyeard. Camaris is asked to do this because he refuses to reveal his secrets in the open, but the heroes desperately need to know if what he knows has any bearing on their struggle with the Storm King. Although Strangyeard confirms that Camaris knows nothing useful, the confession devastates him, making him admit that for once, he understands why people might wish to [[Drowning My Sorrows|drown their sorrows]]. It's also a convenient narrative way to hide Camaris' secret until after the climax, when Josua (to whom Camaris also confessed) reveals it.

* In ''[[Literature/The Gadfly|The Gadfly]]'', the protagonist loses all faith after he learns that his confessor leaked the secret to the police.

 

 

* A Catholic Priest hears a confession of a crime in ''[[A Touch of Frost]]'' that causes him some real difficulties.

* Subverted in ''[[Leverage]]'', when Nate (a mostly-trained former priest) uses the sanctity of the confessional to achieve his aims as a conman.

** In his defense, the plan he came up with as a result hinged on providing the confessor a chance to do the right thing and make the confession in public.

* ''[[CSI]]'' - A Catholic priest, bound by his confidentiality, at least tries to steer the investigators in the right direction.

* ''[[Highlander the Series]]'' - On at least two occasions evil Immortals use confessions as opportunities to gloat and the priests involved are unable to report their "confessions."

* [[Private Eye|Ian]] [[Have I Got News for You|Hislop]] has claimed in interviews that at one point during his long-standing feud with Piers Morgan, his vicar told him that the ''Daily Mirror'' had called wanting to know if he'd confessed "anything good."

* In the ''[[Diagnosis: Murder]]'' episode "Confession" the killer confesses to a priest and then [[Silent Scapegoat|frames the same priest for the crime]].

 

* In ''[[The Simpsons (animation)|The Simpsons]]'' "[[The Simpsons (animation)/Recap/Who Shot Mr. Burns|Who Shot Mr. Burns?]] Part 2" Smithers goes to confession.

{{quote|'''Smithers:''' Father, I'm not a Catholic, but...well, I ''tried'' to march in the St. Patrick's Day parade. But anyway, I've got a...rather large sin to confess. ''sniffles'' I'm the one who...shot Mr. Burns!

 

 

* This has been invoked by many Russian tyrants, most infamously Ivan the Terrible, but he's not the biggest offender for this in Russian history. In late XIX and early XX centuries, before the [[Red October]], Russian imperial police required the priests to report any crimes, criminal or political, they learned about in confessionals.

* There was a scandal a few years ago where a priest was appointed to a Polish bishopric and was discovered to have revealed secrets he learned in the confessional to the secret police back when the Communists were still in power.

 

* ''[[Black Jack]]'' has run into this a few times. Of course, since he's an unlicensed surgeon, he usually only worries about patient confidentiality when it suits him, but he occasionally finds inventive ways around it... like charging a bank robber all the money he stole for a life-saving operation, and then turning the money in to the police.

 

 

* In ''[[Judge Dredd]]'' there was a serial killer that had a psychiatrist who was trying to cure him that kept a confidence in this way. If he felt guilty about it however, he didn't say so.

 

 

* In the Billy Crystal/Robert deNiro film ''[[Analyze This]]'' and presumably the sequel, a mob boss-type character gets his psychiatrist involved in his shady dealings this way.

* In ''[[Grosse Pointe Blank]]'', the main character (a hit man)'s therapist tries to explain the loopholes in confidentiality and being required to report it when/if he knows his patient is going to hurt someone. The patient assures him that it's fine, he understands, and he doesn't want to make things difficult for him, and anyways he knows where the doctor lives…

 

 

* Referenced at the beginning of ''[[The Sopranos]]'': Tony Soprano's psychiatrist tells him that if he confesses to her any serious crimes, or suggests that someone is in physical danger (eg, that he intends to kill someone), then she is a mandated reporter and has to pass the info on.

** Also they used Doctor-patient privilege to have meetings with Junior in his Doctor's office while he was on trial, since the government could not wiretap the Doctor's office.

 

 

* In ''[[Heavy Rain]]'', Ethan Mars' shrink initially refuses to talk to the police, citing doctor-patient privilege. Detective Blake, a definite Bad Cop, just beats it out of him, and the stuff from Ethan's psychic evaluations turns out to be pretty damning.

 

* Part of the ending of ''[[Primal Fear (film)|Primal Fear]]'': {{spoiler|A murderer who escaped justice boasts to his lawyer that he committed the crime but the lawyer can't tell anyone else because of attorney-client privilege.}}

* ''[[And Justice for All]]'' involves a lawyer being politically blackmailed into defending a judge (who he despises) who's been accused of beating and raping a young woman. {{spoiler|At one point the judge confesses to the crime.}}

 

 

* Subverted on ''[[The West Wing]]'', where it turns out the the White House Counsel is not actually the President's attorney:

{{quote|'''Bartlet''': Well, Oliver, it really boils down to this... I'm going to tell you a story, and then I need you to tell me whether or not I've engaged 16 people in a massive criminal conspiracy to defraud the public in order to win a presidential election.

 

 

* ''[[Ace Attorney]]'' ran into this, where {{spoiler|one of the protagonist's clients actually is guilty and admits it, but the hero can't tell anyone. The assassin who was hired by Engarde kidnapped Maya and threatened to kill her if Phoenix didn't get Engarde off the hook}}, so he couldn't say anything even if he was allowed to, or even drop the case.

 

[[Category:Medical Drama]]

[[Category:Mystery Tropes]]