The Mill and the Cross

The Mill and the Cross is a film about the making of Pieter Bruegel the Elder's 1564 painting Procession to Calvary, also known as The Way to Calvary. Set in the sixteenth-century Low Countries under Spanish occupation, it follows Bruegel as he works on a large canvas that places the Passion of Christ directly in his own time and homeland. The merchant and art collector Nicolaes Jonghelinck commissions the painting, while Bruegel fills it with the lives of villagers, horsemen, a miller's family, lovers and ordinary people caught between religious conflict and the threat of the Spanish Inquisition. The artist himself and the Virgin Mary appear among the figures.

Lech Majewski directed and produced the film and wrote the screenplay with Michael Francis Gibson. It stands as the earlier of the two features listed in his directing credits, preceding Brigitte Bardot Forever. Rutger Hauer plays Bruegel, Charlotte Rampling plays Mary and Michael York plays Jonghelinck, with Joanna Litwin, Dorota Lis and Bartosz Capowicz in supporting roles.

The film was a German, Polish and Swedish co-production and took about one million dollars worldwide. On IMDb it holds 6.9 out of 10 from roughly 4,600 votes, while on TMDB it has 6.4 from 113 votes. A critics' rating of 7.4 from 44 reviews places it above both audience scores.