“Hello, I’m unpredictable French actor, director and general firebrand Xavier Beauvois; you may remember me from angsty 90s films overflowing with AIDS such as Don’t Forget You’re Going to Die. Oh, you don’t? No matter. Anyway, what I’d like to do now is make a film based on the true story of a momentous encounter between fundamentalist Islamists and the Trappist community of a small monastery in Algeria. I’m confident that it will be serene and nearly perfect.” He wasn’t wrong, you know.