This is not the case here. Ozon’s screenplay — derived from his own research, including interviews with members of the Lyon activist group Lift the Burden — consists of three profiles, so to speak, of the adult survivors of one predator.

The first, Alexandre, played with button-down precision by Melvil Poupaud , is a still-devout Catholic and family man haunted by the criminal priest’s continued activity in his church. François, played by Denis Ménochet , is a bearish atheist who first responds to a request for testimony with an emphatic “No!” But soon, the floodgates of emotion and indignation open, and he helps found the activist group. The movie then presents Emmanuel, played by Swann Arlaud , perhaps the most at-risk of the adult characters, a near-genius intellect whose abuse led to an unfulfilled, fraught adulthood.

Ozon’s approach in “By the Grace of God” is not plain, but it is straightforward. The movie is not replete with what you’d call stylistic flourishes — although when one character ascends a spiral staircase, Ozon doesn’t restrain himself from doing as he always does in this situation, which is to include an overhead shot of the structure.

And Ozon exerts his command of cinematic language throughout, in ways that are less immediately obvious. He crafts a film that is engrossing from the start, while building to something greater and more emotionally encompassing.