Lourdes (2010)

Truly Dreadful Film

Fantastic!

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.

It used to be so rare to see a movie that speaks to the audience outside the dialogues of its characters. Infinitely more rare nowadays. It is amazing how this film just goes far beyond that. I remember the films of Dino Risi which allowed you to validate your own parallel narration against them thanks to the truth they were in. It happens so while listening to classical music. Lourdes renders this ability possible not so for a parallel epic but as the key to unlock the beauty of its own narration.Christine is not religious. She just tries to move. But more than moving with legs, she tries to move with her spirit. This movement will finally prove her greatest asset, almost not for her but for the human kind. The final scenes catch Christine down, very down or more precisely she was supposed to be down according to any earthly or religious proofs. No miracle, no love. No more, as she just is loosing them. But Christine, through the help of this wonderous film, is fine. She is serene as if having a revelation. She is what maybe God intended with a human being. Those final scenes pour and pour the glory of the human spirit. And they pour. The human spirit is INVINCIBLE! Long live Christine! Long live the human spirit!

Borderline masterpiece. Beautiful film about, you guessed it, Lourdes (a small market town in the Pyrenees where a number of supposedly 'mystical' healings have occurred.) More specifically, it follows the story of Christine, a wheel chair using woman with multiple sclerosis and a number of others who hope to be healed. It is a very moving piece of cinema and can be interpreted in two ways. One, religious, the other, sceptical. I prefer the latter explanation, but the film's true intentions are not exactly clear. Either way, the film illustrates hypocrisy and masked cruelty of Catholicism in a subtle and beautiful way. Having said that, there is a mystical, almost haunting, air to the film. The quiet, echoing organ music that plays repeatedly throughout further enhances this feeling.

Christine (Sylvie Testud) is wheelchair-bound, and is suffering from multiple sclerosis. She travels to the pilgrimage site of Lourdes in the Pyrenees Mountains to both escape from her isolation, and seek some kind of answers to her situation. Compared to the other pilgrims, Christine has little faith in God. Yet while she's there, she miraculously gains controls of her limbs and she rises from her wheelchair. The church are quick to jump on it as a 'miracle', but seek medical advice in order to confirm this.The film never takes a stance in regards to its attitude to either religion or spirituality, to the point where the 'miracle' that takes place takes a backseat. This is a film that is more concerned with its characters' plight, and how the people around Christine react to the possible miracle that they witness. It does, if anything, portray the Catholic faith in a positive light. The priest seeks all the medical advice he can get before he will believe it as a miracle, and the helpers at Lourdes (minus one rather self-involved girl) are shown to have genuine love for the work they do, and its importance. But it does also show the slightly ridiculous side, as the Church will only recognise it as an 'official' miracle if it ticks certain boxes.it does not linger on the idea of faith, as previously stated, but instead how it corrupts, bewilders, and enchants the people around Christine. Some of the pilgrims talk bitterly between themselves and doubt her sincerity, to the point where they begin to dismiss the idea of miracles, which is the very thing that they went to Lourdes to experience. One of the male helpers initially shows an interest in Christine, glancing and smiling at her every now and then. Yet when she begins to walk again, he seems to almost completely fall for her, much to the jealousy of one of the female workers. It's a startling commentary on how humanity can be corrupted and influenced by the idea of religion.Lourdes is a quiet, gentle and ponderous portrayal of a woman desperately seeking an answer to her illness and finding it in the last place she would expect. It doesn't force its ideas down your throat, but instead it lets it flow across the small interactions and expressions of its characters. The pace may sometimes come to a standstill, but this is a richly rewarding experience from one of Austria's most exciting new directors.www.the-wrath-of-blog.blogspot.com

Jessica Hausner's story of a young woman who appears to be cured of MS whilst on pilgrimage to Lourdes is a patient, fluid film that moves between satire and compassion. It often exhibits a genuine empathy for the core tenets and consequent outward trappings of Catholicism. As a general examination of the Catholic faith it's accurate and probing, capturing the unavoidable selfishness and vanity of us all even in the face of our own attempts at generosity or even piety.Yet I liked this film more because the omnipresent core of Catholicism recedes as subject. Quietly but surely, the individuals become the focus of the film. Of course, at the centre is Sylvie Testud's Christine, a marvellous performance in which intellect and emotion is in perpetual, discreet motion - but there's no self-pity and, apart from a rather dislocated intonation of standard liturgical incantations, no mention of God. Christine doesn't reject the theme park of piety revolving about her but she seems to find it a focus for a personal confrontation with her affliction. Key to the offsetting of this is a performance of equal discretion and focus, that of the genuinely pious but equally worldly Gilette Barbier as Frau Hartl, with whom Christine shares a room. The other satellite roles are all well-taken; I did like that Léa Seydoux never overdid her turn as the immature nurse assigned to Christine.A well designed and paced film, Lourdes also has a moments of wit. It not only examines the nature of devotion but does so in the appositely Christian context of an interesting yarn. 7/10