tomgillespie2002 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

Sindre Kaspersen Austrian screenwriter and director Jessica Hausner's third feature film film which she wrote, premiered In competition at the 66th Venice Film Festival in 2009, was screened in the Contemporary World Cinema section at the 34th Toronto International Film Festival in 2009, was shot on location in France and is a France-Germany-Austria co-production which was produced by producers Martin Gschlacht, Philippe Bober and Suzanne Marian. It tells the story about a young woman with Multiple Sclerosis named Christine. She is chained to a wheelchair and can only get out if she signs up for cultural or Christian trips. Christine has previously visited Rome, but her next destination is Lourdes, the iconic site of pilgrimage in the Pyrenees Mountains.This finely tuned fictional tale is set in the Christian pilgrimage town Lourdes in France, a fine choice of location, where the Virgin Mary apparently appeared to a 14-year-old girl named Bernadette Soubirous in 1858, and Austrian filmmaker Jessica Hausner tells the story about a reserved though smiling and obliging woman who arrives at Lourdes hoping to be cured of her chronic illness. Jessica Hausner's quiet reflection of the intangibility concerning miracles and peoples individual relations to their faith is intellectually debated and asks several interesting questions that are also answered. All though her film has elements of divinity by it in the use of music and some remarkable scenes, it is by no means an overly religious film. "Lourdes" is rather a concentrated study of an enigmatic theme and a film where the characters reactions and reception to the abstract is the core and where the existential converges with the mysterious and the distinct with the abstract.Austrian cinematographer Martin Gschlacht's skillful and structural cinematography compliments Jessica Hausner's clear vision, and her steady, stringent and partly static direction is at its best when she films the main character from versatile perspectives and creates describing portraits of an archetype character, excellently played by French actress, screenwriter and director Sylvie Testud in a vital and radiating interpretation of a character that only has her face and her words to express herself with. Most actors delivers convincing acting and Jessica Hausner's film has a strong humane warmth that shines through the heroine's being, and an elusive atmosphere which is effectuated by the esoteric faces of the guests and employees at the place that has been called the Catholic Church's answer to Disneyland. An innovating and artistic film from a director with a recognizable personal style where one is left feeling like having seen something that lasted significantly longer than its running time.

Thistle-3 I am Roman Catholic. Lourdes is a blessed, mystical place. I hear. The story goes, the Virgin Mary appeared to St. Bernadette in a grotto near Lourdes several times. Word spread, a shrine was built, miracles occurred, all in this small community in the south of France. Now, millions travel to Lourdes every year, looking for intervention from St. Bernadette and the Blessed Mother. While I've never been there, I have been to shrines, like Saint Joseph's Oratory of Mount-Royal in Montreal. The relics for sale and presence of the pilgrims are a little scary, but there was no denying the power of the place. So, I was very interested to see a pilgrimage from the perspective of a pilgrim in Lourdes, a movie playing at the Cleveland International Film Festival, this week. Christine is a young woman from France who has multiple sclerosis. She's lost control of her body from the neck down. But, her mind is vibrant, she seems to accept the help of nurse volunteers at Lourdes with a pleasant demeanor. She tells a priest, in confession, that she gets angry over her diagnosis and feels envious of able bodied people, like a nurse who is flirting with a man on the trip that she fancies. This is like a group tour, with a different activity each day: a hike through the grotto, a bath in the water, even an award at the end of the trip for the "Best Pilgrim." Christine's mother is with her on the trip. Their relationship is one of the things that bothered me in the movie. While her mother accepts the role of caregiver, they barely talk or interact, except in a very distant fashion. I didn't get that. A couple of the older volunteers hang together at night and discuss deep topics of faith and spirituality. Juxtapose that with Christine confessing to her nurse that she is not really a believer, she just goes on the pilgrimages because she can't really get out of the house for much else. When the inevitable miracle occurs, within the group, some are jealous, others are skeptical, others just wonder why some are chosen and others are not. Lourdes is a very quiet, very slow moving film. I guess I was hoping for more of an epiphany, but at the end, I wasn't at all sure what I was supposed to take away from it. I was interested but not satisfied. I give Lourdes a 7 out of 10.

Cliff Hanley Surrounded as we are with noisy and highly coloured new films, not least Avatar, it comes either as a balm or an intense irritant to see one like Lourdes, depending on your attention span.Not surprisingly, this is set in the major pilgrim attraction of Lourdes, and as it opens to the strains of the most beautiful song ever written, Ave Maria of course, with nurses helping disabled and elderly pilgrims to their dining tables, you can guess there isn't going to be much rock'n'roll in this.Christine, the central character, is wheelchair-bound due to multiple sclerosis. She is on the trip with a church group although she isn't all that sold on religion. She shares a room with another woman, who may be her long-time carer or just another traveller. Early in the visit she has a mysterious half-conversation with the handsome uniformed alpha male. Several other sub-plots are hinted at through fleeting glimpses of the action.Christine apparently becomes one of the lucky few to enjoy a miracle cure at Lourdes, which is the turning point for all within range including the officer, the inept priest, her room-mate and a couple of fellow travellers whose attitudes become less than charitable.The story is told through Christine's face much of the time, and could almost work as a silent film. It inevitably has touches of satire, given the setting, but it's cloaked in so much ambiguity that it resembles a David Lynch work. According to my friend, the theme must be the interplay between substance and appearance(both in themselves Catholic obsessions); the difficulty in finding a literal absolute in either, being echoed in the ending. If you can see Lynch's Mulholland Drive as black coffee, this is the Earl Grey tea.And whatever your poison is, you will have a lot to talk, even argue, about after the Lourdes experience.