The Apparition

Investigative journalism commissioned by the Vatican in order to determine whether or not a teenager has seen the appearance of the Virgin, as she claims With films like Xavier Beauvois' "Men and Gods" (2010) and Anne Fontaine's "The Innocent" (2015), French cinema has re-approached religious questions. The Apparition embraces the difficult exercises of (i) filming the imperceptible and the faith & (ii) addressing the exciting questions of belief, religion and existential options & ways. It relies on a virtually fascinating subject - clairvoyance regarding the Virgin Mary - by dealing with the subject of faith through a canonical inquiry, an angle which until now has never been treated in the cinema, which is altogether unknown by the general public, and which is herein approached with sufficient accuracy and twists to interest any spectator. In the role of the photographer on the case of an alleged appearance, Vincent Lindon is convincing as a Cartesian agnostic who questions the truth and doubts during a down-to-earth approach that contrasts with the mystical dimension of the subject. The film finds its interest in an exciting first part where we get acquainted with the young clairvoyant, Anna played by Galatea Bellugi. Too bad then, that it ends up lost in several anecdotal tracks and several different stories where the situations, not really fully resolved, confer to the story a frustrating, and a bit too austere edge, which prevents it from reaching the level of the Beauvois essay. Regretfully Giannoli fails to give a sustained breath to this very much alive and attractive story.