Lourdes

The photography and mise-en-scene are great but the characters lack depth (Testud's room mate for example), the acting is great considering what the skinny script offers them (Testud and Seydoux are remarkables) but lots of subplots are left unexploited

I didn't think the film was that rewarding, it drags a bit towards the end, and the film feels a bit pointless sometimes

The film doesn't know if it should be Christian, critical or ironic, the best parts are when the it's unjudgemenal and contemplative

In the end I don't think Catholics or Agnostics would really like that film very much, it's got a strong sense of aesthetics but lacks personality and determination

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.

Pros: 1. Léa Seydoux (Maria), Sylvie Testud (Christine), and Elina Löwensohn (Cécile) give fantastically rich performances. 2. The film highlights how people will use faith differently. Whether it be as a hobby, as a way of coping, or as a way-of-life. 3. The cinematography is almost perfect. Everything from the lighting, the framing, and the long impactful shots are just incredible. 4. Cécile collapsing on the floor is legitimately heartbreaking as even though before she was mostly stern and stoic, it was obvious that she cared for the patients. 5. Christine finding the ability to walk again is genuinely uplifting, and her reaction really helps to ground the "miracle" as she milks the newly-found attention after being ignored for awhile. It also rams home the ending with blunt force.

Cons: 1. Some of the scenes last a little too long. 2. The audio, at times, is distractingly out-of-sync.

Ignorant of the self, one tends to appealing to divine power. Skeptical of that power, one tends to continuously seeking miracles. Such kind of search for answers only out of self-serving, self-consoling is ubiquitous in our daily life. The interaction between human and environment is quiet, a mutual gaze. Unlike the reaction shots between people where there has to be some kind of action, in the human-environment reaction shots, space can't really react; the gaze upon the space in a prolonged duration actually forces the audience to imagine the reaction from spaces, and the best imagination is to place oneself into the observer's shoes -- how incredibly effective it is to involve the audience! Above all, I just couldn't quite figure out the purpose of Léa Seydoux.

A girl with MS can't move her body, except for the face muscles. She goes to Lourdes, the place of miracles. She's not just tired of her life, she's of course also envious about life of others.

Usually, it's obvious there on the screen you shall look. Not here. Long takes, many extras, everybody make their moves and everybody is interesting, although you may forget them for a while, watching others.

Quietly, so many believable emotions are to be found here. Jealousy, slight passion, hopes, disappointments. And after a while you're not watching, you're among these pilgrims, and although you've never been in this environment, you recognize everything. And Sylvie Testud is superb.