My Name Is Bernadette

Je m'appelle Bernadette is a film from France starring newcomer Katia Miran, the film is in French but has sub titles in several languages including English. The DVD is hard to find and is sold in France only at this time, I ordered it from France and after seeing Bernadette starring Sydney Penny was dubious about ordering, however, I was pleasantly surprised. It is fairly fast paced and historically VERY accurate, more so than the "Hollywood" made Song of Bernadette of 1943. Katia Miran is excellent as Bernadette you cannot keep your eyes off of her and depicts Bernadette's sometimes complex personality to a tee, it is not a movie to convert the viewer but has several life messages contained in it. If you can find it on-line and love St. Bernadette please order it, you will not be disappointed. The sound track to the film can be found on Amazon, it is very moving and wonderful to listen to. You can order the film from: contact@hotelsaintsauveur.com

After Henry King's "song of Bernadette" (1943),three versions of the famous Saint Bernadette were made in her native country .

Darène's movie "il suffit d'aimer " (1960) was not based on a biography but on a solid screenplay by writer Gilbert Cesbron

The second one simply called "Bernadette "(1988)Critically speaking ,it was greeted with a poor reception in its native France,coming just after critically-acclaimed Alain Cavalier's "Therese" (de Lisieux) .Jean Delannoy whose work was unfairly lambasted by the NV , made a work of great simplicity ,very endearing .

And this is the third one ; it almost passed unnoticed ,in spite of the sensational performance of Katia Miran(debut) ,whose luminous face and transfiguration outshine Jennifer Jones and the others .

It was the first theatrically -released movie by Jean Sagols , (73 at the time) ,essentially a TV actor;the cast is particularly interesting, gathering some of the best French old actors in supporting roles: Francis Perrin ,who was mainly a comic actor,Francis Huster ,one of the romantic male leads of the French eighties , Rufus, admirable in the part of the bishop who tells the tale of the useless tree ...

Katia Miran shows more strength of character than her predecessors ; she insists she never told that the apparition was VIrgin Mary ;but later her "lady" told her she was the Immaculate Conception, words she did not understand .

The film ,apart from Katia Mira's extraordinary acting ,is not ground-breaking though ; the scenes of the journalists could have been edited out ; perhaps,it would have renewed the subject if the director had not shown the saint's vision ; the others are not supposed to see it ,after all ,and us, viewers ,are part of the crowd.

Few legends have been woven from humbler stuff,and this particular encounter between one of the poorest peasant girls in a tiny village of the Pyrenées and "the Lady" led to events that shook not only my native France but the entire Christian world. Lourdes has become the second hotel town in France after Paris as well as the second Christian pilgrimage place in the world after Rome,

The movie doesn't deliberately pull on the heart strings, and it isn't a hagiography. Yet the movie left me in tears. "Truly I tell you, unless you become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." I understand this passage better now.

The Song of Bernadette is the most famous movie based on this subject and this film is even better. It shows Bernadette as a real person who is far from perfect. Every Catholic knows the story of the poor, illiterate peasant girl who sees the Virgin Mary and is mocked and ridiculed by those in charge. After several miracles, the spring there make believers out of most. She eventually became a nun and the site is one of the most visited by pilgrims in search of answers to their troubles. The lead actress is perfect as Bernadette and I highly recommend this moving film.