Sylvie Testud in Jessica Hauser’s ‘Lourdes’ at Film Forum
by Sam Juliano
Wholly original in its concept and execution, Austrian director Jessica Hausner’s Lourdes is a cross between the austerity of Bresson and the deadpan minimalism of Aki Kaurismaki as the film broaches issues of faith and celestial power without offering any concrete answers.
Filmed at the Catholic holy site of Lourdes, a once hidden enclave in the extreme southwestern part of France, just miles from the border with Spain just above the Pyrenees, this is as observational and non-committal a film we’ve seen in some time, yet it’s aesthetic beauty and art house underpinnings make it alluring for the eyes and the ears, while simultaneously raising questions that had their origin all the back in 1858, when a young 14 year-old village girl, Bernadette Soubirous made claim to getting visits from the supposed Blessed Virgin Mary on eighteen occasions at the nearby Grotto of Massabielle. It was subsequently argued by theological figures that ‘miracles’ happened in the town, and that a number of people were cured by disease and illness. The story was written for a novel and a subsequent Hollywood film starring Jennifer Jones appeared in 1943, winning Ms. Jones the Oscar for ‘Best Actress.’ The town attracts millions of tourists each year, and religious zealots seek the ‘cleansing by holy water’ that was long believed to be the method of healing.
As a work of religious custom and orthodoxy, and as a showcase of the somber, almost intimidating meditative beauty of Christian rituals, Lourdes is unquestionably an arresting film, right from the opening scene where visitors are gathered in a holding area, while Franz Schubert’s ravishing “Ave Maria” is sung on the soundtrack with an entrancing spirituality, through it’s adherence to tradition and reverence, beautifully lit by cinematographer Martin Gschlacht, in a number of stationary shots. But Gschlacht wisely lets the magnificence of the settings stand on their own. The painterly compositions are often underscored by some of J.S. Bach’s most spiritually captivating organ works.
The question remains however what is Ms. Hausner trying to imply here, and is this basically a satiric strike against the fanaticism that annually informs a visit to this sacred site. At the film’s center is a petite wheelchair-bound woman, played superbly by Sylvie Testud, who doesn’t seem at all caught up in all the religious euphoria, until an event later on changes her life, but still doesn’t mitigate pertinent issues raised by a specialist on multiple sclerosis. While it seems obvious that the film doesn’t buy into blind adulation, it’s also clear that Hausner is willing to broach the contradictions inherent in Catholic doctrine, where some unfortunates are shot down indiscriminately, while devotion is often ‘rewarded’ with terminal disease. Perhaps the most facile aspect of Catholicism, (and for any religion for that matter) is the belief that things are there for a reason, and don’t need to be explained. The actor Gerhard Liebman plays a priest who advances this theological propaganda with both a straight face and a forced smile, and there’s a thematic connection in this sense to scenes where stores are selling religious articles again showcasing the hypocritical marriage of the ‘reverential’ and the ‘commercial.’ But scenes like the candlelight vigil in the courtyard, or the congregation of wheelchairs are impossible images to shake, whether one believes these are accentuating a practical cult worship sustained by tradition, or a genuine spirit aimed at fostering goodwill. Either way these are unforgettable visual compositions.
There’s a cinema verite style to the film, and it seems the benign spirit of Robert Bresson was overseeing the filming, with an attention to detail and to overriding theme, rather than any narrative compliance. In any case, if anything, the great director’s inspiration manifested itself even more in the film’s uncompromising austerity, even if Lourdes really has more up its sleeve than it’s willing to let on.
Final Rating: **** 1/2 (of 5)
Note: I saw ‘Lourdes’ all by my lonesome on Wednesday night, February 17th at 10:00 P.M. at Manhattan’s Film Forum in an almost empty theatre on it’s opening day. Still, I expect the weekend to bring in far larger numbers. Despite the fact that the film deliberately avoided any concrete position, I like this method of “observance/viewer interpretation.” As I stated in the review it was an exceedingly beautiful film to look at. The best review of the film I’ve seen is by none other than that intellectual writer extraordinaire Jon Joseph Lanthier, whose review here appeared in Slant. Jon awarded the film 3 stars out of 4.
My father’s oldest brother, who passed in 2000 at the age of 83, visited Lourdes annually for over 30 years, as he was a devout Catholic and a long serving usher at our local parish. I heard some wonderful stories from him.
Sam, I’m no huge fan of Bresson (though I admire the “ideas” behind his signature style) but as a recovering Catholic this sounds right up my alley thematically and visually — perhaps ala the Mennonite Silent Light.
Thanks for posting this review. I wasn’t even aware of this film before I read this.
Thanks David! Yes, as a recovering Catholic, I am 100% certain it’s aesthetics alone will ravish you. Your review of this film is one I frankly cannot wait to read. And I’m confident it will be in your neck of the woods soon enough.
I am sure Jon Lanthier has something substantial to say on this film, but I can’t see it for the maze of labored allegory and smug erudition. He should also jettison the atheistic chip that weighs so heavily on his shoulder. I assume his reference to Murmur of the Heart and incest is founded, but whose to know?
Sam, your unaffected approach at the very least makes the substance of the film so much more approachable. You have given a clear outline of its premise and its context. A great effort.
Who knows if this movie will ever reach the Antipodes, or that I will ever watch it on DVD. But let me say this. There are many phenomena that defy rational or scientific explanation, so asking a priest to do better is hardly fair. Mystical experience can leave some grace or not, and asking that a miracle be a reward is a mis-statement of Catholic theology and essential Christian faith.
Tony, thanks for the very kind words, and the exceedingly acute observations. Alas, it’s true what you say about the undefinable power of faith, and that there are often no easy answers. I just need to unravel Ms. hausner’s full intentions here, though at present I think I’ll give her the benefit of the doubt. It’s a beautiful film.
Glad you liked it. I thought it was amazing. It’s a really powerful work.
Yes, Matthew, and I saw your excellent review of it at your place:
http://fromthefrontrow.blogspot.com/2010/02/review-lourdes.html
Sam, Sue and I traveled to Lourdes 12 years ago. It’s a trip we’ll keep with us for our entire lives. There is no film I want to see more than this, and may even make a trip to Manhattan over the weekend. What a beautiful review you have written here. I hung on with every word.
Peter, I never realized you were over there! If you have some pictures I’d be much obliged to see some. In view of that this is about as essential a film for you and Sue as there is! Thanks for the kind words.
It would be interesting to know if the aim of the film is reverential or satiric. Or, as you suggest, a combination of both. This is some tremendous writing.
I stopped in today. Hoped you enjoyed your week. The prison term commences again on Monday!
Joe, the conceivable satitic undertones were subtle, hence one would be hard-pressed to prove that Hauser’s intentions here were serious perversions of factual evidence. Thanks so much for the compliments.
Growing up Catholic, one always hears about Lourdes. Skeptic or believer it is an interesting phenomena, and says a lot about people and their willingness to believe, or not believe, in the mysteries of life. A thoughtful review Sam, sounds like a visually beautiful, thought provoking and arresting film.
You say so much there in just a few sentences John, and thanks so much for the very kind words. Yep, there is some mystical there, and a few critics broached the suggestion of the metaphysical, which I only skirted around in this review. I’d love to get your own reaction, especially in view of the fact that you also had a Catholic upbringing.
I was a little unsure about this one Sam, but you have me intrigued.
Unfortunately the company behind the film in the US all too often seems content to open at the Film Forum and then go to DVD, skipping us heathens in Hollywood altogether. No telling of or when I’ll get a crack at it.
Speaking of DVD, fans of Ms. Testud will want to keep an eye out for La France coming to DVD in the US on April 6. It was a strange, musical/war romance hybrid about a woman who disguises herself as a man and takes up with a lost squad of soldiers so she can meet up with her lover fighting in the war. It kind of defies helpful description but it sticks with you. The late Guillaume Depardieu co-stars in a smallish role. It never got a theatrical release around LA, but may have played in NY.
Ha Craig! I noticed that what you say there is true when films open in the Film Forum. But I’m sure it’s excellent reviews will ensure it an LA run.
Craig, when LA FRANCE opened last year at the Anthology Film Archives here in Manhattan, I wrote a review, which you actually linked over to LIC, mentioning my name. I thanked you for it. It was a bizarre film for sure, but like you I was also rather intoxicated by it. Thanks for this excellent Testud reference!
Thank you for the kind words, Sam. I daresay your very, very fine review makes my same point in a less meandering, more lucid fashion — while the look and feel of “Lourdes” seems wholly devoted to implying genuine spiritualism, it’s at odds with the film’s thin plot and spiritually anemic characters (especially those who criticize the central “miracle”). Ultimately I feel the movie is a success, thus my three star rating, and I don’t mind that its satire is rather buried — if, indeed, it can be said to have any satire at all — but I felt that even as an invitation to skepticism and deliberation Hausner kept her content strictly at surface level (we keep waiting, for example, for the main character’s newfound sexuality at the three-fourths mark to blossom into some kind of off-filter point about sainthood, and the temptations of divinity’s intervening into fleshy affairs, but it all remains rather subdued). Still, it’s hard to argue when the surfaces are this numinous.
Interestingly, I’ve heard so many different interpretations of the influences on “Lourdes”‘s visual style I’m beginning to wonder if the film isn’t a film critic’s Rorschach. I brought up Louis Malle and Michael Powell, Sam brings up (quite rightly) Bresson and Aki Kaurismaki, and Karina Longworth actually saw the glowing visage of Saint Hitchcock in Hausner’s heavenly grotto. Quite interesting.
Jon: Thanks so much for your support and flattering words. And thanks too for corroborating some of my own feelings, which admittedly are in the line of ‘thin plot, and some ‘spiritually anemic characters.’ But yes, a 3 of 4 star from you is rather high praise, and like you I seriously doubt there was any seriou sstrain of satire, outside of what might be derived from the inexplicables aspects of Catholic doctrine. But yes, Hausner wisely accentuates the indominable aspects of faith and the intrinsic beauty of the location’s setting. That’s a very interesting idea of Hitchcock from Ms. Longworth!!
David, I was actually kind of reminded of SILENT LIGHT while watching LOURDES. They’re very different films, but their power is very similar. SILENT LIGHT was my #1 film of 2008, I absolutely adore it. So having LOURDES give me a similar feeling is pretty big for me.
I am myself an atheist, but I found both films to be as close to religious experiences as it is possible to get.
Matthew…now I am very intrigued! I can’t wait for this. I loved Silent Light.
Wow. Right up there on my to-watch list… Thanks!
Thanks JAFB.