Lourdes
An understated film that leaves much for the viewer to conclude, it works because of the always compelling Sylvie Testud.
It'll come as no surprise to learn that Austrian director Jessica Hausner once worked alongside Funny Games and Hidden helmer Michael Haneke. Whereas Hausner forgoes the gut-churning brutality of her fellow countryman, she has the same unique ability; that is holding a mirror to society.
From the lingering overhead shot of nurses wheeling pilgrims into a sterile Lourdes cafeteria, Hausner has carefully assembled a knowing look at both the petty and the pious. The story follows Christine, a paralysed and wheelchair-bound sufferer of multiple scleroris. Acclaimed French actress Sylvie Testud plays this quiet young woman with the same ambiguity as the film itself, allowing you tiny glimpses of her character. Unlike the rest of her tour group, Christine appears to be unreligious, commenting that Lourdes isn't as interesting as the other destinations that get her out of the house. She is fed, clothed and bathed by two nurses - the frivolous charity volunteer Maria (Léa Seydoux) and the severe but beatific nun Cecile (Elina Löwensohn) - and, being the spirited woman she is, finds herself chatting and flirting with the flirtatious helper Kuno (Bruno Todeschini).
In her week-long pilgrimage, Christine joins the similarly-afflicted, the tourists and the nosey in the routines at the Roman Catholic shrine at Lourdes. They are bathed in the waters of the mountain-side Pyreneese village, they touch the cave walls, they are blessed by indifferent priests. As Christine is passively wheeled between these events, Hausner injects carefully observed humour in her background scenes - be sure to check every corner of the frame. Cecile tells her group there will be an award for the best pilgrim, and Hausner gently opens our eyes to the reality of a trip some people wait their entire lives for.
With everyone praying for a miracle to occur, Christine, chillingly, tells Cecile that she dreamt she was paralysed, before walking to the Virgin Mary. When Christine wakes up one morning able to walk, the film becomes tremendous. Not for Hausner the tear-jerking miraculous recovery and a life finally full of happiness. Instead, she magnificently unravels the reactions of Christine's fellow pilgrims, and we are left to see if this miraculous cure is everything it's cracked up to be. An understated film that leaves much for the viewer to conclude, it works because of the always compelling Testud, whose mischievous face is at stark contrast to her reverent surroundings.
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