Lourdes

When Lourdes appeared in the lineup of the French Film Festival, I strongly considered going to the movie theater to see it - mainly because of Sylvie Testud, a charismatic actress who, since Fear and Trembling, has repeatedly proven that her films are worth watching and that beneath the appearance of a gray mouse lies a wide artistic talent. However, even then, my instinct and experience warned me that this time there would be too little of Sylvia in Lourdes and too many delays, meditation, and prayers. For the most part, I was mistaken because in Lourdes there was ultimately too much of only the former. On the other hand, there was remarkably little of everything else, including human sadness, pain, and hope. A runtime of 96 minutes may seem reasonable in a time when two-hour action movies have become the norm, but the problem is what it is, or rather what it isn't, filled with. The content and message of Lourdes could easily fit into a 50-minute medium-length film. The rest is filler caused by Jessica Hausner's unwillingness to edit. With this lady, you can count on the fact that when she plays a karaoke song for you, you will enjoy it to the last note, and when lunch is served, you can also eat it and finish it with the film characters. Lourdes is very static and slow. To such an extent that films about permanently paralyzed lives that take place in a bed or on a chair (The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, The Sea Inside) are explosions of excitement and dynamism compared to it. Jessica Hausner takes the position of a (seemingly) impartial observer who casually records the events surrounding a pilgrimage to a famous site. We see the hopes and doubts of its participants and we can root for the main character to make her moment of happiness last as long as possible. However, this interesting and undoubtedly powerful film falls apart due to the aforementioned "watering down" of the subject. It is exactly the kind of film that, due to the director's self-centeredness, subjectively feels twice as long as it actually is. Overall impression: 40%. (16.12.2013)

An impartial film that, as an atheist, I enjoyed as a nice dark comedy, but I can imagine believers taking it as a serious drama and having no issue with it. Lourdes is a great example that meaning not always arises from the source of the message, but somewhere along the way between it and the receiver. (06.01.2012)