Review of Hail Mary (1985) by Will G — 05 Oct 2007

This mid-80s work by Jean-Luc Godard received a heap of scorn when it was released, and he claims it was because the Catholic church wouldn't let anyone try to retell the story of Mary in present-day terms.

However, now that I've seen the film, I'm sure it was actually because the film contains the usual Godard weaknesses (distancing the audience through bizarre sound cuts and title cards thrown in here and there, characters who quote obscure lines from Heidegger, and recurrent images that never connect with the story) and the fact that the story itself is one of the most prurient he could probably imagine that could still include the story of Mary at all.

It's an unfortunate misstep for the director who makes far too many films to avoid these kinds of mistakes. Skip it.