Review of Lourdes (2009) by Roy S — 06 Mar 2010
At a time of cinematic fundamentalism - represented by "The Passion of the Christ" at one extreme, and the wise-ass rationalism of "Religulous" at the other - "Lourdes"'s becalmed neutrality, its compunction to wait and see, comes as welcome respite, allowing us to make our own minds up.
.. As an actress, Testud - winsome, pallid, self-consciously clenched, as though determined to squeeze a full body's worth of performance into her upper torso - remains a taste this writer hasn't as yet acquired; neither she nor her director feel compelled to suggest anything of Christine's life before Lourdes, leaving her a difficult character to get a fix on.
Hausner's ambivalence - the absence of both God and any overt editorialising from her scenario - can sometimes appear like a frustrating evasiveness; don't be surprised if fisticuffs break out in the foyer between believers and non-believers over what each faction thinks they've just witnessed.
Yet it remains an intriguing film from first frame to last: the work of a director who moves in some very mysterious ways.
This review of Lourdes (2009) was written by Roy S on 06 Mar 2010.
Lourdes has generally received positive reviews.
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