Lourdes (2009)

Highly Recommended

France/Austria/Germany

Feature Film

Writer/Director: Jessica Hausner

Cinematographer: Martin Gschlacht

Cast: Sylvie Testud, Léa Seydoux, Gilette Barbier, Gerhard Liebmann, Bruno Todeschini, Elina Löwensohn

In Hausner’s beautifully shot, subtly acted, and gently, enigmatically observational film, Christine, a thirty-something French woman paralysed from the neck down by severe multiple sclerosis, makes a pilgrimage (despite an evident lack of faith – she really just wants a trip away, and would have preferred Rome) to Lourdes (remarkably reminiscent of a theme park), and miraculously regains the use of her limbs. Iain.Stott