Review: "Lourdes"

Lourdes is a kind of intelligent, transcendent film rarely seen in modern cinema. If cinema is the supreme medium in which to express all feelings through a combination of all the fine arts, then Hausner uses all the resources the form allows to craft something that engages both the heart and the mind, at once cerebral, emotional, and spiritual.
It is not a religious film, although it could easily be read as one. Just as it could be read as the exact opposite. It is a film of mysteries and questions, centered around a paraplegic woman named Christine (Sylvie Testud), paralyzed from the waist down, on a pilgrimage to Lourdes, France, revered by Catholics as the site of many miraculous healings.

Hausner provides to answers, nor does she lead her audience to any one conclusion. Each audience member is left to their own interpretation based on their own experiences and viewpoints. Is it a stinging indictment of peddling faith as commodity? Is Lourdes merely a tourist trap set up to rob the faithful of their money by offering cheap statues of the virgin Mary, bottled Lourdes water, and false hope of being healed of their afflictions? Is it a meditation on the nature of miracles, be they medical or metaphysical? Are they mental constructs sprung from a mixture of practical reasons and wishful thinking? Or do they truly come from the hand of God? In fact Lourdes is all of these things, and more.

The power of great art comes from its ability to be interpreted by the beholder. Each viewer brings to the table a set of viewpoints and life experiences that make up who they are and inform how they will see a film. Hausner knows and embraces this, offering up a film that defies easy categorization and simplistic descriptions. It exists squarely in a world of mystery and uncertainty, deftly avoiding political hot buttons in favor of something much more profound. The brilliance of Lourdes stems from its enigmatic nature, its ability to be spiritual without being religious, to question without being cynical, to embrace both faith and doubt without judgment - and that is a miracle in itself.
GRADE - ★★★★ (out of four)
LOURDES; Directed by Jennifer Hausner; Stars Sylvie Testud, Léa Sedoux, Gilette Barbier, Elina Löwensohn, Katharina Flicker; Not Rated; In French w/English subtitles; Opens today, 2.17, at the Film Forum in Manhattan.
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