Lourdes (Jessica Hausner, 2009): Austria, France, Germany

Reviewed by Skylar Harrison. Viewed at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival, Metro 4 Theatre.

The Austrian Jessica Hausner— with an almost passive shooting style— unbiastly writes and directs Lourdes, a story that questions religion in regards to physical miracles. Hausner is a true teacher in this film, feeding the audience questions but never answering as we follow an isolated, paraplegic woman on a pilgrimage to Lourdes.  Paired with Sylvie Testud’s understated, stoic, and at times, charming acting style, this film will leave you breathless as you question what it would mean to be paralyzed and if miracles are really just a commercialized religious scam.

This film follows the mundane and tragic day-to-day regime of Christine (Testud), a paraplegic women suffering from multiple sclerosis, as she embarks on a pilgrimage with the hope of a physical miracle. She feels “useless” and angry at her physical condition, and she wears a “screw you” expression when the head nurse constantly reminds her that it is her soul that must be healed, not her body.

Christine, although a subtle doubter of her religious beliefs, becomes the star of the pilgrimage when God chooses to grant her a miracle. Or has He? Whether Christine’s miracle (or medical recovery) will vanish overnight is a fear of both Christine and her fellow pilgrims who are dying to witness and believe in a real miracle. Once healed, Christine begins living her life, firmly grasping her independence, and pursuing a love interest; yet, she is aware it could all vanish after a night’s sleep.

Doubts of commercialized religion stand firmly as a major theme of this film. In several stagnant wide shots, we see hordes of people, which are then juxtaposed by shots of New York City like tourist shops lit up with neon signs and filled with religious knickknacks and souvenirs: Lourdes is a religious Disney World. Is it simply fantasy? Hausner confidently keeps the camera still, which allows the viewer to simply observe, as if at a zoo, these pilgrims navigating their way around their beliefs and Lourdes. In another motionless shot, we see Christine sitting in a church listening to religious compositions; a pillar is clearly in the way of the full view of Christine, but because the camera remains still, Christine becomes encaged by the shot and her religious thoughts.

Yes, this film heavily takes on religious themes, which is emphasized by the deadpan cinematography, but it is the physical disability of Christine in which the camera movements capture the audience. The camera—motionless— routinely watches Christine being undressed and put to bed. Christine is unable to move, and through the cinematography, neither is the audience; although camera movement is scarce, it only adds to the pathos of the film. Once Christine has been cured, in another still shot, we watch her wake from a night of sleep, and in an overextended shot watch her lay perfectly still. The audience holds their breath until Christine finally moves her leg and then rises to a sitting position. All without camera movement, every muscle in the audience is tensed.

In this ironic look at religion, fate, and hope Hausner brilliantly owns her simple cinematic style and layers it with sharp humor, real characters, and raw emotion. Lourdes takes film past entertaining or informative to deeply thought provoking and rewarding.