Thérèse

Rating:
Summary: Therese
Review: ...French dramatization of the life of St. Therese de Lisieux from age 15 when she joined a cloistered convent of Carmelite nuns to her death there 9 years later of tuberculosis. Director Alain Cavalier's impressionistic account of the young woman (luminously portrayed by Catherine Mouchet) who found personal joy, spiritual liberation and the sanctity of selfless simplicity within the restrictive traditions of an austere religious community will challenge contemporary viewers and confound some.

Rating:
Summary: Just another hateful film against the a Catholic Saint
Review: Anyone who has read 'the Story of a Soul' knows that St. Therese was not a neurotic 'basketcase', as this film would have you beleive. This film is just another cheap shot at Catholic bigotry and I think 1 star is far too generous a rating for it.
Read and reread the book but don't waste your money on a film like this.

Rating:
Summary: Holy Film Noir
Review: Can't believe how the reviewers on this page overlook some serious subtexts in this film. It's a dark movie and the setting is so stark and minimal it could have been on a stage or filmed in black and white. However, I can understand devout people getting swept up with the film because of the actress who plays Therese--I have seen all available photos of St. Therese and this actress looks just like her, down to the rosebud lips. Luke Films also recently came out with a film on St. Therese that will make traditional Catholics happy, but its American actress who plays the lead role is a far cry from this one. She is thoroughly French yet has all the sweetness, spiritual romanticism, and innocent exuberance Therese of Lisieux emits from her autobiography. However, these French film makers certainly make their late twentieth century, post-Christian European statement on the mentality of a turn of the century Carmelite nunnery. One young nun who is obviously rather mental apparently also has some lesbo hots for Therese, but her angst leads her to escape via a knotted cloth as if she's in a prison (I read the autobiography several times as a teen and don't recall Therese ever mentioning any "jail-break"). The cranky old nun Therese wrote about is featured in this film and with impressive detail. The film depicts a bizarre spectacle of the nuns at Christmas taking turns cradling and dancing about with a creche figure of the Baby Jesus as if it were a real baby, as if we're being told these nuns are acting out their repressed and thwarted motherhood. There are indeed other messages the makers plug in this setting of severity that seems more like S&M to people of our generation and it was possible such holy self-abuse prematurely killed Therese who died of TB in her early 20s. I'm not defending such extremes that Carmelites of that time performed--in fact, rather than such unnecessary extremes, I'd prefer along with the doctor (the voice of the film maker?) who says "This place should be burned down"--but just be forewarned of the film maker's subliminal commentaries.
Nevertheless, I found this film was very worth seeing and buying if watched with a critical eye. Besides the excellent performance of this actress who portrayed one of my favorite saints, I was very touched and deeply stirred by how the film showed the great love and affection among the Martin sisters (Therese had two or three sisters in the convent), especially how one sister was the embodiment of perfect love, empathy, and attentive care for Therese as she suffered in great misery in her final stage of tuberculosis. Parents who have to contend with kids obsessed with sibling rivalry should sit them down and show them that beautiful scene.

Rating:
Summary: Holy Film Noir
Review: Can't believe how the reviewers on this page overlook some serious subtexts in this film. It's a dark movie and the setting is so stark and minimal it could have been on a stage or filmed in black and white. However, I can understand devout people getting swept up with the film because of the actress who plays Therese--I have seen all available photos of St. Therese and this actress looks just like her, down to the rosebud lips. Luke Films also recently came out with a film on St. Therese that will make traditional Catholics happy, but its American actress who plays the lead role is a far cry from this one. She is thoroughly French yet has all the sweetness, spiritual romanticism, and innocent exuberance Therese of Lisieux emits from her autobiography. However, these French film makers certainly make their late twentieth century, post-Christian European statement on the mentality of a turn of the century Carmelite nunnery. One young nun who is obviously rather mental apparently also has some lesbo hots for Therese, but her angst leads her to escape via a knotted cloth as if she's in a prison (I read the autobiography several times as a teen and don't recall Therese ever mentioning any "jail-break"). The cranky old nun Therese wrote about is featured in this film and with impressive detail. The film depicts a bizarre spectacle of the nuns at Christmas taking turns cradling and dancing about with a creche figure of the Baby Jesus as if it were a real baby, as if we're being told these nuns are acting out their repressed and thwarted motherhood. There are indeed other messages the makers plug in this setting of severity that seems more like S&M to people of our generation and it was possible such holy self-abuse prematurely killed Therese who died of TB in her early 20s. I'm not defending such extremes that Carmelites of that time performed--in fact, rather than such unnecessary extremes, I'd prefer along with the doctor (the voice of the film maker?) who says "This place should be burned down"--but just be forewarned of the film maker's subliminal commentaries.
Nevertheless, I found this film was very worth seeing and buying if watched with a critical eye. Besides the excellent performance of this actress who portrayed one of my favorite saints, I was very touched and deeply stirred by how the film showed the great love and affection among the Martin sisters (Therese had two or three sisters in the convent), especially how one sister was the embodiment of perfect love, empathy, and attentive care for Therese as she suffered in great misery in her final stage of tuberculosis. Parents who have to contend with kids obsessed with sibling rivalry should sit them down and show them that beautiful scene.

Rating:
Summary: disgusted and appalled
Review: I love St. Therese and have read her autobiography, letters, and poems. Unfortunately, this movie does not do justice to Therese. At times, the movie is kind of creepy, paying undue attention to a lesbian nun in love with Therese. This nun is almost the co-star of the movie. It seems to me that the film maker is critical of Therese and the Carmelites. This is not a movie for children in particular, because it would only confuse them. Actually, it would probably confuse anyone. What a shame. The movie gets 1 star only because of good acting by the woman who plays Therese. The movie has other faults, but I'll not dwell on them because its really not worth it.

Rating:
Summary: Strange little movie
Review: I love St. Therese and have read her autobiography, letters, and poems. Unfortunately, this movie does not do justice to Therese. At times, the movie is kind of creepy, paying undue attention to a lesbian nun in love with Therese. This nun is almost the co-star of the movie. It seems to me that the film maker is critical of Therese and the Carmelites. This is not a movie for children in particular, because it would only confuse them. Actually, it would probably confuse anyone. What a shame. The movie gets 1 star only because of good acting by the woman who plays Therese. The movie has other faults, but I'll not dwell on them because its really not worth it.

Rating:
Summary: disgusted and appalled
Review: I purchased the VHS version of this movie five years ago. I had difficulty watching this trash as it obviously pandered to every twisted, sick stereotype of Cloistered Catholic Nuns that I have ever heard of (lesbianism, S&M, etc...)! I was so thoroughly disgusted by this poor excuse for a movie that I threw in it the garbage, where it belongs, immediately after forcing myself to watch it in the vain hope that I could unearth at least a single redeeming quality in it. I could not. It is garbage. I only gave it one star because it is a required field. It does not deserve even one!

Rating:
Summary: Not for Everyone
Review: Keep in mind that the director of this film was an atheist, and that one of his primary purposes in filming it was to experiment with a new/different cinematic style. Therefore, no fancy sets or backgrounds, just a concentration on the life of a very devout, simple, and loving young girl. Not her whole life, only bits and pieces of how she thought, what she said and did, and what life in a Cloistered Convent was like. l've seen this movie several times, and not once did l see any overt or obvious act of the so-called lesbianism. See it for its spititual message, and keep in mind that after this movie was released there was a solid increase in applications to Carmelite Convents and a more solid interest in the life of St. Therese of Lisieux, also known as the Little Flower.

Rating:
Summary: A sweet film about a girl with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
Review: The film is good, it's french and it's minimal. I saw it when I was in the seminary years ago.

If one reads the memoirs of nuns who actually had to live with this eventual saint, none of them really liked her. Short of counting every step she made throughout the day, or avoiding cracks lest she break her mother's back, she was so driven by obsessively compulsive disarray that she HAD to become a saint. She was consumed with the most minor infractions (silly, nonsense sins) that she drove everyone around her crazy.

Is that really a "saint," or is that someone who could have just been helped out a whole lot with a little Zoloft or Prozac? So you think a mean thought of someone who annoys you...well, this woman made mountains out of those inconsequential thoughts, yet she's viewed as special.

Well, she was special. Her neurosis was olympic, and she made others suffer for that. But we didn't have to live with her, so we think she's spectacular.

This film does not deal with her psychological self-induced trauma. This film, like time, makes this woman stand out as a saint.

Fantasy and fond memory beats the heck out of truth and reality.

Mike

Rating:
Summary: Haunting and mystical
Review: Therese lives by herself in the wooded fields of India, someday hoping to remove the braces from her legs. From over the next hill comes a mysterious sound, beckoning her to investigate. Scared at first, Therese's infatuation with discovering the origins of these noises becomes overwhelming yet her fear will not allow her to go. Beautifully photographed, this film will serve as a reminder of the road not taken to everyone who visits.