It received the 2009 vienna international film festivals vienna film prize for best film. The film makes you want to go to lourdes, maybe not so much for a cure, but just to experience lourdes. I made lourdes in french and i enjoyed not to work in my mother tongue because it helped me. Awardwinning austrian director and screenwriter jessica hausner has referred to frankenstein being an inspiration for the script, mentioning the essential elements of the manmade monster freeing itself and wreaking havoc. Was the world of the irrational, the belief in miracles a decisive aspect that inspired you to make your third fulllength film. Christine a touchingly subdued sylvie testud is a paraplegic touring the titular city and its alleged healing baths with a group of nursechaperoned invalids who. Please join us for commas next event of the 201617 series, modernist energies, with a screening of jessica hausners lourdes 2009 on friday, may 5th at 1. Jessica hausner on lourdes, spirituality, and embracing death. Permitted to shoot at lourdes, she emphasizes receiving lines and prep rooms, humanscale needs and desires, over grand architecture or heavenly shafts of light. Lourdes is a sober film shot through with miracles, hope, and events inexplicable to the modern sensibility. Jessica hausner 1972, austria studied psychology and trained as a director at the vienna film academy. Lourdes, jessica hausner, 99 mins, u the independent. May 28, 2019 little joe marks your first film shot in english. Jessica hausners sober exercise about the mysteries behind miracles is somewhat distant yet exudes a distinct sense of intelligence that is quite beautiful.
Directed by jessica hausner and starring sylvie testud, lea seydoux and gilette barbier. Lourdes directed by jessica hausner drama not rated. The beauty of hausners film is that just when you think shes going to take a sneering swipe at lourdes, its tacky trinkets and deluded visitors, the film takes a much less easy and more. It gives a glimpse as to what happens when there is an alleged cure, and how fellow pilgrims in a tour group react to a cure.
In order to escape her isolation, wheelchairbound christine makes a life changing journey to lourdes, the iconic site of pilgrimage in the pyrenees mountains. It stars sylvie testud, lea seydoux, bruno todeschini and elina lowensohn. Director jessica hausner amour fou, lovely rita, returns this month with a stylish englishlanguage debut about a geneticallymodified plant, little joe. Film screening of jessica hausners lourdes 2009 comma. W riterdirector jessica hausners sly, suggestive lourdes plays at times like a vignette from luis bunuels picaresque pilgrimsontheroad movie the milky way blown up to feature length, especially in its studied ambiguity, amounting to a steadfast refusal to verify or deny its apparently miraculous content, and persistent undermining of staid piousness with humor. Aug 25, 2011 in order to escape her isolation, wheelchairbound christine makes a life changing journey to lourdes, the iconic site of pilgrimage in the pyrenees mountains. And gilette barbier as silent madame carre and elina lowenson as celine are mesmerizing.
Jessica hausner talks about lourdes austrian film commission. Austerity may be the greatest quality in jessica s hausner third film. Jessica hausners new film lourdes may be the most mysterious film screened at this years toronto film festival, one that takes a story of religious and spiritual import and casts that world and those themes down a gauntlet that suggests hitchcock and tati in its supremely calibrated conceptual suspense and encircling humor. Jessica hausner on lourdes with time out film time out. Lourdes is a new film that takes us inside the french religious resort. Little joe director jessica hausner on taking inspiration.
In 1999, she founded the vienna film production company coop99 with barbara albert, antonin svoboda and martin gschlacht. Jessica hausners lourdes refrains from demystifying the. The first sentence of the idea was a miracle that might not be a miracle after all. Oct 19, 2009 i think it would be jessica hausner s view that, in the film, lourdes is to be understood as a parable of this theme of hope and happiness, of the sudden and unforeseen event that can change ones life forever.
At first i was shocked by meeting so many sick people in one place, and this initial impression changed my mind for the time being because i was afraid that the film could turn into a social drama. For jessica hausner, a shrine is a repository of mysteries. With sylvie testud, lea seydoux, bruno todeschini, elina lowensohn. The last film featuring a scene in lourdes was julian schnabels the diving bell and the butterfly, in which mathieu amalrics disabled magazine. I talk about loneliness, disability, and my own struggle with. Austrian director jessica hausner placidly tackles related moral paradoxes in lourdes, a deliberately paced examination of catholic mysticism with sharp sprinkles of magical realism. I think it would be jessica hausners view that, in the film, lourdes is to be understood as a parable of this theme of hope and happiness, of the sudden and. Directed by austrian filmmaker jessica hausner, the film follows christine sylvie testud, a wheelchaired woman suffering from multiple sclerosis, who makes a trip to lourdes a commune in france in hopes of regaining her health and mobility. The film is very appealing to those who have never been to lourdes. Film jessica hausners lourdes refrains from demystifying. Jessica hausner with ben whishaw and emily beecham on the set of little joe.
I made lourdes in french and i enjoyed not to work in my mother tongue because it helped me to find a good distance. I went on three or four pilgrimages to lourdes myself when i started thinking about setting the film there. She is a writer and director, known for little joe 2019, lourdes 2009 and lovely rita 2001. Like with all my films i started to do a lot of research, and i investigated different places where miracles are supposed to happen, or i investigated different descriptions of miracles that have ever happened. It tells the story of christine, a young woman in a wheelchair who goes to the famous catholic holy site of lourdes in france where she and other pilgrims hope for healing and possibly a miraculous cure. An ironic parable that both is and isnt about faith, lourdes might make a good why me. Yet another unconventional horror story with a deeply buried message, little joe is distinctly unusual in style, narrative, theme, and prevailing mood.
It is her first englishlanguage film, and the first to get a major u. Discover her venice golden lionnominated film from 2010 which follows a pack of religious believers on a pilgrimage to lourdes. Empty filmed in an austere, neardocumentary style, lourdes takes viewers deep inside one of the worlds most popular religious shrines. Order and ritual form the questions and mysteries addressed in lourdes, a french film about miracles and the problems and promises that they inspire. The ambiguous and the suspenseful remains two of her greatest strenghts, used with the same good hand which made hotel quite an interesting film. Om uit haar isolement te komen maakt ze, hoewel ze niet bijzonder vroom is, een. Mit lourdes gelang jessica hausner eine vielschichtige parabel uber. Opening playtimestyle with a cafeteria gradually filling up with the sick and disabled and their reduniformed caretakers, austrian filmmaker jessica hausner depicts a culture of petitioners whose routines and gossip are more redolent of bargain hunters than believers. A good reason for new yorks lincoln center to focus on the complete works of the viennese miracle worker as the lc entitles the program, showcasing her five feature films, two shorts and an installation from november 8 to 10, 2019. Lourdes jessica hausners account of one womans lifechanging visit to the pilgrimage site, which has won awards at the venice, vienna and warsaw film festivals.
Jessica hausners film, about a woman who experiences a miracle at lourdes, is a mischievous piece of work. Lourdes 2009 cast and crew credits, including actors, actresses, directors, writers and more. Jessica hausner discusses lourdes during our director retrospective at film at lincoln center. Jessica hausner born 6 october 1972 is an austrian film director and screenwriter.
Sep 09, 2018 in this episode, i talk about jessica hausners 2009 film, lourdes. Little joe is jessica hausners fifth feature film and her englishlanguage debut. Avec sylvie testud, lea seydoux, bruno todeschini, elina lowensohn, gilette barbier. Despite its ambitious miseenscene, hausner manages to keep a fair balance in her narrative.
In order to escape her isolation, she makes a journey to lourdes, the iconic site of pilgrimage in the pyrenees mountains. Time out meets its director, jessica hausner did you spend a lot of time in lourdes before going. Permitted to shoot at lourdes, she emphasizes receiving lines and prep. The occasion for the interview was the glasgow film festival, at which the film was being shown. Jessica hausner was born on october 6, 1972 in vienna, austria. Lourdes is a 2009 film directed by jessica hausner. Christine has been confined to a wheelchair for most of her life. The last film featuring a scene in lourdes was julian schnabels the diving bell and the butterfly, in. Jessica hausners lourdes on palisades tartan bluray. Mar 25, 2010 furthermore, this movie is by jessica hausner.
Lourdes follows a christine a woman suffering from multiple sclerosis who goes on a journey to lourdes, a pilgrimage, where she escapes her sadness and isolation. Jessica hausners lourdes looks and often feels like the work of a modernday alfred hitchcock. Feb 17, 2010 lourdes directed by jessica hausner drama not rated. On december 6, jessica hausners little joe will be released in the us by magnolia pictures. That said, the power of this film is that its open to interpretation depending on ones view of religion, and this is how we should approach the subject always.
It pokes and prods at aspects of organised religion, especially in how pockets of it cleverly try to steer clear of committing to any particular vision or doctrine. The beauty of hausner s film is that just when you think shes going to take a sneering swipe at lourdes, its tacky trinkets and deluded visitors, the film takes a much less easy and more. Jan 28, 2011 preparing for the february 10 presentation of jean delannoys beautiful film bernadette 1988, i came across a trailer for lourdes 2009, directed by jessica hausner. The film debut of jessica hausner is an incisive exploration on the toxicity of religious fundamentalism and youth misunderstanding shot in digital video and with nonprofessional actors. Jessica hausners distinctly unusual scifi film little joe. The tag line says, in order to escape her isolation, wheelchairbound christine makes a life changing journey to lourdes, the iconic site of pilgrimage in the pyrenees mountains. Jessica hausners drama is subtle, mysterious and brilliant, says peter bradshaw. The film, which was shot on location in lourdes one scene features cardinal roger mahony, the archbishop of. Sylvie testud, lea seydoux, gilette barbier, gerhard liebmann en bruno todeschini.
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