Lourdes (2009)

92% of critics liked it
(39 reviews)
65% of users liked it
(1,414 ratings)

A woman searching for a miracle seemingly finds one -- but what comes next? Christine (Sylvie Testud) has spent most of her life confined to a wheelchair, unable to use her arms and legs, and while she has a keen mind and the means to seek treatment, she looks for a solution to her condition in… More A woman searching for a miracle seemingly finds one -- but what comes next? Christine (Sylvie Testud) has spent most of her life confined to a wheelchair, unable to use her arms and legs, and while she has a keen mind and the means to seek treatment, she looks for a solution to her condition in faith as well as medical science. Christine has made a pilgrimage to Lourdes, the village in Southwestern France where a celebrated miracle is said to have occurred, and she checks into an upscale clinic where a young nurse named Maria (Léa Seydoux) is assigned to look after her. Christine imagines that she and Maria are becoming fast friends, but the nurse prefers to spend her time with her co-workers rather than her patients, and she often flirts with Kuno (Bruno Todeschini), a handsome man who also works at the clinic. Christine finds herself having several conversations with Mme. Hartl (Gilette Barbier), who has a powerful belief in the healing powers of the waters of Lourdes, and after several days of treatment, Christine is amazed to find that she's regained the full use of her arms and legs. But once she's experienced the miracle she hoped for, Christine's interest is less in thanking the Lord and more in pursuing Kuno. Lourdes was written and directed by Jessica Hausner, and received its world premiere at the 2009 Venice International Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Rating, Runtime: Unrated, 1 hr. 39 min.
Directed By: Jessica Hausner
Written By: Jessica Hausner
Genres: Art House & International, Drama

In Theaters: Feb 17, 2010 Wide
On DVD: Jul 12, 2010
Studio: Palisades Tartan

Critic Reviews

David Lewis, San Francisco Chronicle
One of the most observant -- and enigmatic -- movies of the year.
Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly
Beautifully led by birdlike Sylvie Testud as an ailing young woman in a wheelchair, every character (pilgrim and helper alike) exhibits a soul. And shaped with confident talent by the Austrian filmmaker, every serenely composed shot matters.
Kyle Smith, New York Post
A paralyzed young woman with MS stands up and walks in Lourdes, but it'll be a real miracle if anyone manages to stay awake throughout this extravagantly dull film.
Daniel Eagan, Hollywood Reporter
Adventurous filmgoers will be rewarded by its unusually open-ended storyline.
Manohla Dargis, New York Times
Jessica Hausner, an Austrian working here in French, wants to explore the mysteries of life, not its certainties.
Karina Longworth, Village Voice
Lourdes ultimately eschews rigorous religious inquiry to study the mechanics of envy and frustrated desire.
Budd Wilkins, Slant Magazine
Inscrutable as the powers that may or may not be, Jessica Hausner's miracle play gives viewers on either side of the fence plenty to meditate on.
Nick Davis, Nick's Flick Picks
The withholding of judgment persists across Lourdes, which is comic, haunting, sweet, pious, unsettling, agnostic, and wholly deadpan at various moments.
Simon Miraudo, Quickflix
Movies about miracles range from the awful to the unwatchable... that all changes with Jessica Hausner's Lourdes; it's a visually-striking, beautifully-realised, emotionally-devastating drama that both salutes and skewers the deeply-religious.
Nick Schager, Lessons of Darkness
[An] aesthetically and tonally controlled knockout.
Jeremy Heilman, MovieMartyr.com
An odd, dispassionate religious film that will likely be more powerful for skeptics than true believers, it manages to most strongly suggest the possibility of grace by so clinically observing its opposite.
Michael Brooke, Sight and Sound
Spiritually flawed and often cynical though Hausner's pilgrims undoubtedly are, they're all too recognisably human.
Tim Brayton, Antagony & Ecstasy
The film was primarily shot on location, which gives it a heaviness, an historic weight, that dominates the movie much more than anything to do with character or plot does.
Rich Cline, Shadows on the Wall
This off-centre film looks like a paean to devotion ... and yet Hausner quietly and cleverly undermines this
Jeff Shannon, Seattle Times
In a film rich with provocative questions, Hausner audaciously examines the ambivalent nature of miracles. Are they gifts from a loving God or random occurrences, bereft of any moral or meaning?
Peter Bradshaw, Guardian [UK]
Hausner manages and controls our expectations in this superbly subtle, mysterious and brilliantly composed film.
Sukhdev Sandhu, Daily Telegraph
At the heart of the film is Sylvie Testud, one of the most beguiling actresses in the world, and whom I would happily pay to watch do nothing more than sleep for 24 hours.
Wendy Ide, Times [UK]
A film featuring the kind of compelling, textured female character that most serious Hollywood actresses would trade at least a decade's worth of Botox to get their claws into.
David Edwards, Daily Mirror [UK]
It's beautifully shot, nicely acted and about as dry as comedies get. In fact, it's so dry it might not be a comedy at all.
Nigel Andrews, Financial Times
This film is both good and powerful. It saves the God debate, still intact, for another round. It is as magically, richly ambivalent as life itself.

Read all 24 critic reviews

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Featured Audience Ratings

Anthony L

Destined to be misunderstood it seems, Lourdes - a film about a young woman in a wheelchair, paralysed with MS embarking on a pilgrimage to Lourdes, the holy retreat in the southwest of France that many believe to be a place of miracle healing after a visitation of Mary to a local… More
Destined to be misunderstood it seems, Lourdes - a film about a young woman in a wheelchair, paralysed with MS embarking on a pilgrimage to Lourdes, the holy retreat in the southwest of France that many believe to be a place of miracle healing after a visitation of Mary to a local many years ago - to be a film about religion (Christianity), faith, the existence of God and the possibility of miracles. It's not though, that's just a narrative to uphold what the film is really about, people (although obviously faith is explored but in the context of the human condition rather than as in religious/catholic faith). Every human emotional trait is explored, and quite wonderfully so. It's subtle and accurate but never preachy, pompous or pretentious. It is also my favourite film of the year/decade so far. Jessica Hausner is a director I'm definitely going to be looking out for and Sylvie Testud is a wonderful actress who I'm equally on oar of. I could write so much more but I'm not going to, do yourself a favour and just go see it asap!
Byron B

I saw this at the Cleveland International Film Fest. It reminded me a bit of Fellini's Nights of Cabiria especially with its presentation of Catholic rituals. Sylvie Testud does a wonderful job in portraying Christine as a real person with real depth. But there is a great… More
I saw this at the Cleveland International Film Fest. It reminded me a bit of Fellini's Nights of Cabiria especially with its presentation of Catholic rituals. Sylvie Testud does a wonderful job in portraying Christine as a real person with real depth. But there is a great cast of characters surrounding her. I found that the movie is really about how the whole group of pilgrims seeking healing and the red cross helpers react to Christine and the miracle promising site of Lourdes. The movie is slowly paced. Sometimes the camera lingering over the landscape or faces that are still and quiet seems a bit much. But when it lingers on the religious ceremonies and holy places it reveals the repetition and sometimes meaninglessness of these old traditions. People put so much hope in them anyways. I think that this movie was made in a way though that will let believers continue to believe and non-believers continue to doubt. It is ambiguous. I liked some of the advice the head priest and the head lady of the red cross gave a couple times though I disagreed with their assuming that all miracles and personal changes are a result of faith in God, Jesus, or Mother Mary. I liked hearing the doctors' scientific explanation for the roller coaster ebbing and flowing of multiple sclerosis symptoms. I liked the questions the two single middle aged ladies asked throughout as they try to make sense of it all.
Walter M

"Lourdes" is a disarming rumination on the nature of faith that maintains a documentaty like distance in observing a group of pilgrims at Lourdes, starting with them arriving for a meal. Their leader Cecile(Elina Lowensohn) informs that since they have had such a long… More
"Lourdes" is a disarming rumination on the nature of faith that maintains a documentaty like distance in observing a group of pilgrims at Lourdes, starting with them arriving for a meal. Their leader Cecile(Elina Lowensohn) informs that since they have had such a long journey that day, they will wait until tomorrow to move onto the grotto and that a prize will be awarded to whoever is the best pilgrim. Actually preferring the cultural sites, Christine(Sylvie Testud) is paralyzed by multiple sclerosis and needs help even to eat and get into bed and feels life is passing her by. These tours are the only way for her to get out of the house. Lourdes is renowned for its miracles but there is a great deal of skepticism given to any reported. Why some people, and not others? The official line is hedging its bets, wanting to cure the soul, not the body.(Whether they enjoy the idea of the sick suffering is a matter for debate.) On the one hand, the city needs the idea of miracles to drive the tourist business and sell souvenirs. On the other, what would happen if everybody were cured, since there is such a large industry formed around the caretakers?
Lesley N

So thats what Lourdes is like? What a depressing place. An endless procession of ritual and prayer, hope and despair, and maybe, just maybe the chance of a miracle, but most likely, not a chance. A thought-provoking, slow (well, your main character IS paralized from the neck down)… More
So thats what Lourdes is like? What a depressing place. An endless procession of ritual and prayer, hope and despair, and maybe, just maybe the chance of a miracle, but most likely, not a chance. A thought-provoking, slow (well, your main character IS paralized from the neck down) and pragmatic film about the possibilities of faith and grace..