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Interesting premise, but it was forgettable and cheesy. Saw it because it was on the Vatican 100 years of film list. Youtube.
Rated 1.5/5 Stars •
Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars
04/13/24
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Audience Member
I enjoyed this movie. It did what it set out to do
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
02/26/23
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Audience Member
Thà (C)rèse is as informative as it is adorable. As an ardent devotee of the Little Flower for many years, I have to say that this film captured everything I've read about her life in the convent as well as growing up with her four beautiful sisters and her wonderful father, Bl. Louis Martin. I love you, Thà (C)rèse!
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
02/17/23
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Audience Member
The film was a bit too melodramatic but it was still a captivating experience that came with true emotion! The acting in this film was great and the story was beautiful! This film was brilliant! Christians and Non-Christians can enjoy this movie!
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
02/18/23
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Audience Member
Well acted and beautifully told story about one of the most beloved saints. Definitely worth watching if you are devout.
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
02/10/23
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Audience Member
ew recollections of the 1986 film by Alain Cavalier, which I saw on VHS as an atheist in my early twenties. I remember finding it absolutely extraordinary, to the point that it made me buy the complete works of "Sainte Therese" and read a couple hundred pages, except I got the wrong Therese and found out a bit later that I was three centuries off, reading St Teresa of Ã?vila.
Two decades later, I converted to traditional Catholicism, and I came into closer contact with the Saint of Lisieux. One thing that struck me was browsing Pierre Descouvemont's Life of St Therese in picture, as it is filled with wonderful colour photographs of statues, pious images and other illustrations that make Cavalier's film look like some austere, black and white, Calvinistic reimagining of the Saint, and a betrayal of the real flavour of her Christianity.
Maybe this is what Leonardo Defilippis was reacting against when he made this film. Maybe he wanted to recontextualise Therese by spending more time describing her family life, and portraying her relationship with her mother, Blessed Marie-Azà (C)lie Martin, whom she lost at an early age, her sisters, and her father, Blessed Louis Martin (played by Defillipis himself.) Maybe he wanted to reinject the Catholic imagery into her life, and return to a more down-to-Earth Little Flower. If so, he succeeded in offering us a corrective to Cavalier's minimalistic, abstract vision.
Unfortunately, the film is rather amateurish. It suffers from the absence of a real cinematographer, from a bland, anecdotal script, from a rather uncharismatic lead (a twenty-year-old Lindsay Younce embarrassingly asked to play Therese in her early teens), from poor acting from a couple of supporting actresses, and from basic editing mistakes. The strong American accents also gave some inauthenticity to the dialogues, especially if you are French like me, and would like your Therese to remain French.
The soundtrack by Sr. Marie Therese Sokol, OCD, however, is very beautiful (the theme "Shower of Roses", uploaded on YouTube, is memorable) and whatever technical or artistic flaws the film may have, I never found it boring and will probably watch it again in the future. It was also nice to see Defillipis tackle a more ambitious subject, with a larger cast, and a bigger budget than the productions I was used to, such as "John of the Cross" and "The Passion According to Luke". I hope he will keep growing in his art, and offering us such inspiring movies.
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
02/20/23
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