Main Cast: Catherine Mouchet, Helene Alexandridis, Aurore Prieto, Sylvie Habault
Release Year: 1986
Country: FR
Run Time: 90 minutes
Plot
The legend of Therese Martin, canonized as a saint and popularly known as "the Little Flower of Jesus," is affectionately related in this 1986 French film. At 15, Therese (Catherine Mouchet) enters the convent, hoping to become a Carmelite nun. While preparing for her life as a "Bride of Jesus," Therese begins keeping a journal, eloquently pouring out her fervent spiritualism between its pages. Her unbending devotion to her calling seems to literally sap her of all strength; in 1897, she dies of tuberculosis, a profound loss for the other Carmelites who have come to love her as much as she loves Jesus. Therese is one of those rare films that is able to thoroughly convey the euphoria of spiritualism, rather than pay it mere lip service. After sweeping the 1986 Cesar Awards (France's equivalent of the Oscar), Therese went on to win the Cannes Film Festival Jury Prize. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Cast
Catherine Mouchet - Therese Martin
Helene Alexandridis - Lucie
Aurore Prieto - Celine
Sylvie Habault - Pauline
Clemence Massart - Prioress; Jean Pelegri - Father; Nathalie Bernart - Aimeee; Beatrice de Vigan - Singer; Noele Chantre - Old Woman; Anna Bernelat - Cripple; Jacqueline Bouvier - Novice; M.C. Brown-Sarda - Gatekeeper; M.L. Eberschweiler - Painter; Gilberte Laurain - Nun; Josette Lefevre - Nun; Sylvaine Massart - The Nurse; Ghislaine Mona - Marie; Edmond Levy; Georges Aranyossy - Cardinal; Pierre Baillot - Priest; Evy Carcassonne - Picture Framer; Renee Cretien - Les Petales; Simone Dubocq - Embroideress; Guy Faucon - Aimee's Fiance; Lucien Folet - Old Man with Flowers; Jacqueline Lagrain - Violinist; Joel LeFrancois - Young Doctor; Pierre Maintigneux - Convent Doctor; Armand Meppiel - Pope; Veronique Muller - Novice; Jean Pieuchot - The Bishop; Quentin - Child in the Chorus; Michel Rivelin - Pranzini
Credit
Bernard Evein - Art Director, Yvette Bonnay - Costume Designer, Alain Cavalier - Director, Isabelle Dedieu - Editor, Philippe Rousselot - Cinematographer, Maurice Bernart - Producer, Alain Lachassagne - Sound/Sound Designer, Alain Cavalier - Screenwriter, Camille de Casabianca - Screenwriter, Gabriel Fauré - Featured Music, Jacques Offenbach - Featured Music
Like her older sisters before her, Thérèse Martin is determined to become a Carmelite nun even though she is officially too young to enter the order. Thérèse's stubborn piety wins through, and her love affair with Jesus transfigures her short life. Alain Cavalier's account of Thérèse's joy in her vocation is based on her spiritual autobiography , The Story of a Soul.
Critical responses
The film was first shown on British television in 1987 on a nun-themed film evening, with Black Narcissus, and was introduced by Marina Warner. 'I think Thérèse is a rare and beautiful film... no film has ever before transmitted so involvingly the bliss the mystics describe of communion with God, the intense pleasure a saint like Thérèse felt at her intimacy with Jesus, the deprivation she experienced when he seemed to be absent and the comfort and affection of young women sequestered together... Cavalier's visual style, the film's restrained spectrum, its dove greys, bistres, waxy whites, recall the quiet images Gwen John painted in Normandy of nuns reading, praying... Cavalier scans the properties of convent life... He has learned from Robert Bresson how to linger on an image, how to give symbolic intensity to humdrum objects, by isolating them in the frame, and gentle repetition.'
The film is reviewed in Pauline Kael's ninth collection of movie reviews, Hooked. She is equivocal in her praise for the film. "Mouchet - she resembles the young Sally Field - is convincing as a fifteen year old, [ the actress was 27 in fact] and seems to have the plain, open face of a guileless farm girl. Actually, her cannily underacted performance leaves almost every mood or expression of Thérèse's open to interpretation. We can't read her benevolent, straightforward look; we're kept at a distance. Watching Thérèse is like looking at a book of photographs of respectfully staged tableaux and not being allowed to flip the pages at your own speed. You have to sit there while Cavalier turns them for you, evenly, monotonously, allowing their full morbid beauty to sink in. You're trapped inside his glass bubble."
