Therese - the movie review

My wife and I saw the movie Therese last week. We wanted to go see this movie because 1) we wanted to support the folks who made a Catholic movie and 2) we were curious to see it as we both have read Therese's autobiography and her parents story. We consider St. Therese one of our friends. The movie was showing at our local cineplex (rumor has it that the Knights of Columbus supported one weekend and the theater decided to run it for two weeks.) We called to get the time and the movie was announced as thhereese.

Six degrees of Kevin Bacon
At the show we basically knew everyone there. (except for the couple that later left.) I told my wife we should check the credits because we probably know someone in the cast.

Center of the Screen?
My first critique of the film is possibly due to the screening, but I think is related to the cinematography. Several times throughout the picture the main characters' faces were cut off. You could not see their eyes. Now I could see that at least part of the problem was that the screen in our theater was not getting te whole movie. But c'mon this shouldn't even be a question. The faces should be in the center of the screen. This is home video basic. Did anyone else seeing this movie experience this?

Now what follows in the next few paragraphs is a pretty tough critique vut will be followed by some positive comments at the conclusion. Overall I thought the movie didn't work as a piece of art or to try to evangelize. There were a few good moments and I want to point those out. I must say up front that I didnot go into this movie expecting TPOTC or anything close. I did see the one woman stage drama of Therese produced by Leonardo DeFilippis (thats one l and two p's). I liked the stage drama and so was expectantly awaiting the movie. But this movie is not as good as the stage drama, by a long shot. And it is not in the same league with half a dozen saint bio-pics let alone TPOTC. Let's look at the specifics.

The writing: No story arc. No main character development. Episodic vignettes with dialogue mixed with scenes of Therese gazing heavenward while she narrates. Jaw-droppingly-dumb first line of the movie. Therese's first line is to tell her mother that she wishes her dead, (because then she will be in heaven with God.) No kidding-- the next shot is of the mother's casket being carried away. Boy, that is really reaching the widest possible audience. Now someone is going to comment that St. Therese actually said this, to which my answer is, 'who cares?'. How many people were NOT evangelized because they tuned out in that first scene?(and even this could maybe be excused, if the film were anything approaching art.) Therese starts out pious and ends little changed. The only character that develops is a nun who treats her poorly at first and then later truly loves her. There is no connection (except the lapsing of time) between one event and the next. No character is introduced until the girls all go to the Carmel and Dad formally points to each girl and says, her name. This happens after we are let to wonder who's who for several scenes. There is more. But it is enough to say that the writing was weak.

Directing and acting. Some of these troubles while clearly evident are difficult to assess in laying blame. There is a scene in which Therese prays for a condemned criminal. She asks for a sign of his conversion. We see this man in a large open circular brick room with a pole in the center to which he is chained and he spits and growls like a dog. The bizarre spectacle took me out of the picture. The acting was bad or was the man told to act dog-like. There is another scene in which the young Therese is bed ridden with an illness. Is she truly ill or is she having some kind of emotional reaction to her sister's leaving to become a nun? It is difficult to tell. Her illness consists of her tossing and turning in bed, while her family sits around her worrying and praying. Again is this bad acting or poor direction? Her apparent miraculous recovery is very much diminshed by the lack of clarity in portraying her illness.

Lindsay Younce is a fresh face. She plays Therese dreamily. She seems to do well in scenes in close quarters. Her face tells the story pretty well. Her physical skills as an actor seem weak. For example, she can't pretend to drop something. (this is called for twice in the script.)

I noticed positively the actresses who play Sister Augustine and Therese's sister Pauline. I thought the scenes with Sister Augustine were among the best and the ending was also written and played better than everything else. There is some good here.

I really wanted to like this movie. I doubt anyone who is not a Catholic already familiar with Therese's story and/or rooting for this Catholic movie will find it worth viewing. I wish the people who made this film the best and hope they learned a lot.