圣女之歌

剧情：在1858年的法国，一个少女被认为是圣母玛丽亚1943年由H.金(H.KING)拍摄的这部宗教题材影片被梵蒂冈教皇宣布为一部好影片，号召每个天主教徒都应当看，于是连当时中国的天主教教会学校都组织学生..展开

剧情：在1858年的法国，一个少女被认为是圣母玛丽亚1943年由H.金(H.KING)拍摄的这部宗教题材影片被梵蒂冈教皇宣布为一部好影片，号召每个天主教徒都应当看，于是连当时中国的天主教教会学校都组织学生集体去看这部影片

A vintage Hollywood faction of the incredible story of Bernadette Soubirous (1844-1879), at the age of 14, her self-purported visions of a lady in white who identified herself as “Immaculate Conception” sparked national controversy and debate, and subsequently founded the pilgrimage site in Lourdes. Starring Jennifer Jones as Bernadette, this 2-and-a-half-hour tome, based on Franz Werfel’s popular eponymous novel published in 1941, and directed by veteran hand Henry King, won 4 Oscars out of its overall 12 nominations, notably winning Jones BEST ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE for her first attempt at the age of 25, which also heralded her second marriage with dignitary producer David O. Selznick. Jones’ beatific, ingenuous countenance and diffident but well-honed locution compellingly reflect Bernadette’s down-hone modesty and indubitable piety of what is bestowed only to her eyes and ears, that she will never gainsay whoever her interrogators are. And most convincingly Jones dispels any semblance of self-martyrization which might theoretically undermine Bernadette’s saintly iconography. Alongside the voyage from Bernadette’s first vision in a grotto near Lourdes to her untimely demise in the convent, the saga corrals a formidable cast of talents embellishes it in the supporting roles, among which three are rewarded with an Oscar nomination, two strong female characters leave indelible marks respectively in the first and second half. Anne Revere’s Louise is the stony-faced mother of Bernadette, afflicted by the household’s immiseration (her husband François, played by a commendable Roman Bohnen, is a jobless mill worker earning pittance with demeaning odd jobs and they are four children to feed), who does swing from scolding-prone to heartfelt supportive of her daughter’s ordeal without toning down the ferocity ingrained within her persona; then there is the holier-than-thou Gladys Cooper as Sister Marie Therese Vauzou, whose stern deportment and self-willed disbelief divulge the obverse from Bernadette’s male-exclusive, higher-ranking naysayers, she is not driven by an ideological reason but a pure elemental demon, the green-eyed monster to which we can all relate (why you, not me?), and Ms. Cooper emanates sheer intensity through her hard-hitting tête-à-tête, albeit crimped by the wimple, excels in actualizing one hell of an about-face entirely on the strength of her facial expression near the end. As Abbé Dominique Peyramale, who denotes the pragmatical policy of the Catholic church on the prickly matter of commoner’s holy visions, Charles Bickford (likening an aging Joseph Cotten, anyone?) appreciatively embeds a more lenient, beneficent and high-minded personification and also delivers with a sincere avuncular amicability towards Bernadette. On the entirely different optics, Vincent Price’s debonair mien and oral cadence also strike a vehement chord as Vital Dutour, the Imperial Prosecutor who is bent on discrediting Bernadette’s enlightenment, mirroring the agnostic/atheist angle on benighted religious fools. Were it not for the occasionally functional spring water which possesses a miraculous healing power (whether it is psychosomatic or not, the film leaves it equivocal), and a divine intervention involving the henpecked Emperor Napoleon III and his wife (cameos by Jerome Cowan and Patricia Morison), Bernadette would not stand a chance to justify her flimsy story. Rarely subjected itself towards preachiness or loftiness, what is remarkable about THE SONG OF BERNADETTE lies in its matter-of-fact narratology, dialectical approach towards its subject matter and a life-affirming positiveness rising above any religious discord, as proven by Vital Dutour’s plea in the end, religion always requires a certain degree of blind faith, someone are equipped to accept that while others cannot, or at least not yet, discrimination is never the cure. A pristinely restored Hollywood flagship, this one has immensely wholesome value for anyone who cares to savor. referential entries: Henry King’s THE BLACK SWAN (1942, 6.5/10); William Dieterle’s PORTRAIT OF JENNIE (1948, 6.7/10).

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