Hail Mary (film)
| Hail Mary | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Directed by | Jean-Luc Godard |
| Written by | Jean-Luc Godard |
| Starring |
Myriem Roussel Thierry Rode Philippe Lacoste Manon Andersen Malachi Jara Kohan Juliette Binoche |
| Cinematography | Jacques Firmann and Jean-Bernard Menoud |
| Edited by | Anne-Marie Miéville |
| Distributed by | Sara Films |
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Release date
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23 January 1985 |
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Running time
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USA: 107 minutes; Australia: 105 minutes |
| Country | France |
| Language | French |
Hail Mary (French: Je vous salue, Marie) is a 1985 French film written and directed by Jean-Luc Godard. The film is a modern retelling of the story of a virgin birth. It was entered into the 35th Berlin International Film Festival. All screenings of the film in its initial theatrical distribution were accompanied by the short film The Book of Mary (French: Le livre de Marie) by Godard's longtime companion and collaborator Anne-Marie Miéville.
Marie, a student, works at her father's Swiss gas station and plays basketball for a local team; she claims to be a virgin and maintains a chaste relationship with her boyfriend Joseph, a taxi cab driver and college dropout. Joseph remains loyal to Marie even though she will not sleep with him, and another girl, Juliette, entreats him to be with her. When a passing stranger named Uncle Gabriel (who arrives by jet plane and is accompanied by a small girl who acts as his secretary) informs Marie that she will become pregnant despite remaining chaste, she is at first shocked and confused. For his part, Joseph cannot believe that Marie can be pregnant and a virgin, so he accuses her of sleeping around. Gabriel aggressively schools Joseph to accept Marie's pregnancy, while Marie comes to terms with God's plan through meditations that are sometimes angry and usually punctuated by elemental images of the sun, moon, clouds, flowers, and water.
In a parallel narrative, Eva, a college student, gets involved with her professor, who theorizes that life on earth arose from a guided extraterrestrial intelligence. Unlike Marie, who does not allow Joseph to touch her sexually, Eva has an affair with her professor, who ultimately leaves her to go back east to his family, leaving her distraught.
With Gabriel's help, Marie teaches Joseph to "touch" her without touching her. Joseph pledges to act as Marie's shadow, to which she responds, "But isn't that what all men are, the shadow of God?" Alone, Marie wrestles with and then gives herself over to the divine process of her pregnancy. Joseph and Marie are wed and she gives birth to a son. Together they raise the boy, who eventually leaves his family to pursue "his father's business." In the end, Marie explores her sexuality, seeking to link her body and spirit.
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