In his new film, French
director Xavier Gianoli, ventures into a territory that mixes
investigative reporting with religious ambiguity. The result is a
thriller that keeps holding on to its secrets right up to its
inconclusive ending. Jaques Mayano (Vincent
Lindon) is an investigative reporter suffering from PTSD, after an
incident in the Middle East, killed his photographer colleague and
left him with acute hearing problems. The experience has made him
distance himself from his wife and completely withdraw from society.
As he holes up in his
house covering his windows with cardboard, a bishop in Rome
unexpectedly contacts him. He is being summoned to join a canonical
investigation that will determine the veracity (or lack of it) of an
“apparition”, the name used for (so-called) miraculous sightings.
The claim is of a vision
of the Virgin Mary by a sixteen-year-old girl, Anna (Galatéa
Bellugi) who is now a novice in a country convent. The “miracle”
turns into a phenomenon, as the small town is flocked by the faithful
and the local church becomes a selling point for “Anna”
paraphernalia.
Overly protected by Father
Borrodine (Patrick d’Assumcao), the parish priest, on one hand, and
astutely transformed into a commercial product by Anton Meyer
(Anatole Taubman), Anna, acts the perfect vision of holiness, down to
breaking down at the sight of all the merchandise with her image,
acknowledging it represents a corruption of what her experience
really means.
To Jaques, under all her
apparent virginal sanctity, Anna is just an enigma, which he is
determined to solve. With this scenario,
Gianoli posits important themes. One, is a cynical and unflattering
view of the church and (some of) its representatives as opportunistic
vultures, ready to take advantage of any opportunity (in this case
Anna and her vision), in order to gain profit and to advance their
own interests. Another, is the limitless power of faith, and the
extremes it can push people towards to, as they are blinded by their
own conviction in what they believe.
The synthesis being that
people want to believe, and they will latch onto any nugget that can
possibly confirm their belief, no matter how improbable or outright impossible it actually is; and there will always be
someone ready to profit out of this willingness in people to
surrender themselves to the “mystery” that will save their souls.
In the end, it is just a dismal case of the blind leading the blind.
Gianoli and director of
photography, Eric Gautier open the film with a, very down to Earth,
documentary style of shooting that portrays the small town and all
that happens around Anna in a very realistic light. As the mystery
deepens, the view gradually shifts, and we are offered beatific
chiaroscuros that capture glimpses of the divine, revealing that we
are entering a new territory, beyond “truth”.
In one of the high points
of the film, Gianoli and Gautier manage to create a specific and
precise reinterpretation of Dreyer’s The Passion of Joan of
Arc, conveying perfect narrative meaning through images and
ultimately granting, in hindsight, a more cohesive conclusion.
Though overlong, The
Apparition is an interesting journey into the inscrutability of
faith, martyrdom and the choice to believe in the mystery.
Manuel Ríos Sarabia
