La passion de Bernadette

Sydney Penny stars as the visionary saint from France and learned the language for the role. Any Catholic is familiar with the story of the little girl who claimed to be visited by the Virgin Mary in a small village where she was both praised by some and mocked by others of the faith. This film picks up at the time Bernadette joined a convent and worked as a simple nun while remaining a humble young sister. Penny is excellent in the lead and the movie is a moving account of the well known woman who made Lourdes a land mark for desperate people seeking miraculous cures, often from terminal illnesses. I grew up with a Catholic education but am now a lapsed one and describe myself as a Catholic atheist. Even as a skeptic I was moved by the American actress's beautiful performance as the future saint.

i have seen this film on DVD, i was in Lourdes in 2005 and saw Bernadette in the cinema. It was lovely but i couldn't see Bernadettes passion over there as it was in French but no English subtitles, however my aunt bought th DVD in Lourdes and when we got home we watched it. I thought it was beautiful, a wonderful film. The facts were accurate and not over dramatized at all. I think it was lovely to see the french version of a song of Bernadette as it makes it more real, i also like the song of Bernadette but i think the newer films may appeal to children because there in co lour. I also like the way when you are watching the new films that you don't actually see the blessed mother you imagine our lady, standing there in the white robe with the blue girdle. When I went back to Lourdes this year i watched Bernadette again in the cinema, what a wonderful film and so is Bernadette's Passion, i could not believe it's 16 years old, it looks as if it was made recently. They are definitely films that will never age. I get a funny feeling just thinking about Lourdes, what a wonderful place, thank god for it!

Picking up where the 1987 "Bernadette" left off, the saint of Lourdes enters the convent and goes through various trials. Joys alternate with sorrows, and through it all Bernadette trusts in God and is reminded of the Virgin Mary's words to her: "I cannot promise you happiness in this life, only in the next." The movie is based on actual testimony used in her canonization process, and takes great care to stay with facts. This makes for an uneven storyline, so if you're looking for a movie to simply enjoy as an escape, this isn't it. If you want to know more about Saint Bernadette's life in the convent, this IS it. Included are some rather funny incidents. It was released in French and Italian, not English. I don't know of an English version available.

UPDATE: March, 2007. I saw the recently released version with English subtitles. I have a higher opinion of the movie because I can completely understand the dialog now. The country wit of St. Bernadette comes through and makes for a number of funny scenes. One of my favorite lines occurs when St. Bernadette is asked if she has any prophecies about the Franco-Prussian War. She says that she does not. A man asks her, "Don't you fear the Prussians?"

She replies, "I only fear bad Catholics."

The Passion of Bernadette is coming in English--but it's much better in French with the English subtitles. Ignatius Press is selling the movie in the U.S. for the first time. The dub is uneven and the acting isn't as good as the French language performance by Sydney Penny, who learned French to play Bernadette in the first movie, Bernadette. This is a great way to learn the accurate story, with some funny stuff too, of Bernadette's life as a religious in the convent. It is a good spiritual and historical experience because Delannoy stuck to historical documents and made the film from his admiration of the actor. BTW, Delannoy is Protestant but this is the story of a Catholic saint to whom Mary appeared...