Teresa de Jesús

If only the English subtitles could be reviewed and greatly improved upon, this would be a really excellent series on St Teresa of Avila's Way of Perfection but the translation into English for the subtitles is really awful.

Whether looking at paintings by Velázquez, Zurbarán or Murillo, or by Tiziano, Botticelli, or by Van Eyck, or whether listening to Masses and Requiems by Berlioz, Rachmaninov, Brahms or Verdi, I tend to take on an aesthetic attitude and of course a historical contemplation of what my eyes and/or ears are perceiving. Religious aspects do not take part in any appreciation of anything which may be a work of art.

This same philosophy stands me in good stead when watching what at first appraisal is a religious film, be it for the cinema or for TV. My mind focusses not only on the story being told - often too well known, anyway - but on the acting, the sets, the dialogues, the accompanying music, and so on. Apart from that, religious significance for me has little o no interest whatsoever.

From 1492, when Columbus sailed the wide ocean and found what he thought was India, up to the death of Teresa de Jesús 90 years later, Spain went through rather traumatic experiences. The `Reyes Católicos' sowed havoc among the populace with their fiendish interpretation of religiousness, Carlos V opened up to a more tolerant attitude, and Felipe II immediately slammed all that shut with beraged intolerance, producing the Inquisition and all the disaster resulting thereof.

Given such a background, Teresa emerged from the cold high plateaux of the deepest interior of the Iberian peninsular to become a nun. Daughter of a Jew who converted to Catholicism - hardly surprising amid the socio-religious upheavals taking place - and one of ten children, she joined the Carmelite sect and went on to found her own `descalzas' -literally `shoeless' or `barefoot'.

This film takes up from her early twenties and goes through to her death, following her life around the high lands of Ávila, the Encarnación Monastery, and her later travels around most of central Spain, reaching as far afield as Aragón and Sevilla. Faithfully recreated from the anals of time by the historian Víctor García de la Concha, specialist in Spanish medieval matters, who helped in writing the script with novelist Carmen Gaite, this film mostly avoids being sanctimonious or preachy. The film is accompanied by music from José Nieto, though on some occasions I detected certain other sources, most notably a piece which sounded like `tafelmusik' by Georg Philippe Telemann - more than a hundred years later. It gave rise to my hopes of hearing something by Tomás Luis de Victoria, also from Ávila and coinciding in time with Mother Teresa, one of the great examples of early polyphony later taken up by the Italians.

Mother Teresa herself wrote a lot, including poetry which later became categorized as `mystic', a leaning also taken up by Juan de Yepes y Álvarez - San Juan de la Cruz/St. John of the Cross - who appears in this film, as well as the mysticism of Fray Luis de León, following on from the Archpriest of Hita, himself outrageously prone to remarkable romantic - sexual - verses.

Concha Velasco was born to do something in this life: her role in this film is her crowning achievement; nothing else comes anywhere near her interpretation of this 16th Century saint. Only `Más Allá del Jardín' (1997) (qv) is worthy of mention, as anything else in which she has taken part has either been minimal or trivial. But in this excellent production, directed by Josefina Molina, who also carries out her own particular masterpiece, Ms Velasco reaches the absolute peak of her creative ability.

Precisely in the Monastery of the `Encarnación' a chamber organ was found more or less when this film was being made: lost for over 400 years the `organillo de la Teresita' was discovered in an underground vault; it has now been restored and is the oldest working organ in the world.

This shortened version of the original series has a few inexcusable editing faults. Some scenes even include interrupted dialogues, with the ensuing sudden shift of scenario that is somewhat off-putting. Another fault here is the absolutely essential inclusion of a voice in off who narrates certain passages so as to link up the scissored continuity - or perhaps I should say discontinuity. The result is a little harrowing a couple of times, but with some misgivings has to be admitted as necessary for the well-being of the whole. Even so, at just over 220 minutes it would be advisable to show/see this version in two parts, or - better still - show/see the full original 1984 uncut TV series in its natural episodes of approximately 1 hour each.

FOOTNOTE:

The Spanish used is pure `Castillian' - that is, the most neutral and unregionalised, which will be of special interest to students of the Spanish language.

This series, based on the life of Santa Teresa de Jesús (sometimes called Santa Teresa de Ávila) offers a historically validated account of the times when this mystic nun was setting up monasteries in the deepest depths of the interior of Spain. Excellently prepared settings, both indoors and outdoors, admirably carry forward Concha Velasco in the best performance of her life, ably supported by a magnificent cast.

However, I would prefer you to read my notes on an abbreviated version of this series - Teresa de Jesús (TV) (2003) - with the same cast, recently re-shown on the Spanish State Television (TVE), which should appear on IMDb in a few days.

Saint Teresa of Jesus (Avila) is so beautifully portrayed in this movie, and brings her writings into a brilliant reality. For those who have read her works, you will see her actions lived out along with her spiritual insights. The acting could not be better, it is human and humble. I really enjoyed the true-to-life settings, and language. I am happy to see this series has won awards, and Concha Velasco won my heart over. Her portrayal of this Saint was remarkable due to the ability to convey humility, spiritual depth, holy virtue, love for Jesus Christ, and over the course of time to age in character. The rest of the cast was superb in evoking a love or hate relationship for the viewer because one either will love or hate Saint Teresa of Jesus, and those for or against her strong determination to create the Discalced Carmelite Order that has flourished through-out the world to this day. I highly recommend this to anyone, believer or not. You will be inspired by one woman's courage to follow through, and will never be able to feel self-pity or make excuses you can't do something great with your own life after watching this series.

There really should be more series made for TV just like this one. The world surely needs them.

I have shared this mini-series with many friends and hope that even though it was made in 2003, the producers will bring the series out on DVD.

I am familiar with the story of Teresa, but these details showed what a powerful person she was and how much she had to endure from catty religious. Great presentation. Definitely worth viewing.

This film shows Teresa as a powerful woman in that she is focused and able to get things accomplished. She fought a lot against the authorities of the Order to which she belonged and stood up for what was important to her. Her legacy, even if she hadn't been named a Doctor of the Church, would have put her in the prominent history of the Spanish Church.