Anchoress

This film must be watched with a quiet spirit and a willingness to let go of well-organized, linear plot development. Those familiar with The Book of Margery Kempe will appreciate the spiritual struggle Anchoress represents as well as the more "feminine" approach to plot. The cinematography is exquisite as well as the acting.

Exquisitely spare cinematography and striking visuals which ape Andrei Tarkovsky's ANDREI RUBLEV cannot save this medieval tale from being a disappointment. English director Chris Newby's first feature is a dismally muddled array of images of life in a remote 14th-century village.

Talented young thespian Natalie Morse (of Peter GreenawayÕs DROWNING BY NUMBERS) nevertheless succeeds in her tricky role as Christine Carpenter, a girl touched by transcendent grace, who succumbs to the misguided religious authority of the times and becomes an anchoress, a virgin who is walled up in a chamber in the church, to serve as a moral beacon for the villagers.

This makes the snickering local priest (Christopher Eccleston) overjoyed, as he takes her away from the Reeve (Eugene Bervoets, of the original French-Dutch production of THE VANISHING), the local military power monger. She is periodically visited by her surly pagan mother (English new-wave personality Toyah Wilcox) and pretty much ignored by her father, who is played by Pete Postlethwaite.

The only real power in the film is in the scenes with Christine alone, discovering her sensuality. The rest of the film is a mess, partly due to the confusing, overly obscure script, which hardly lets the audience know what's going on without benefit of reading a plot synopsis beforehand. It purports to observe the female condition through the ages, but ends up being mostly uninsightful and boring.

If this film appears sparse to some I would remind the viewer that agrarian life 500+ years ago was just that. What Anchoress may lack in dialogue is made up for in sound, texture, and detailed attention to lighting, mostly outdoor. Very few films (Seventh Seal) are able to capture the stark setting of the underpopulated reality that was Europe - not all historical scenarios need be drowned with battle sequences, lavishly dressed royals, and epic soundtracks aimed to fill empty spaces. No one lived like that except a small few. I would recommend this film to anyone who has an appreciation of women's history, and ancient Christian mysticism. The story of Christine's descent into the church, her rebirth, and eventual retreat into the earth is beautifully filmed and acted by all involved in this unique project. A scene not to be missed is Christine's fabulously angry mother pissing before the priest on his own church yard. Why all the pagans out there who frequent this site have not championed this movie is beyond me!

This is a fascinating movie. With minimal dialogue it seems to speak volumes and give so much food for thought about life for women, peasants, communities and the church in medieval times and the tensions between these. Visually it is often very beautiful especially in its depiction of nature. It is slow moving as fitting the times but it is absorbing all the same. There are echoes of Joan of Arc among the themes. Toyah Wilcox, better known as a former pop star, gives a surprisingly strong performance. Natalie Morse is compelling in the lead role, and there are also strong performances from Christopher Ecclestone and Pete Postlethwaite.

shot in B&W, but with a glaring brightness at times, "Anchoress" unravels a strange slice of life of a young woman who feels called to live in a cell of a church within sight of a statue of the Virgin. the Cult of Mary was strong in the medieval times (and i suppose it still continues today), and this and other bits of the medieval life bring some historical credibility to the screen.

but far from being a sort of documentary, there are surreal and mystical elements too, which i think should serve to appeal to a modern audience. this film has what i would consider an art-house feel, but it also bears a purity to the viewer, of a simple age where belief meant everything and proof is almost heretical.

whether a character has truly experienced a vision, or is a witch, or is holy,is never justly determined by the characters in their peasant lives, but is merely enforced by entrenched codes of social, religious, and other laws. to watch christine encounter each of these, to watch her life and her family be affected by the strangeness of the story and the rules of the age is captivating to behold.

i found this film to be beautiful, bizarre, with a wonderful cast, as faithful as possible to the historically-known experiences of folk in European middle ages (well, aside from the imaginative bits), comical, tragic, but entirely fascinating.