Ladrão de Milagres

Most people who have watched good films are aware of attacks which Luis Buñuel had continually launched in his long as well as illustrious career as a filmmaker on organized religion. Most of his films were poignant assaults on the dishonesty,hypocrisy and sham of Christian church.The veteran French actor/director Jean-Pierre Mocky shares the unique distinction of belonging to this important club but due to distribution problems, his films have remained somewhat less known than those of his Spanish counterpart. This is one key reason why "Le Miraculé" must with watched with a lot of attention as Monsieur Mocky provides viewers with a completely different perspective of exposing the hypocrisy of Christian church. He has shot his film as a "Train movie" in order to describe a hilarious journey undertaken by oddball characters who travel from Paris until Lourdes to witness a miracle. The trouble is that the journey does not appear as an ordinary journey as most characters seem to lose their cool when Satan starts to tempt them. This leads to an absolutely unexpected climax where quasi bizarre events expose the gullibility of people believing in miracles. The film's comical effect has been created by three leading actors of french cinema : Michel Serrault who does does not speak much, Jean Poiret who shares maximum screen space and Jeanne Moreau who amazed even many of her loyal fans in a completely deglamorized role. Watching these three on DVD would be a great way to understand what Lourdes means to non believers.

Obviously, with a subject like this, we could only have the great Jean-Pierre Mocky. Jean Poiret, covered in scabs and dirty, pretends to be in a wheelchair to collect on an insurance policy, and wants to make believe by going to Lourdes that a miracle will make him walk. Michel Serrault, a mute insurance investigator who suspects the scam, follows him all the way to Lourdes. The supporting cast includes Jeanne Moreau as a nun who helps with everything and anything. And Abbé Humus, played by Marc Maury, whom the screenplay mishandles. Jean-Pierre Mocky takes the opportunity to show the commercial exploitation of the superstition of Lourdes. And a jubilant anticlericalism.

Jean-Pierre Mocky's bestiary is there for all to see: more or less amateur actors with faces no one would turn (except Bruno Dumont), gravelly sequences that are not at all politically correct and therefore indispensable. Jean-Pierre Mocky's films are often about butts and tits. And it all happens very quickly: there's so much going on, the viewer can't miss a single scene, almost all of which are anthologies. No time is wasted explaining, the editing is very fast and it works.