L'apparition

I don't know what to say other than the ending was hanging in the grey ... bland, uninteresting, and disappointing.

I had a few very important reasons for wanting to see "The Apparition". I´m a Christian, I believe in and pray to God daily, I usually like movies with a religious theme and yes, I enjoyed this movies trailer.

The movie follows Jacques Mayano, a journalist who recently has lost a friend on a mission in the Middle East. The Vatican contacts him. They want to send him to a village where Anna, a teenager, claims that she has seen an apparition of the Virgin Mary.

I didn´t think that this movie was too long. I would have liked one or two flashbacks and a bit more clarity. But all in all I think that this movie is great and interesting. But don´t expect some kind of modern Joan of Arc. In my opinion the character Anna isn´t like her.

I was a little bit disappointed with this rather undercooked mystery. It's "Mayano" (Vincent Lindon) who's the latter day "Van Helsing" charged by the Vatican to investigate claims being made the young "Anna" (Galatéa Bellugi) that she has had a visit from the Virgin Mary. His arrival in the small, provincial town, introduces him to a girl who really does believe, as do many of her fellow villagers but there is an equal amount of scepticism from others more disparaging and he, himself, finds his usually impartial and objective techniques compromised as the mystery deepens and the pressures grow on him to deliver a result - and not any old result, either! Whilst he is trying to prove or disprove, the young girl is finding herself subjected to additional pressures from those seeing an eye for a main chance exploiting the faithful and the gullible alike. Quite a quandary for "Mayano"... The concept is a more modern take on a well trammelled story, but sadly auteur Xavier Giannoli takes a bit too safe a route to explore this combination of superstition and cynicism, and Lindon hasn't really enough charisma to sustain this quite lengthy drama as the plot "twists" deliver rather expectedly. There's a solid supporting cast and the young Bellugi offers us moments when we can't but empathise with such a heavy burden being placed on such young shoulders, but she doesn't really feature often enough and in enough depth for us to really get our teeth into this. It has a slightly documentary feel to the photography which I felt rather summed the whole thing up rather well - it's all rather passionless, wordy and too dry.

The film had great potential but the ending was terrible. It's as if we watched a draft of an unfinished story in the making. This could have been a brilliant Beautiful film. The little actress who played Anna is absolutely. Adorable. I think the plot could have been fantastic.

This is a curious subject, an investigation to find out if the apparition of a nun's virgin is true or not. With Vincent Lindon as a war reporter mandated by the Vatican to carry out the investigation.

Nice cast to support this story. The young Galatea Bellugi is impressive. Vincent Lindon follows this story, always a little suspended, in a universe where some are ready to believe many things.

Xavier Giannoli masters from beginning to end this story, rather iconoclastic nowadays because it is not very much related to societal concerns. The story has multiple dimensions: the Vatican protocol; the investigation of Vincen Lindon; the character of Galaté Bellugi, and her relationship with Vincent Lindon; the media exploitation by the believers (Anatole Taubman, impressive); the beliefs of the pilgrims. In short, even if the subject may not be interesting at first, the film is fascinating.

Xavier Giannoli knows how to choose the music of the film, which are all magnificent and accompany the images well.