Le chant de Bernadette

I'm not Catholic, but this film makes you want to believe the whole thing. I've never been so moved by a story demonstrating the incredible power of innocence and simplicity as performed by Jennifer Jones in this faithful adaptation of the true story of the now-canonized Bernadette Soubirous. Beyond this story, the sets, performances, narrative flow, and in particular, the heavenly-inspired music of Alfred Newman is nothing short of transporting. Some may find the movie overlong, but I cherished every character and angle to the story--much like enjoying the book with all of its detail. This effort demonstrates more than just the quality of the golden age of cinema and 20th Century Fox, but it adds a cast and crew clearly inspired to tell this true story like no other has been told before or since.

I have read where several people claim that there are flaws and imperfections in this film. But that is just not so. Even if you do not agree with the subject matter, and I do not come down on either side here, even though a catholic, it is simply a matter of capturing the emotional perfection of the story. Jennifer Jones had many fine roles in her career, but, as is all to often not the case, she honestly deserved the Best Actress Oscar for this her finest screen moment. Guided under the very skilled hand of one of Hollywood's often unsung but greatest director's Henry King this motion picture shines with a divine radiance all its own.

The performances of the other cast members were also on a par with the lead role. I will here only mention a few. Charles Bickford as the priest who first scoffs and eventually becomes a firm believer was his very best. Vincent Price, who is always able to play a villainous role to perfection was excellent as the doubting prosecutor who cannot be convinced. And Lee J. Cobb turns in an excellent performance also. But the second kudos of the film go to Gladys Cooper, who should have won a best supporting award as the old nun, who cannot accept Bernadette for who and what she is.

Finally, a note for the person who said the was no song in the movie and questioned the title. The whole film was a song or more correctly a psalm of faith, and the psalms were never sung but spoken. The music of ALfred Newman again underscores the action of this film perfectly. It is high on my top twenty-five films of all time.

The weighty subject matter and emotional performances overshadow the film's flaws, which are numerous. Characters and events are not adequately introduced, leaving the viewer with a persistent, though not overwhelming, confusion. It runs a little long, and at times loses focus. But "The Song of Bernadette" has much to redeem it. This is true black and white cinematography, and Henry King uses highly effective lighting techniques to enhance his actors' performances. The bright lighting and soft focus on Jennifer Jones, for example, makes her angelic pose of peace believable.

One scene near the end of the film is utterly beautiful, and truly makes the movie. It takes place at a convent after Bernadette has been accepted as a nun. Sister Marie Vauzous, who has doubted Bernadette the entire film, stands over her in a pose of authority and accuses her of trying to get attention. Sister Marie is lit from an angle at sharp focus, which accentuates the lines and imperfections of her face as she asks for "proof" and laments about her own suffering. Meanwhile, Bernadette is lit straight on with a soft focus as usual, and the smoothness of her peaceful, humble face is perfect and divine. She agrees with Sister Marie that she is "a hundred times more worthy" than herself, all the while hiding the true nature of her own suffering. It is at this point that the Christian theme of salvation through suffering which has meandered its way through the film really makes its point, and it is a genuinely moving moment.

This is probably the best film on a religious topic ever made. Whereas many other films of this type wallow in sentiment which is a substitute for genuine reverence, this film is able to underplay the emotions and thus gives its subject a great deal of dignity. Jennifer Jones is totally convincing as the naive innocent who has an incredibly extraordinary experience which changes her life as well as the lives of everyone she touches and the lives of everyone who hears of her. The rest of the cast is also superb, including Lee J. Cobb as the careful doctor, Vincent Price as the petty politician, Charles Bickford as the stern priest, and Gladys Cooper as the envious nun. The FX are tender instead of dazzling, and thus they convince in a way that many FX totally miss. The settings, atmosphere, music, and cast add up to a truly moving and profound experience that few other films have achieved.

"For those who believe in God, no explanation is necessary. For those who do not believe in God, no explanation will suffice." Thus, 20th Century Fox made clear it's stance on the incident involving a poor ignorant peasant girl from the western Pyrenees who one early spring witnessed a vision of a "beautiful lady". Fox decidedly erred in favor of Bernadette's 'marion apparition'. But it wasn't because the mammoth studio had gone all pious suddenly. It's that the demographs showed that a vast number of potential audiences across the country had for the longest time gone untapped. The Catholics. What's more, the time seemed right to bring out the religious angle in a time of war. We looked to God for peacetime but raking in hefty profits at the boxoffice for such a sacred cause wasn't a bad idea either. Fox found their inspirational story from a most unlikely source who's own true-life story would have made a compelling screenplay. Franz Werfel , an orthodox Jew, had taken flight from the Nazis. He needed desperately to be reunited with his wife in America by seeking out those who would help along the way. Stopping to rest in his escape in Lourdes which bordered occupied France and neutral Spain, he found the people very sympathetic, hiding him from the Germans until he was given safe passage to the US. It is in Lourdes that he learned of Bernadette Souibirous and made a promise to God that if ever he should leave Europe alive, he would tell Bernadette's extraordinary story. It must've been a case of 'from Werfel's lips to God's ears' because that's just exactly what happened. In preparing the galleys for his book on Bernadette's account, the suits at Fox got wind of it and bought the rights to the film even before the publisher had the book on the stands which would become an enormous best seller in 1943. This was Jennifer Jones first leading role in a major film and few of us, I believe, could deny that her sensitive portrayal was nothing short of a miracle. A convincing harrowing portrayal of a pious ingenue without ever once being mawkish. Now that's walking a tight rope between instinct and skill. The rest of the cast is uniformly fine especially Anne Revere as Louise Soubirous (whose brilliant career would run afoul of the House Commitee for Un-American Activities, labeled a communist sympathizer). As for the real-life Bernadette, she was canonized in 1933, the same year it was decided to remove her remains to Never. Something even more startling however is that when her remains were disinterred some seventy-five years after her burial, she was found virtually in tact an incorruptible. Needless to say, the Church had all the justification it needed in declaring her a saint. And to this very day many who 'believe in God' make pilgrimages to the little grotto where the vision took place and the spring which brought about so many miraculous cures. There is in all this an interesting bit of irony though. The uncredited role of the 'beautiful lady' went to Fox contract player Linda Darnell who would have a brief but successful career playing 'bad girls'.