''Mary'' is a 2005

drama thriller In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

film A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...

, written and directed by American director

Abel Ferrara Abel Ferrara (born July 19, 1951) is an American filmmaker, known for the provocative and often controversial content in his movies and his use of neo-noir imagery and gritty urban settings. A long-time independent filmmaker, some of his best kn ...

. The film stars

Juliette Binoche Juliette Binoche (; born 9 March 1964) is a French actress and dancer. She has appeared in more than sixty feature films and has been the recipient of numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, a Silver Bear, ...

Forest Whitaker Forest Steven Whitaker (born July 15, 1961) is an American actor. He is the recipient of List of awards and nominations received by Forest Whitaker, various accolades, including an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, a British Academy Film Award ...

Marion Cotillard Marion Cotillard (; born 30 September 1975) is a French actress, film producer, singer, and environmentalist who is widely known for her roles in independent films and blockbusters in both European and Hollywood productions. She has received ...

Matthew Modine Matthew Avery Modine (born March 22, 1959) is an American actor and filmmaker, who rose to prominence through his role as U.S. Marine Private/Sergeant J.T. "Joker" Davis in ''Full Metal Jacket''. His other film roles include the title character ...

and

Heather Graham Heather Joan Graham (born January 29, 1970) is an American actress. After appearing in television commercials, her first starring role in a feature film came with the teen comedy ''License to Drive'' (1988), followed by the critically acclaimed ...

. The film premiered at the 2005

Venice Film Festival The Venice Film Festival or Venice International Film Festival ( it, Mostra Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica della Biennale di Venezia, "International Exhibition of Cinematographic Art of the Venice Biennale") is an annual film festival he ...

where it won the Special Jury Prize as well as 3 smaller awards. The film also played at the 2005

Toronto International Film Festival The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the largest publicly attended film festivals in the world, attracting over 480,000 people annually. Since its founding in 1976, TIFF has grown to become a permane ...

Deauville Film Festival The Deauville American Film Festival (french: Festival du cinéma américain de Deauville, link=no) is a yearly film festival devoted to American cinema, which has taken place since 1975 in Deauville, France. It was established by Lionel Cho ...

and

San Sebastián International Film Festival The San Sebastián International Film Festival ( SSIFF; es, Festival Internacional de San Sebastián, eu, Donostia Zinemaldia) is an annual FIAPF A category film festival held in the Spanish city of Donostia-San Sebastián in September, in th ...

. Although co-produced by an American and French film company and shot in English and partly in the United States, the film has been little seen outside of Europe, and does not have a Region 1 DVD release. It received a limited theatrical release in America a full 3 years after premiering at the Venice Film Festival. The film has 3 European non-English language websites, but no English language website. UK DVDs use the title ''Mary: This is My Blood''.

Plot summary

Following the shooting of a film on the life of

Jesus Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...

called ''This Is My Blood'', Marie Palesi, the actress who plays

Mary Magdalene Mary Magdalene (sometimes called Mary of Magdala, or simply the Magdalene or the Madeleine) was a woman who, according to the four canonical gospels, traveled with Jesus as one of his followers and was a witness to crucifixion of Jesus, his cru ...

takes refuge in

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

in search of the truth behind the story, while the film's director, who also plays Jesus, returns to New York to aggressively promote the film. The film within a film is drawing public controversy for reasons that are never directly specified, but some scenes in the film draw on the non-canonical

Gnostic Gospels The Nag Hammadi library (also known as the " Chenoboskion Manuscripts" and the "Gnostic Gospels") is a collection of early Christian and Gnostic texts discovered near the Upper Egyptian town of Nag Hammadi in 1945. Thirteen leather-bound papyrus ...

, while there are public allegations that the film is anti-Semitic for reasons that are not given. In New York, television journalist Ted Younger (Forest Whitaker) is presenting a series of programs about the life of Jesus, and chooses to interview the film's director. Privately, Younger is having a crisis of faith.

Cast

– Ted Younger *

– Marie Palesi/

– Tony Childress/

– Elizabeth Younger *

–

Gretchen Mol Gretchen Mol (born November 8, 1972) is an American actress and former model. She is known for her role as Gillian Darmody in the HBO series '' Boardwalk Empire'' (2010–2014). She also appeared in the films ''Rounders'' (1998), ''Celebrity'' ...

Stefania Rocca Stefania Rocca (born 24 April 1971) is an Italian actress. She is best known for her roles in the films ''Nirvana'' (1997), ''The Talented Mr. Ripley'' (1999) and ''Dracula'' (2002). Rocca also was the lead in Dario Argento's ''The Card Player''. ...

– Brenda Sax *

Francine Berting :''This is a disambiguation page for the common name Francine.'' Francine is a female given name. The name is of French origin. The name Francine was most popular in France itself during the 1940s (Besnard & Desplanques 2003), and was well used in ...

– Nurse #2 *

Giovanni Capalbo Giovanni may refer to: * Giovanni (name), an Italian male given name and surname * Giovanni (meteorology), a Web interface for users to analyze NASA's gridded data * ''Don Giovanni'', a 1787 opera by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, based on the legend of ...

– Police man *

Massimo Cortesi Massimo, also Massimino, and Massimine () is a masculine Italian given name. Notable people with the name include: Given name: *Massimo Agostinelli (Max Agos) (born 1987), Swiss based Italian American artist, entrepreneur and activist *Massimo Ago ...

–

Priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particu ...

Ettore D'Alessandro Ettore is a given name, the Italian version of Hector. People *Ettore Arrigoni degli Oddi (1867–1942), Italian naturalist *Ettore Bassi (born 1970), Italian actor and television presenter *Ettore Bastianini (1922–1967), Italian opera singer *Et ...

–

Apostle An apostle (), in its literal sense, is an emissary, from Ancient Greek ἀπόστολος (''apóstolos''), literally "one who is sent off", from the verb ἀποστέλλειν (''apostéllein''), "to send off". The purpose of such sending ...

Andrew Andrew is the English form of a given name common in many countries. In the 1990s, it was among the top ten most popular names given to boys in List of countries where English is an official language, English-speaking countries. "Andrew" is freq ...

Alex Grazioli Alex is a given name. It can refer to a shortened version of Alexander, Alexandra, Alexis. People Multiple *Alex Brown (disambiguation), multiple people *Alex Gordon (disambiguation), multiple people *Alex Harris (disambiguation), multiple peop ...

– Apostle

Matthew Matthew may refer to: * Matthew (given name) * Matthew (surname) * ''Matthew'' (ship), the replica of the ship sailed by John Cabot in 1497 * ''Matthew'' (album), a 2000 album by rapper Kool Keith * Matthew (elm cultivar), a cultivar of the Ch ...

Emanuela Iovannitti Emanuela (minor planet designation: 576 Emanuela) is an asteroid orbiting the Sun The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is a nearly perfect ball of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in it ...

– Johanna, Mary's follower *

Marco Leonardi Marco Leonardi (born 14 November 1971) is an Italian actor. Leonardi was born in Australia to Italian parents. He moved to Italy at the age of four and at 17 starred in the acclaimed Italian film '' Cinema Paradiso'' (1988). He later starred i ...

– Apostle

Peter Peter may refer to: People * List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Peter (given name) ** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church * Peter (surname), a sur ...

Amos Luzzatto Amos Luzzatto (3 June 1928 – 9 September 2020) was an Italian-Jewish writer and essayist, born in a family of ancient tradition. His mother's father, Dante Lattes, was one of the most important representatives of Jewish Italian culture in the ...

– himself *

Thure Riefenstein Thure Riefenstein is an actor, director, writer and producer. He was born in Germany with an Austrian-Serbian background. Biography / film / theatre Riefenstein graduated 1989 as an actor in Germany, worked for five years on stage in repertory an ...

– Silvanus *

Gisella Marengo Gisella Marengo (born 16 December 1975) is an Italian actress and producer. Marengo played the role of Nurse Nicu in the 2005 thriller ''Mary'', and Matilde in the 2009 comedy '' Baarìa''. In 2011 she played the role of Maliva – mother of Rose ...

– Nurse Nicu *

Mario Opinato is a character created by Japanese video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto. He is the title character of the ''Mario'' franchise and the mascot of Japanese video game company Nintendo. Mario has appeared in over 200 video games since his creat ...

– Apostle

James James is a common English language surname and given name: *James (name), the typically masculine first name James * James (surname), various people with the last name James James or James City may also refer to: People * King James (disambiguat ...

Gabriella Wright Gabriella Wright (born 19 June 1982) is an English actress and model, best known for playing Queen Claude of France in the series ''The Tudors,'' Viola in the film '' The Perfect Husband,'' and Gina in the action thriller ''The Transporter Ref ...

– TV technician *

Elaine Pagels Elaine Pagels, née Hiesey (born February 13, 1943), is an American historian of religion. She is the Harrington Spear Paine Professor of Religion at Princeton University. Pagels has conducted extensive research into early Christianity and Gnosti ...

* Jean-Yves Leloup

Reception

Upon its release ''Mary'' immediately divided critics and viewers alike, it holds a 59% rating on

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

based on 17 reviews, with an average score of 5.5/10.

Positive

* "A sincere grapple with faith and redemption in cynical times." – Leslie Felperrin, ''Variety'' * "Somehow turns confusion into a concise study on what it means to believe in God in this day and age." – Chris Cabin, ''

Filmcritic.com Christopher Null is an American writer, film critic, and columnist. A former blogger for Yahoo! Tech, he was the editor of Drinkhacker.com, and the founder and editor-in-chief of Filmcritic.com, which operated from 1995 to 2012. In 2003, CNN ca ...

'' * "..both Forest Whitaker and Juliette Binoche (as with the rest of the cast) give such amazing performances that they should be added to the list of the best work of their careers." – Michael Ferraro, ''

Film Threat ''Film Threat'' is an online film review publication, and earlier, a national magazine that focused primarily on independent film, although it also reviewed videos and DVDs of mainstream films, as well as Hollywood movies in theaters. It first ...

Negative

* "Ferrara presents his ideas in what's meant to be a meditation on the nature of faith but ends up an incoherent, pretentious mess." – Josh Bell, ''Las Vegas Weekly'' * "Some critics went as far as rebaptising (excuse the pun) the director "Unable Ferrara" after the press screening here in

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...

." – Boyd van Hoeij, Europeanfilms.net * "Murky and forgettable." – Ray Bennett, ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...

Soundtrack

The original soundtrack was written by

Francis Kuipers Francis Kuipers (born 1941 in Woking, United Kingdom), also known as Superguitar, is a British-Dutch composer, guitarist and ethno-musicologist domiciled in Italy. In the 1960s he began creating a unique archive of music and sounds, as well as ...

Track listing

* "Mary (prologue)" – 1.53 * "They Took my Lord" – 6.15 * "Disciples & Discord" – 4.04 * "Street Attack" – 1.06 * "Mary in the Desert" – 3.54 * "Gnostic Gospel" – 3.29 * "Women at Sea" – 1.56 * "Sacred Heart" – 3.18 * "Among Believers" – 2.50 * "Holy Land Explosion" – 1.25 * "Madness of God" – 3.36 * "This is my Blood" – 5.43 * "Hidden Scripture" – 2.53 * "Mary (Epilogue)" – 3.35

Soundtrack credits

* Francis Kuipers – Guitar * Miriam Butler – Bassoon * David Barittoni – Voices * Giulio Luciani – Viola, violin * Roberto Bellatalla – Double Bass * Paola Di Silvestro – Soprano * Fabio Colucci – Music producer and mixer Recorded at Herzog Studios,

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

(

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

)

Awards

;

2005 * Grand Jury Prize * Mimmo Rotella Foundation Award * SIGNIS Award * Sergio Trasatti Award

French film poster

The French poster for ''Mary'' features a woman praying at an altar. The image was taken in the

Church of the Holy Sepulcher The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, hy, Սուրբ Հարության տաճար, la, Ecclesia Sancti Sepulchri, am, የቅዱስ መቃብር ቤተክርስቲያን, he, כנסיית הקבר, ar, كنيسة القيامة is a church i ...

in Jerusalem. The film was the first film to be allowed film in the actual church.

References

External links

''Mary'' – Official French Site

''Mary'' – Official Polish Site

* * {{Venice Film Festival Grand Jury Prize 2005 thriller drama films 2005 films American thriller films 2000s English-language films Films about religion Films directed by Abel Ferrara Films shot in Matera 2000s French-language films 2000s Hebrew-language films Portrayals of Mary Magdalene in film Venice Grand Jury Prize winners 2005 drama films 2005 multilingual films 2000s American films