Hail Mary (1985)

In this modern retelling of the Virgin birth, Mary is a student who plays basketball and works at her father's petrol station; Joseph is an earnest dropout who drives a cab. The angel ... See full summary »

Director:

Jean-Luc Godard

Writer:

Jean-Luc Godard

Stars:

Myriem Roussel, Thierry Rode, Philippe Lacoste

2 wins & 2 nominations.

Cast

Credited cast:
Myriem Roussel	...	Marie
Thierry Rode	...	Joseph
Philippe Lacoste	...	L'ange Gabriel
Manon Andersen	...	La petite fille
Malachi Jara Kohan	...	Jésus
Juliette Binoche	...	Juliette
Dick	...	Le chien
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Georges Staquet

Storyline

In this modern retelling of the Virgin birth, Mary is a student who plays basketball and works at her father's petrol station; Joseph is an earnest dropout who drives a cab. The angel Gabriel must school Joseph to accept Mary's pregnancy, while Mary comes to terms with God's plan through meditations that are sometimes angry and usually punctuated by elemental images of the sun, moon, clouds, flowers, and water. Godard intercuts a brief parallel story of Eva and her nameless lover; their adulterous affair, rife with philosophical discussions, leads nowhere.

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Plot Keywords:

basketball | pregnancy | gas station | virgin | white panties | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Official Sites:

Juliette Binoche: The Art of Being - Official Fansite

Country:

France Switzerland UK

Language:

French

Release Date:

11 October 1985 (USA)

Also Known As:

Hail Mary

Filming Locations:

Geneva, Canton de Genève, Switzerland

Company Credits

Production Co:

Sara Films, Pégase Films, JLG Films

Technical Specs

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Pope John Paul II publicly condemned the film, stating that it was likely to offend the deeply religious. His remarks have since been used as a means to advertise the film.

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Quotes

Juliette: If God exists, then nothing is allowed.

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Connections

References Pickpocket (1959)

User Reviews

oui, non

Hmmm...I don't know if anything that I say about this movie will be relevant to anyone else. This movie has been in my consciousness for over 20 years and has influenced me in one way or another.

Trivia: It was because of the moving and sublime use of Mahler's 9th and Bach's Partita in this movie that I sought out the works of these composers and they've since become important points in my musical foundation.

At the lake the professor speaks of signals from outer space, the sound in the background is an electronic bzzt bzzt...but in the next shot we see the sound is merely the professor's magic marker as he doodles.

Mary politely nodding to instructions given by her basketball coach while piano music (J.S.Bach's wtc book1 prelude 1) swells in and out overwhelming the coach and the noise on the basketball court. She is still smiling and nodding and acting according to the earthly matters at hand even though The Voice calls to her. It is a very beautiful piece of cinema.

Mary and Joseph talking on the pier. In order to see him, Mary has to block out the blinding sun with her hand: that's the whole meaning of Mary brilliantly focused into one image.

The "oui, non" strophe/antistrophe appears first as a monologue by the student guiding the rubik's cube manipulator's hand to the solution, and then later as a monologue by Mary guiding Joseph's hand.

The "oui, non" strophe/antistrophe also appears in Godard's short film "Armide", his part of "Aria".

The little girl angel instructing Mary to "be pure, be tough." (I only have the Japanese DVD, so I'm paraphrasing. The original French is more flowing.) This is the first New Wave film - the first Godard film - I ever saw.

I discovered Jean-Luc Godard by reading James Monaco's "The New Wave".

I only plucked the Monaco book off the library shelf because at the time I was obsessed with "New Wave" bands like The Cure, Echo and the Bunnymen, The Smiths, New Order, etc.

The lipstick circles Myriem Roussel's open mouth, the end.