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16 out of 20 people found the following review useful:
Interesting point of view, 4 October 2004
7/10
Author: artzau from Sacramento, CA

It's hard to be objective about this film. As cinema, it's "amateur night at the movies," but as a practicing Roman Catholic, it's easy to overlook the gaps, shortcomings and fumblings in light of its subject. Having said that, I found the film to be very strange; there are certainly two ways you can take it: one, you can be moved by the demonstrations of faith and piety which prompts a whole family of 4 middle class young women of country gentry stock to become religious. The message therefrom is one of overriding faith. The family is close knit, visits the nunnery regularly, dresses and eats well but their lives are centered around the church. The mother dies and one by one, the girls go into religious vocations. Therese, the youngest, goes into her vocation post-puberty. She keeps a diary and it is this which becomes the great testament of her faith after her death. As the other reviewer noted, the more faithful among us will find it moving. The other viewpoint sees a family in late 19th century France who live in comfortable circumstances and who practice their religion intensely. Their little crises with health and emotions are not really beyond those most of endure during our lives, and indeed, one can wonder what is all the fuss about. The miraculous event of Therese is the repentance of a murder in the shadow of the guillotine. This episode is realized vicariously as Therese never saw the man, nor he her. Her entry into the world of the cloister is met with hostility by some of her religious sisters who resent her comfortable background. Again, this is perfectly normal and not unexpected.

Her death and suffering from TB is likewise undramatic and one can be left with the cynical impression that anyone can become a saint if you get sick and write about it. On the positive side, the film is pleasing to the eye, with set shots of the countryside and girls in wonderful 19th century dresses. The cloister shots are likewise idyllic and one wonders what the real world was like. The audience clapped loudly at the end and I had the impression there were few Protestants in the audience. No matter. If you want a simple film to bolster your faith in Holy Mother Church, this is it.

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13 out of 15 people found the following review useful:
Therese is, by far, the most beautiful and moving film of 2004, 25 February 2005
10/10
Author: (philtrevathan@comcast.net) from Tennessee

I saw this movie 4 times when it played in Nashville, and I cried each time. The love of a father for his daughters, and the love of a future Saint for her Beloved is portrayed in an effective and moving film that captures the essence of the Catholic faith.

Leonardo Defilippis is the director, principle writer, and male lead actor. He is both charming and inspiring in his role as the father of Therese.

St. Therese is played by Lindsay Younce, who infuses her character with beauty, wit, and intensity. This is one actress to watch in the years to come.

If you are a Catholic, you will be blessed and your heart will be touched by seeing Therese. And, even if you aren't a Catholic you can find much to love about this enchanting film and the life and faith of the widely-loved Saint who inspired it.

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9 out of 11 people found the following review useful:
Moving story of 19th century Saint, 3 October 2004
Author: mistermycroft

I saw this at a theater in Burlington, NJ, on Oct 3. Sadly, it is the only movie theater in the state where it is playing. The story concerns the life of a deeply religious French girl named Therese Martin, and her life from 1877 to 1897, focusing mostly on her from age 15 onwards, when she entered a convent and became a nun. It depicts a very human girl and the lives that she touched. They should make more films like this. Unfortunately, we haven't had a movie like this, that portrays Catholic clergy in a positive light in quite sometime. Hopefully there will be more to come after this. Rated PG- nothing offensive, although several characters die.

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6 out of 6 people found the following review useful:
wonderful movie, 15 November 2006
10/10
Author: wuximom2000 from United States

When I first started watching this movie I was a little disappointed at the extremely pious tone. I had read "Story of a Soul" years ago and loved the book but had not studied much about St. Therese in several years. The more I watched it, however, it really moved me in profound way so that at the end I was weeping uncontrollably. I showed it to my husband and children (daughters 6 and 9) and they loved it. I have now seen it several times and I see something new in each viewing. It is a movie that has a very very spiritual message, and if you're not in tune with spiritual messages at this stage in your life, you will not be touched. (A Catholic upbringing will certainly help the film resonate with the viewer.)If you are open to having a movie bring you closer to Jesus, this film will do it.

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5 out of 6 people found the following review useful:
The Saint for Our Times, 20 February 2006
10/10
Author: Wayne Richards from United States

Movies "based" upon real life events are very frequently the most compelling. However, such dramas are not infrequently enhanced by the author to make the characters larger than they could have been in real life. It is seldom that a movie can capture the fullness of a true story without reliance on such dramatizations. This movie is richly and so accurately, the encapsulation of "The Story of A Soul", one of the most published and beloved autobiographies of all time. This story is the true and heart rendering account of a simple young Therese and her sisters, who abandoned incredible and luxurious wealth to live the sacrificial, cloistered—imprisoned—lives of Carmelite nuns in the late 19th Century. Through time, Saint Therese shares directly with her readers, and now with her viewers, the meaning of her incredible "little way", and what it has meant to millions of people for over a century. She is so highly regarded, that only 32 other saints in all of history have been named Doctor of The Church, a title shared by the likes of St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Augustine, St. Francis De Sales, St. Thomas Liguori, St. John of The Cross, St. Catherine of Sienna, and Teresa of Avila, from whom she took her own name. Written under strict obedience of her prioress, and wonderfully captured on film, her story will be treasured until the end of time. This is not simply a Catholic movie written about a Catholic saint. This is a fabulous story about a person who continues to do as she promised, and always will. "I will spend my Heaven doing good upon the earth"

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5 out of 6 people found the following review useful:
A story that is strange to us now, 18 February 2006
8/10
Author: kjstarke from Fairfield, CT

Watch this movie if you are already interested in the life of St. Therese of Lisieux and are curious to see a representation of it on film. There is no pretense of cinematic excellence here. The movie is not entertainment in the true sense. It's almost like a page of the famous compendium "Lives of the Saints" come to life on screen.

Moreover, the story of St. Therese may already be a bit distant to 21st century viewers, though she is a modern saint. St. Therese represents turn of the 20th century piety and devotion that probably seems quite strange to many of us today. The story would probably be most strange to non-catholics, still a bit foreign to less pietistic catholics, but probably closer to home to catholics who practice devotions such as to the Sacred Heart or the Child Jesus.

I had always associated St. Therese with a sort of saccharine sweet piety, but watching this film showed a different side and made me admire her deep humility, a virtue that is truly strange to us now.

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9 out of 14 people found the following review useful:
Good Story, Bad Film, 4 October 2004
Author: onethreeseven (onethreeseven) from Seattle, WA

I went to this thinking it was going to be an epic in the lines of "Gandhi."

Had I known it was going to be a home movie that looked like it was shot on a video camera, and acted by the Junior High School Drama Club, I probably would have passed. I realize this is an "independent" film, and the story of St. Therese is certainly one worth telling, but it could have been told a whole lot better than this. It was poorly acted, poorly written, poorly directed, and poorly produced. It was more like a made for TV special than a motion picture feature.

This film has been done before, and with much higher quality. Anyone that wants to see this story told should check out the 1986 version of the same tale.

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3 out of 4 people found the following review useful:
I feel sort of bad about piling on, but ... *possible spoilers*, 19 November 2004
3/10
Author: Aaron J. Hartje from De Pere, WI

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

... it's really difficult for me to recommend this movie in any way, shape or form. When you have to tell friends, "It really starts to pick up when she becomes a nun," that's not a good thing.

The story

I would like to start by saying that I went into the movie knowing absolutely nothing about the Saint Therese. I left knowing little more. As far as the story goes, it's definitely a small one. I believe that it boils down to a young girl believing very strongly in God and becoming a nun at 15. The movie didn't really show anything particularly interesting about Therese, let alone why she's a saint. It may have been alluded to in a few paragraphs prior to the closing credits, but she certainly didn't seem to do a great deal while alive.

The production

There's really not much to say here. I'm sure there was a great deal of sincere and heartfelt effort that went into this film, but the only passable acting came from supporting players with small rolls. The overall feel of the film, productionwise, was that of an afterschool special from the 80s. And I know it can't be just me, but couldn't they have condensed the first 45 minutes of the movie into about 5-10 minutes? The only pre-nunnery events in her life seem to be going to school one day, a mother dying, a few sisters leaving for nunneries, and an illness. And only the illness lasted longer than it took me to mention the previous three items. Really. Suddenly, they just started showing each sister leaving in the span of around 45 seconds. Unfortunately, since she didn't seem to do much in the way of notable acts during her time at the nunnery, there wasn't much to speak of that happened during the last stretch of the movie either.

In summary, while I respect the effort to bring this story to the screen, there was nothing in the film that spoke to why the story was noteworthy, and the production was poor.

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7 out of 12 people found the following review useful:
I'm sorry to say, it was tiresome., 10 October 2004
1/10
Author: from New Jersey

I really wanted to like this movie. I wanted to see a faith-based film of quiet beauty, and despite negative reviews in all the major newspapers, I hoped the reviewers simply didn't understand the "simple way" of Saint Therese. However, after viewing the film, I have to sadly admit that the reviewers were correct. I am left wishing the story of "The Little Flower" had been told by more skilled artists than these. (Fortunately, there is a French film of Therese that was made in the 80s that far exceeds this telling of her life.)

Although the music, locations, and costumes in "Therese" were beautiful, the rest of the artistic elements were horribly lacking. The acting was amateurish. The dialogue (script) was embarrassingly banal. Although historically accurate, the characters lacked a sense of humanity. They were wooden representations of real people.

I'm sorry this film did not achieve the level of artistry that would encourage more people to learn about the life of this young Saint. (Hopefully her biography will make a reappearance on bookshelves.) I'm sorry that the money raised to make this film was not put in the hands of more able filmmakers, or donated to worthy charities.

An apologetic thumbs down from me. Saint Therese will forgive you for missing this one. Especially if you donate your money for a movie ticket to those who need it most.

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8 out of 14 people found the following review useful:
Trite, schmaltzy, amateurish, 10 October 2004
1/10
Author: georgeb-6 from Seattle

Just because a movie is faith-based, and just because a lot of hard work and love went into a project, it doesn't automatically mean it will yield a great work of art, or even a good one. In the case of "Therese," the result is less than mediocre. It's simply awful. The script contains robotic dialogue. The acting from Leonardo DeFilippis is that of an over-the-top egotistical "Thespian." He had a strange accent throughout. The star, Lindsay Younce, is lovely to see, and perhaps under better direction she could really blossom. Throw in a few acting lessons too. Some of the actresses who played nuns were obviously professionals, but they had such minor roles. The movie dragged. It was heavily reliant on beautiful costumes and scenery because the story was trite and the dialogue schmaltzy. Saint Therese will bless these filmmakers for their amateurish tribute to her... but this film will not yield any artistic legacy. I read somewhere that the film was made with donated money. Perhaps that money would have been better spent helping people behind the scenes in "little ways" instead of the filmmakers trying to make a name for themselves by riding on the coat-tails of "The Passion."

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