The Apparition (2018)

A journalist is sent by the Vatican to investigate a young girl claiming to be visited by the Virgin Mary.

Director:

Xavier Giannoli

Writers:

Xavier Giannoli, Jacques Fieschi (collaboration)

Stars:

Vincent Lindon, Galatéa Bellugi, Patrick d'Assumçao

2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Vincent Lindon	...	Jacques Mayano
Galatéa Bellugi	...	Anna
Patrick d'Assumçao	...	Père Borrodine
Anatole Taubman	...	Anton Meyer
Elina Löwensohn	...	Docteur de Villeneuve
Gérard Dessalles	...	Stéphane Mornay
Bruno Georis	...	Père Ezéradot
Claude Lévèque	...	Père Gallois
Alicia Hava	...	Mériem
Candice Bouchet	...	Valérie
Natalia Dontcheva	...	Céline
Gervais Dimwana	...	Joachim
Bogdan Zamfir	...	Pavel
Eric Paul	...	Directeur de la rédaction
Joël Demarty	...	Monseigneur Vassilis

Storyline

Jacques "Vincent Lindon" is a journalist at a large regional newspaper in France. His reputation as an impartial investigator attracts the attention of the Vatican, who recruit him to lead a committee to explore the legitimacy of a saintly apparition in a small French village-a true canonical investigation. Upon his arrival, he meets the young novitiate Anna, who claims to have personally witnessed an apparition of the Virgin Mary. Shes garnered an impressive following in the village but is torn between her faith and the many solicitations she receives. Confronted with opposing views from clergy members and skeptics, Jacques finds his belief system profoundly shaken as he works to uncover the hidden motivations and pressures at work.

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Plot Keywords:

journalist | photographer | camera | blood | death | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Details

Country:

France Belgium Jordan

Language:

French Italian German English

Release Date:

7 September 2018 (USA)

Also Known As:

La aparición

Filming Locations:

Gap, Hautes-Alpes, France

Box Office

Budget:

€8,900,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$9,830, 9 September 2018, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$28,293, 20 December 2018

Company Credits

Production Co:

Curiosa Films, Gabriel, Proximus

Technical Specs

Runtime:

144 min

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Inspired by the true story of Saint Bernadette of Lourdes. A young girl who, in the age of 14, had all together 18 apparitions of Virgin Mary in the late 1850s. Today Lourdes is visited by 5 million Catholics a year, and several miracles have taken place.

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Soundtracks

Stellaire
Composed by Georges Delerue
Taken from the documentary "Tours du monde, tours du ciel" (1987) by Robert Pansard-Besson

User Reviews

A film about the visible and the invisible should only leave uncertainties ?

Investigative journalism commissioned by the Vatican in order to determine whether or not a teenager has seen the appearance of the Virgin, as she claims With films like Xavier Beauvois' "Men and Gods" (2010) and Anne Fontaine's "The Innocent" (2015), French cinema has re-approached religious questions. The Apparition embraces the difficult exercises of (i) filming the imperceptible and the faith & (ii) addressing the exciting questions of belief, religion and existential options & ways. It relies on a virtually fascinating subject - clairvoyance regarding the Virgin Mary - by dealing with the subject of faith through a canonical inquiry, an angle which until now has never been treated in the cinema, which is altogether unknown by the general public, and which is herein approached with sufficient accuracy and twists to interest any spectator. In the role of the photographer on the case of an alleged appearance, Vincent Lindon is convincing as a Cartesian agnostic who questions the truth and doubts during a down-to-earth approach that contrasts with the mystical dimension of the subject. The film finds its interest in an exciting first part where we get acquainted with the young clairvoyant, Anna played by Galatea Bellugi. Too bad then, that it ends up lost in several anecdotal tracks and several different stories where the situations, not really fully resolved, confer to the story a frustrating, and a bit too austere edge, which prevents it from reaching the level of the Beauvois essay. Regretfully Giannoli fails to give a sustained breath to this very much alive and attractive story.