MOVIE: Therese

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you’re very lucky. When the movie came out last year, the closest theatre that had it was an hour away and I never got to see it.

I hope its released on DVD soon. I wanted to see it and that’s the only way I can now.
 
Detroit Sue:
I didn’t expect it to be a masterpiece on par with “The Passion of the Christ,” so I wasn’t disappointed. Have you seen Leonardo’s other films? It was very reminiscient of some of the old movies you see on EWTN. I found the acting to be very adequate, and I completely lost myself in the story?

Our local theater complex is showing it through Sept. 22. It’s been quite well attended. 🙂
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Sue:

Which one is showing it. I am getting back to the states tomorrow from England and want to see it again.

PF
 
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WanderAimlessly:
Sue:

Which one is showing it. I am getting back to the states tomorrow from England and want to see it again.

PF
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MJR Theatres in Southgate.

mjrtheatres.com/southgate.html

You can take Southfield Xway to Dix-Toledo Road (Southfield turns into a road again after I-94 & it’s down a couple of miles). Turn right. You will pass Northline Road (about 3 miles?). Just past Northline, there is a turn off on the left. That is Trenton Road. Take that a couple of miles to Eureka Road. Pass thru the intersection, and the theater is at the 1st traffic light on the left. It’ll take you about 35 minutes, but it’s worth the drive! 👍
 
I watched it out of respect for Therese and Leo when it came out last year. But I was pretty much bored through the whole thing. There wasn’t much in her life to make a movie about. Her life was about simplicity. You can’t much make a movie with no plot other then to live a menial life day by day.

Josh
 
Southgate said that they would keep playing it until the tickets stop selling, so it could be there for a while. Thought that was quite thoughtful of the management, since most theaters are about raking in the money.

Maggie
 
This is the latest information on the Therese official movie site about DVD

THERESE MOTION PICTURE VIDEO/DVD STATUS
We have secured domestic DVD distribution (USA & Canada). The release date for the DVD is not yet established. We are still seeking distributors for the international theatrical/DVD release. We encourage all of you to see THERESE in theaters to experience the movie at its best on the big screen. The release date and success of the domestic DVD depends on the successful performance of the English and Spanish versions in theaters.

It came to my town but by the time I realized it was at the theater it was already gone. We don’t go to the theater often. I wish I had been able to go. I assumed the DVD would release soon after the theatrical release, but that wasn’t the case, I thought I had ordered it from a website, but I think it may have been a different version from 2002.
 
So I was looking for a good movie in Target when this one caught my eye. A movie about St. Therese of Lisieux. I figured I’d give it a shot.

And really, I wasn’t overly-impressed. The acting wasn’t that great, the key points of her holiness seemed to be skimmed over, and they portrayed her as kinda whiney.

The end was good though, the deathbed scene did move me.

Anyone else seen it?
 
I agree with your assessment completely. It was truly lacking - though beautifully filmed. It did not highlight the important revelations in her life. I watched it only once and I own it. I had high hopes for it too. : (
 
I’d say your review sums it up.

This film had potential, but was way to ‘stiff’ – the story itself is inspirational, as all stories of the saints are, but the bad dialogue and emotionless acting reminded me Jack Webb.

Unfortunately the same could be said about quite a few religious movies. There are obvious exceptions – for example, the movie made about the life of Pope John Paul II. This film really set the standard by which I will judge all ‘religious’ films in the future.

Its not just a “Catholic” thing though – by any stretch. I remember about 15 years ago a friend tried to bring me to Christ from my fallen catholic ways. He made me watch a spoof on Star Trek…I watched it and was embarrassed at how bad every part of the movie was…acting, directing, writing. It felt like an Ed Wood production…
 
On the bright side, I think I’ll keep it just because the cover-art on the DVD case is so good 😉
 
OnlyAmbrose said:
On the bright side, I think I’ll keep it just because the cover-art on the DVD case is so good 😉
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Actually, the cinematography / photography was very well done. I geess I did leave that off. That part was a lot better than some of the big budget films I have in my collection.

I can’t say I wouldn’t watch it again – I would. I just wouldn’t go out of my way to do so.
 
I think I expected too much for that movie. There was a certain disconnect between the holiness I knew St. Therese had and how it was portrayed in the film. It also seemed to insinuate that Therese’s faith was all “man-made” i.e. made up by her and not coming from God.

Frankly, I was disappointed with the movie…even with the cinematography. 😦
 
Okay, I’ll admit I’m a little behind the times … I remember seeing ads for this movie when it first came out, but I never heard of it being played near me, or maybe I just didn’t find the time to get to one of the screenings, but I just rented it from netflix last night and I thought it was so great that I came here to the forums to find a thread to bump to encourage folks once again to go see it.

Imagine my surprise when I found so many negative comments!

The general consensus seems to be - St. Therese, awesome - The Little Way, wonderful - the movie, poor quality, bad acting, etc etc.

All I know is that it made me cry! (And since you can’t see me, I should point out that I’m one of those grown men who long ago had crying suppressed - seriously, I think I’ve cried twice in the past 25 years!)

Now I’m quite sure that it was the Little Flower who had me crying, not the movie itself. But I would like to echo a few of the comments that people made in defense of the film as a film. First of all, Mr. Defilippis was very faithful to St. Therese’s own words and I, at least, found that he and the other actors stayed out of the way enough to let St. Therese shine through. And that’s all we can ever ask of artists depicting heroic sanctity.

Second of all, if we want better cinematography, better acting, etc (and, for the record, I thought all of these things were excellent!) then we’d better start paying for it. Mel Gibson could make Passion of the Christ because he’s Mel Gibson - international superstar. I, for one, plan on buying the DVD of Therese (and I never buy DVDs - rent only). And then, its going on my list of things to buy people for Christmas presents, birthday presents, etc. It may only be $20 at a time, but in my limited financial way, hopefully this will help Mr. Defilippis and others to do more work like this and to do it “better” with all of the higher production values, etc.

But I really don’t understand why we need all the fancy bells and whistles - isn’t St. Therese’s story enough?

It reminds me of the play that she and her sisters put on in the convent - I’m sure that someone who was used to attending Broadway plays, if they had seen the play that St. Therese produced, could have nitpicked it to death - but I think they would have been missing the point entirely.

Anyway - sorry if I’m being defensiveness - but I loved this movie & I just wanted to encourage anybody else out there who hasn’t seen it to rent it / buy it!

theresemovie.com/

P.S. I would also recommend Maria Lectrix’s audiobook of Story of a Soul:
archive.org/details/StorySoul

for that matter, I would recommend all of Maria Lectrix’s work - she’s a true Catholic treasure:
marialectrix.wordpress.com/

*“My God, I love you!”
  • last words of the Little Flower
 
I’m resurrecting this thread from the dead because that is how I feel about it. The movie Therese brought me back to the Catholic Church.

In September 04, my Catholic student had posted a flier to go to see it. I called my only Catholicfriend to see if she could go see it with me, and she couldn’t. That night I went by myself.

The movie itself didn’t impact me much. I had been protestant for 20 yrs by that time.

But when I got in the car Sunday morning, where did I drive?
Back to the Catholic Church. And I’ve been back ever since.

THANK YOU, Leonardo DeFillippis!!! :extrahappy:
 
The movie had potential, but the horrid acting just ruined it for me. I’m surprised I even watched the whole thing. It left me feeling completely uninspired.
I’ve seen many religious movies that had wonderful acting. One I highly recommend is ‘Molokai: The Story of Father Damien’, That had top quality actors in it and is one of the most inspiring movies I’ve ever seen. You could tell that the actor that played Father Damien (David Wenham) really felt the charactor. Another great movie is the Pope John Paul II movie that came out a few years ago.
There was no heart in the movie Therese. I also did not like that they picked a really pretty acctress for the main role. Maybe I’m wrong, but I felt they were going for looks rather than talent:rolleyes:
 
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