Hail Mary (JE VOUS SALUE, MARIE)

Berated by the Pope and picketed by religious groups, Hail Mary is nevertheless a serenely beautiful work of faith, despite the potentially parodist aspects of the premise (a retelling of the Virgin Birth in modern Geneva) and the copious doses of female nudity. Godard’s Mary plays basketball when not pumping gas at her father’s station, taxi driver Joseph is her unconvinced boyfriend. Gabriel, the angel who tells Mary of her pregnancy, arrives by jet plane. Set to gusts of classical music and punctuated with images of nature, Hail Mary’s ending remains among the most spiritual and life-affirming moments in Godard’s career. Screening with Anne-Marie Miéville’s companion piece The Book of Mary.

Berlin International Film Festival: Interfilm Award

25/6 (Sun): Film talk with Long Tin