LA NEUVAINE (THE NOVENA)
Canada, 2005, 97 minutes, Colour.
Elise Guilbault, Patrick Drolet.
Directed by Bernard Emond.
Many explicitly religious films fall short of expectations because they exhibit a too earnest proseletysing zeal or depict aspects of piety that many audiences find puzzling, incongruous or simply alienating. La Neuvaine succeeds in portraying simple faith with great respect and without being patronising. It is also able to portray lack of faith in God in contemporary secular society with sympathy and understanding.
Writer-director, Bernard Emond, is an anthropologist by training. He has worked in Inuit television and has made short films, documentaries and some feature films. He declares that he is a non-believer but he affirms the long tradition of Catholic faith in his native Quebec. He is also concerned that today's Canadians in the province of Quebec are in danger of cutting themselves off from this religious tradition and losing this heritage.
In the aftermath of the Second Vatican Council, the church of Quebec reacted quickly to change in the Catholic Church and many Catholics found themselves rejecting so much of their religious upbringing and practice, eager to throw off what they saw as ecclesiastical authoritarianism. Some of the clearest cinema expressions of this reaction are found in Denys Arcand's 1988 Jesus of Montreal. His Decline of the American Empire (1987) and its Oscar-winning sequel, The Barbarian Invasions (2003) should be seen in this perspective.
Emond clearly inhabits the world that Arcand suggests. However, he brings to La Neuvaine the simplicity of film language that marks the films of Robert Bresson, a plainness and an austerity of style that communicate directly but suggest deeper meanings, especially some opening to what we might call 'the transcendent'. To continue the cinema connections, it could be added that the central character of La Neuvaine, a non-believing doctor, would be at home in her search for meaning in her life in Kieslowski's Decalogue.
The title is something of a challenge. Novenas, even amongst Catholics, are not in vogue everywhere as they once were. They are a feature of popular religious culture. Nine days of continued prayer for a special intention, even some kind of miracle, has been a popular practice over the centuries. In La Neuvaine, Francois, a young man who personifies goodness in a kindly but down-to-earth way, helps on a farm, works in a small supermarket in a provincial town. When told that his grandmother is dying (she has brought him up since his parents were killed in a car crash when he was very young), he decides to make a novena for her recovery. He goes on a daily pilgrimage to the shrine of St Anne to invoke her assistance. The shrine has a priest, in his vestments, always available in a kind of shop-front to bless the pilgrims. (The credits indicate that the shrine is under the care of the Redemptorists who will be glad of the attention given to their ministry.)
The central character is Jeanne, a highly professional doctor who has experienced the long illness and death of her child. There is no place for faith in her life. She has also taken care of a battered wife and her daughter and experienced the anger of the violent husband. Her recuperation takes her to the vicinity of the shrine and a sympathetic encounter with Francois.
La Neuvaine does not push the religious experiences of its characters and does not push religion at its audience. Ultimately, there are no obvious miracles and no obvious conversions. Rather, the audience appreciates Francois' straightforward faith and piety - and sees that Jeanne's kindness towards his grandmother as she dies, is a real answer to prayer. The audience appreciates the change in Jeanne, that she can continue her healing work as a doctor - she has to respond to a sudden emergency outside the shrine as a man suffers a heart attack - and can minister to the grandmother. Deeper possibilities for hope emerge.
Throughout the film there are interludes of voiceover as Jeanne quietly discusses her non-faith with a probing questioner. It is only at the end, when she stands watching the priest in the blessing room, that we appreciate she has been exploring her life and its meaning with him.
La Neuvaine was entered in competition in the Locarno Film Festival, August 2005. It received serious attention, packed houses and favourable reviews. This surprised many festival-goers: that a secular audience would be so moved by religious themes, even explicitly Catholic themes. It won the ecumenical award for the quality of its film-making and the skill in its presenting its religious and values content, the best actor award and a special award from a jury of young people.
1. The impact of the film, awards? An explicitly religious film? Respect for simple faith, open to the transcendent?
2. The austere and direct style? The long takes, the silences? The choir? The musical score?
3. The background of films by Robert Bresson and Kristof Kieslowski and their search for the transcendent?
4. The Canadian settings? Montreal, the homes, hospitals? The shrine, the farm, the interiors, the supermarket? The shrine, the church, the room for blessings? An authentic and realistic atmosphere?
5. The history of Quebec province, strong in the Catholic faith, the rejection from the 1960s?
6. The doctor, the issues of belief, simple faith, non-belief? The fact there were no miracles at the end, no conversion? But an openness to hope?
7. The structure of the film: Jeanne, working in the hospital, in hospital herself, coming out, her recovery? Her helping Lisa? The encounter with Francois, the intercutting the two stories, the meeting and its effect? The insertion of the flashback to Lisa’s death?
8. The voice-over, Jeanne and the man asking the questions? The realisation at the end that it was the priest? His asking her about belief, non-belief? The issues of doing good, being saved, prayer and miracles?
9. The grandmother, her goodness in her life, bringing up Francois after the parents’ accidental death? Her dying, his question about who can be saved, her comments about people who do good works, the strength of believers because they have hope?
10. Jeanne, the long takes, the audience contemplating her, sharing her anguish? Her age, her story? Home from the hospital, the housekeeper and care – moving to the motel, phoning the housekeeper? The encounter with Lisa, bringing her home? Care for her, for her daughter? Her own moving to the motel, walking around the town, observing? Her going to the shrine, looking at the room for blessings? Visiting the church, contemplating the artwork in the church?
11. Francois, his work, the farm? The doctor telling him about his grandmother? His care for her? Working in the shop, getting permission to go to the novena? Driving the truck, in the church, the blessing? His praying, devotion? The written petitions? The devotion to St Anne, St Anne and her background, mother of Mary, grandmother of Jesus? Praying for miracles? His simplicity, knowing the reality of his grandmother’s illness?
12. The moments of encounter, Francois and his sensitivity towards Jeanne, her response? Her feeling depressed, suicidal? His noticing, giving her the lift, offering the food, to the motel? Their silences, talking? Meeting her each day, sitting by the river, eating? Hearing the story of the grandmother, of his faith and God?
13. The man collapsing outside the shrine, Jeanne going to help, Francois watching, her skill as a doctor, taking him to the hospital?
14. Francois missing when his grandmother was unwell? Francois waiting by Jeanne’s car till she returned from the hospital? Their talking, his request that she come to see the grandmother, ‘Do unto others…’? Her going, feeling the grandmother’s pulse, deciding to stay? Conferring with the family doctor, her gentleness in bathing the grandmother, being with her, quietly talking, consoling? Her being present at her death? The help for the grandmother – the miracle for Francois?
15. The insertion of the flashbacks to Lisa, at the centre, her husband coming in, his hostility, his clashes with Jeanne in the carpark, her being saved by the lights coming on? His finally coming to the hotel, the gun, Jeanne as hostage, shooting his wife and daughter, shooting himself?
16. The end and Jeanne watching the priest, the blessings? Audience realising that the voice-over was her confession to the priest? Not gaining faith – but at least hope?
