Lourdes (2019)

Directed by: Thierry Demaizière, Alban Teurlai | 96 minutes | documentary

The young girl Bernadette Soubirous was 14 years old when, in February 1858, she first encountered a white figure at a cave in her hometown of Lourdes. However, the initially skeptical clergy recognized that Bernadette’s stories must be true and that the Virgin Mary had indeed appeared to Bernadette. In total, Mary would reveal herself to Bernadette 18 times between February and July of that year.

Lourdes soon gained great fame and pilgrims flocked to what was then a small town of a few thousand inhabitants in the foothills of the Pyrenees in southern France. Today, after Paris, Lourdes is the city with the most hotel rooms and millions of pilgrims visit the Roman Catholic sanctuary every year. According to believers, the water from the cave where Mary appeared has a healing effect. For this reason, many people who are ill or have disabilities travel to Lourdes – including on special trains – to pray there, find spiritual peace and comfort in their faith. And hope for a miracle. At the start of this poignant documentary it is mentioned that the Catholic Church has so far recognized 70 miracles and 7000 unexplained healings have taken place.

Documentary makers Thierry Demaizière and Alban Teurlai follow a handful of pilgrims on their journey to Lourdes and their stay there. One of them, 40-year-old Cédric, who is mentally and physically disabled due to an accident at a young age, is in a wheelchair and is being cared for by his parents. Another is Jean-Baptiste, a boy with severe thyroid disease who goes on a pilgrimage with his father. His terminally ill brother Augustine is two years old and remains – tormented by pain that can hardly be suppressed even with morphine, at home with his mother. Other pilgrims include Jean, a businessman who was diagnosed with ALS at the age of 48 and a teenage girl with a rare condition who wants to get rid of the bullies at her school. Yet another is a middle-aged man who, after a failed love affair, made two suicide attempts and became severely disabled as a result. He can only communicate by pointing to letters on a pre-printed sheet with the alphabet on it. They are all heartbreaking stories. The makers also follow a group of gypsies who have been walking along in one of the processions for years, sometimes for decades. An older male prostitute also tells his story about his desire to dress up as a woman and what Lourdes means to him.

Through the life stories you get a look behind the scenes as a viewer. We see the preparations for one of the many Masses, how the guides, professionals and volunteers, try to offer the pilgrims a pleasant stay. They don’t offer much context. The information provided is brief and much background and context is not given, even if it is very relevant. The rituals, touching the wall of the cave, the Lourdes water and bathing of the pilgrims are beautifully portrayed. The film also largely stays away from the commercial aspect of Lourdes, but the countless shops with religious souvenirs are also filmed for a while.

In order to really understand the documentary, some prior knowledge – and preferably a visit to Lourdes – is desirable. It seems that Demaizière and Teurlai assume that their audience is in any case extremely interested in Lourdes and that they do not need to explain much. , extremely moving. A miraculous cure does not seem to be available to them. What they seek – and find – is a sense of belonging and belonging, the comfort of caring people around them, and perhaps a little bit of comfort to face life after returning from Lourdes.