I can't recall ever being disappointed by Sylvie Testud. She is akin to a younger generation Isabelle Huppert in that she is happy to work in areas about as far from the Multiplex circuit as you can get and often her films attract little or no comment on IMDb - Cause toujours, Victoire, The Heritage etc. Here she is again, acting largely with her eyes as a wheelchair confined invalid going along for the ride on a pilgrimage to Lourdes, by which I mean that it is a pilgrimage only for the group she is with, as 1) a sceptic and 2) bored and lonely because of her condition, she has more or less tagged along for lack of an alternative. There's a nice mix of satire and sentiment at work here as we note the commercial aspects of organised religion and the negative aspects of human nature masquerading as piety. Testud as always is superb and the film should be seen for her alone if nothing else.
Review of Lourdes
