I must have first seen this film when I was only an infant as I remember my childhood self being really unnerved and unable to sleep for days after seeing the supernatural visitations of the Virgin Mary to the young French peasant girl Bernadette Soubirous in early 19th Century France. That said, I have grown up an atheist but was curious to see the movie again and judge it as a mature adult.
One thing you have to say about Henry King's direction is that he definitely is on the side of the angels in that he leaves the viewer in no doubt as to whether or not he believes the young girl truly did see the holy visions she said she did. Along with Bernadette and unlike anyone else in the film, we the viewers clearly see an other-wordly female figure silently communicating with her at their every encounter, the Virgin's entrance each time announced by soaring strings and heavenly voices in the background with a bright shining light picking out her features. Perhaps today, their meetings might at least have been made more ambiguous, as while I still found these scenes moving, I was equally aware that I had been manipulated into quiescence by cinematic devices.
After she first sees the lady, as she calls her, Bernadette's modest demeanour and later physical suffering in silence see her one by one overturn the disbelieving convictions of all who doubt her, starting with her poor parents, then the parish dean and right at the end, the State Prosecutor and senior nun who are separately led to contrition for their cold treatment of the honest, unassuming girl.
In a long film like this with no great amount of actual on-screen action, conviction direction and sensitive acting are prerequisites if the film is to succeed. Jennifer Jones as Bernadette in her breakthrough role, in truth isn't required to do much other than talk quietly and demonstrate piety and pain. Charles Bickford as the initially doubtful but later devout Father Peyramale and Vincent Price as the vindictive prosecutor are the pick of the supporting cast. Along the way, director King appreciably takes time to highlight the ever-topical petty motives of the town's mayor who sees the commercial possibilities of a miracle in his midst.
This time after viewing, I won't have the nightmares I had as a child over the projected images of the Immaculate Conception and no, I wasn't persuaded myself to look for religion immediately afterwards either. I'm aware of the significance of the timing of the film's original release, during the Second World War, in providing an uplifting "With God On Our Side" affirmation for armies fighting the Allied cause. Maybe I'm still just a bit too cynical in my older years to really enter fully into the spirit of the film but in truth once I decided to surrender myself to the movie's narrative sweep, so my appreciation of it improved. By the time the final scene is reached, you wonder the mayor hasn't also set up a franchise on handkerchief sales as Bernadette nears her end but I have to concede that this is a well-made Golden Age Hollywood classic and can well understand why it was recognised by the Academy as such.
One thing you have to say about Henry King's direction is that he definitely is on the side of the angels in that he leaves the viewer in no doubt as to whether or not he believes the young girl truly did see the holy visions she said she did. Along with Bernadette and unlike anyone else in the film, we the viewers clearly see an other-wordly female figure silently communicating with her at their every encounter, the Virgin's entrance each time announced by soaring strings and heavenly voices in the background with a bright shining light picking out her features. Perhaps today, their meetings might at least have been made more ambiguous, as while I still found these scenes moving, I was equally aware that I had been manipulated into quiescence by cinematic devices.
After she first sees the lady, as she calls her, Bernadette's modest demeanour and later physical suffering in silence see her one by one overturn the disbelieving convictions of all who doubt her, starting with her poor parents, then the parish dean and right at the end, the State Prosecutor and senior nun who are separately led to contrition for their cold treatment of the honest, unassuming girl.
In a long film like this with no great amount of actual on-screen action, conviction direction and sensitive acting are prerequisites if the film is to succeed. Jennifer Jones as Bernadette in her breakthrough role, in truth isn't required to do much other than talk quietly and demonstrate piety and pain. Charles Bickford as the initially doubtful but later devout Father Peyramale and Vincent Price as the vindictive prosecutor are the pick of the supporting cast. Along the way, director King appreciably takes time to highlight the ever-topical petty motives of the town's mayor who sees the commercial possibilities of a miracle in his midst.
This time after viewing, I won't have the nightmares I had as a child over the projected images of the Immaculate Conception and no, I wasn't persuaded myself to look for religion immediately afterwards either. I'm aware of the significance of the timing of the film's original release, during the Second World War, in providing an uplifting "With God On Our Side" affirmation for armies fighting the Allied cause. Maybe I'm still just a bit too cynical in my older years to really enter fully into the spirit of the film but in truth once I decided to surrender myself to the movie's narrative sweep, so my appreciation of it improved. By the time the final scene is reached, you wonder the mayor hasn't also set up a franchise on handkerchief sales as Bernadette nears her end but I have to concede that this is a well-made Golden Age Hollywood classic and can well understand why it was recognised by the Academy as such.