Continuing to explore the work of Abel Ferrara and Catholic imagery has always echoed throughout his films. Mary (2005) is an explicitly religious film though is also more of an essay movie, bringing together ideas and characters into a metatextual drama about representing religious deities and how to actually embody them in real life. Responding to the box office success of Mel Gibson’s The Passion Of The Christ as well as the controversies of Martin Scorsese’s earlier, The Last Temptation Of Christ, Mary focuses on a film being made about Jesus Christ, directed and starring egotistical actor Tony Childress (Matthew Modine). With the shoot wrapping up, the actor playing Mary Magdalene, Marie Palesi (Juliette Binoche) has gone too deep into her role and leaves the set to roam Jerusalem in almost ecstatic existence. Then we also focus on a serious talk show host Ted Younger (Forest Whitaker) who is holding a week of interviews with religious and clerical people about Jesus; Whitaker’s character is expecting a new child with his wife (Heather Graham) even as he cheats on her (Marion Cotillard). There’s a lingering imprint of 9/11’s effect on New York with moments of random violence and terrorist threats, but for most part, this is a searching, curious piece. Modine’s quite funny as the arrogant actor, Whitaker’s compelling in his inevitable breakdown and suffering when tragedy hits him and his family, and Binoche remains an ethereal presence. Even with such weighty material, there’s a similar air to something like New Rose Hotel in the feeling of Ferrara putting these things together through low budget means, it is messy and pretentious at times, and it lets the audience just sit with the intersections. Francis Kupier’s score is commanding in the film’s more foreboding, heightened moments. I don’t know if it all hung together as successfully as I would like, but it was still interesting. Available to stream on Kanopy. Recomended.
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