HADEWIJCH A-
France (105 mi) 2009 d: Bruno Dumont
The best-laid plans of mice and men
Go oft awry
—Robert Burns, To A Mouse, on Turning Her Up in Her Nest, with the Plough (1785)
I see there is all kinds of misinformation being circulated about this film, as unlike the current IMDb listings, this is the first Dumont film not to be shot in ‘Scope, shot instead with a 1:66 aspect ratio by the same cinematographer (Yves Cape) who shot FLANDRES (2006), yet it retains a luscious 35 mm color palette, also the length of the film varies from 120 mi (IMDb), 100 mi (Toronto), to the correct 105 mi (London, Hong Kong and Pyramide Films). According to the IMDb message boards (Aspect ratio), Dumont is quoted October 4, 2009 at a New York Film festival Q & A that he decided not to use ‘Scope because “It’s a very complex subject, and for that I wanted to use simple means.” Indeed, on the surface this may be the simplest of all the Dumont films, a faith based parable on the meaning of God and how to apply that meaning to our everyday human existence. Non-professional newcomer Julie Sokolowski plays Céline, a modern day Joan of Arc, a true Bressonian character right out of DIARY OF A COUNTRY PRIEST (1951) who has given her life to Christ, a deeply religious young teenage girl initially seen living in a convent as she intends to become a nun, but her refusal to eat and other acts of self-denial are so extreme that her alarmed Mother Superior suggests she is confusing abstinence with martyrdom and is not yet ready to live a cloistered life, suggesting her burning intensity needs a chance to mature, sending her back out into the world where she immediately meets a few young Arab boys who try to pick her up, amazed that she is so agreeable to their requests. There’s a gorgeous scene where they watch some musicians play down by the river featuring an accordion and sax player, which is followed momentarily by her entry into an exquisitely beautiful and lavishly adorned church, where the sacred music playing is more to her liking, which turns out to be a solo voice and stringed quartet playing André Caplet’s “Le Miroir de Jesus.”
We soon realize Céline comes from a highly privileged background, that her emotionally distant father is a government minister, but her life with him shows a cavernous emptiness, quite a contrast to Yassine (Yassine Salime), one of the boys from the projects outside Paris that takes an interest in Céline, where she’s often seen joy riding on the back of his motorcycle through the streets of Paris, a far cry from the director’s beloved Bailleul, the setting of his earlier films. Yassine is a guy that would just as easily steal a bike as run red lights simply because the urge hits him, curious yet a little dejected that she clearly states upfront that she is a virgin with no interest in sexual relationships with men, as she’s only interested in the love of Christ, so Yassine introduces her to his brother Nassir (Karl Sarafidis), a devout Islamist teacher who invites her to one of his religious discussion sessions. But when she does appear, the stares of men make her feel uncomfortable. However, these two have extended conversations throughout the rest of the film that interestingly lay out philosophic principles that challenge the audience’s own humanity to embrace and love the differences in others as easily as they accept themselves. Céline has a harder time feeling God’s love in the real world away from the convent, and she misses that intimacy, while Nassir expresses to her that God is never absent, but is everywhere, that humans are never separated from his love. But he also believes God is more than love, that religion is the means to obtain social justice in an unjust world, even if that leads to violence, understanding that throughout human history, violence begets more violence. What’s intriguing here is the allure Islam has to Céline, and their interest in her, drawing a fascinating parallel between the extremism of an austere, cloistered life and a similarly devout Muslim believer who is willing to die for a cause, seen here as an awakening, especially after she gives a daunting speech about her readiness to Nassir, expressed while illuminated by a brief passage of sunlight, as if she is suddenly willing to accept God as action where humans are soldiers in the army of God, vessels transmitting God’s love in order to bring about justice. It’s an amazing moment, as the audience doesn’t know if she’s in full complicity or if she’s being duped by the malicious interests of others. While she walks with an air of innocence and purity, Céline seems to have a pretty good understanding of how the world works and the people in it, though it is in her nature to be trusting of others, as she sees in herself an open vessel for others.
Without any explanation, Céline is whisked away outside France somewhere to a place resembling Lebanon, where Nassir shows her a village under air attack, where many are injured or die from this seeming atrocity, an event that leaves her devastated and hurt, as those on the ground are powerless to change the circumstances which likely repeat themselves with regularity. Just as quickly, again with no explanation, there is a violent retaliatory act, as a bomb explodes in a public metro station, where the audience may be quick to assume as Céline was riding on the train that she was used as a suicide bomber martyr, that perhaps her faith was too easily manipulated by the violent fanatics. This could easily have been the end of the movie, a statement on how easily the innocent are misled, like lambs led to slaughter, but what follows is another view of the Catholic convent on the hill, set in a luscious pastoral setting, with an open green field surrounded by forests leading up a hill to the convent. What happens next is open to interpretation, whether it’s told out of sequence or even whether it’s real or imaginary, but it’s a powerful and emotionally cathartic final sequence as the real world remains a blur from which Céline can find no relief, returning to the solace of the convent where she is seen taking shelter from the rain, praying inside the church until someone taps her on the shoulder and tells her someone wishes to speak to her, where police are seen off to one side of the screen as Céline is moving offscreen in the opposite direction, reflecting dual possibilities, dual moralities, the human and the Divine, and of course life or death. Similar films that come to mind are Bresson’s utterly despairing MOUCHETTE (1967) and the Dardenne brother’s similarly downward spiraling ROSETTA (1999), each with different outcomes, where “The best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry leaving nothing but grief and pain,” or possibly something else altogether. There's sparing use of André Caplet’s “Le Miroir de Jesus,” Bach’s “St. Matthew Passion,”and perhaps even Mahler is heard over the final credits which come to an abrupt halt, perhaps the suggestion of a simulated death, another new wrinkle from Dumont whose prior films, except for radio playing, eschew the use of a musical score, and this may be Dumont’s only film that does not feature any sex scenes. Late in the film, Céline assumes the name of Hadewijch, calling it also the place where she was born, but the name is based on a female historical figure from 13th century Belgium, a contemporary of St. Francis of Assisi, a highly educated saintly mystic whose manuscripts include visions and poetry that initially express a perpetual longing for an unattainable worldly love before sublimating all earthly passions to the eternal love of God.
Postscript Thoughts [To be read only after seeing the film!!!]
The most cynical reading I've discovered so far is that the construction worker/jailbird went to jail for what likely happened immediately following that rescue and hug in the lake, raping her ("at least you didn't kill anybody"), which possibly led to the kind of extremist anger leading to Islamic martyrdom and her choice to become a suicide bomber, which is the chronological end. If so, like the first use of soundtrack music in a Dumont film, also the first film that does not *show* sex onscreen but may brutally suggest it offscreen, and may also be the first Dumont film to make use of a hugely significant flashback sequence.
This reading is aided by the use of music over the end credits which does come to an abrupt halt, like a death, which is certainly a significant clue, because if the film was shown in sequence, she was alive at the end.
The shot in sequence scenario is obviously a more hopeful and optimistic view, one that suggests what we're searching for in God and religion can certainly be found within ourselves, that humans are our own salvation. The use of Bresson may only be the surface, while Dumont may be more interested in the primal instincts under the surface, both of which play out against one another in pretty much all of Dumont's films.
Nonetheless, what's truly unique is that Dumont has made a film that plays equally well into both endings. Again, this may be a reference to his own finale of HUMANITY (1999) where there are again two possible endings, one where Joseph confesses to the hideous crime, and yet another where it was Pharaon, who is the one seen in handcuffs afterwards, though perhaps either one could confess out of love for the other. Still -- most confusing. After seeing HADEWIJCH, the most likely reading is that in HUMANITY both are responsible, and in HADEWIJCH both endings are true.
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