Je vous salue, Marie is Jean-Luc Godard's
retelling of the virgin birth, as set in modern times. Mary is a High School
student, basketball player, and a virgin. She lives with her father, who owns
a filling station. Joseph, her boyfriend, is a taxi driver. The angel Gabriel
appears to her (actually, arrives in Joseph's cab) and tells her she is going
to have a baby. Her doctor confirms that she is a virgin. Joseph has trouble
with her story, but she lets him do his own check, and, sure enough, she is a
virgin. She gives birth to Jesus.
That's it, other than dialogue like:
"You don't need a mouthhole to eat with... and an asshole to swallow
infinity. Your ass must go in your head, and so descend ... to ass level, then
go left... or right to rise higher."
Reviewers, pro or con, focus on
the fact that this film was controversial. It does continue a common Godard
theme of a man obsessed with a woman he can't have, but if Godard was trying
to explain some deep truth about the birth of Christ, or anything else for
that matter, it was completely lost on me.
That could be my fault, or a fault of the translation ...
... but I doubt it.
If you are not familiar with our grading system, you need to
read the
explanation, because the grading is not linear. For example, by
our definition, a
C is solid and a C+ is a VERY good movie. There are very few Bs
and As. Based on our descriptive system, this film is a:
