I got together with my Jesu Caritas group today and after our meeting we went to see a movie together: La Neuvaine, by Bernard Émond, which won a number of prizes at the Locarno film festival (including the Ecumenical Prize, given for excellence in film with religious themes).
The film is neat because it is set in Quebec, particularly in Montreal and Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupre, both places I know well. It is about a woman doctor who needs to work through feelings of despair, and a young man who is making a novena to Ste. Anne for the sake of his grandmother’s health. They cross paths, and you get the impression that the real reason the grandmother is sick *at this time* is so that the young man can meet the doctor (who is the one really in need of healing).
My favourite exchange:
Young man: “Grandma, can people who don’t believe in God get to heaven?”
Grandmother: “Yes, I think so. If they have lived a good life, loving their neighbour as best they could, then I don’t think the good Lord will abandon them. Still, it is harder for people to love others if they don’t have God.”
Young man: “Why?”
Grandmother: “Because they have no hope.”
It’s a good film. Slow at times, but hey, it’s art. If it comes your way, it’s worth seeing.