Mary (2005 film)

Italian film

Mary

Film poster

Directed by| Abel Ferrara
Written by| Abel Ferrara
Mario Isabella
Simone Lageoles
Scott Pardo
Produced by| Roberto De Nigris
David Hausen
Thierry Klemeniuk
Fernando Sulichin
Starring| Juliette Binoche
Forest Whitaker
Marion Cotillard
Matthew Modine
Heather Graham
Cinematography| Stefano Falivene
Edited by| Patrizio Marone
Adam Mcclelland
Fabio Nunziata
Langdon Page
Julia Ruell
Music by| Francis Kuipers

Production
company

Central Films

Distributed by| Pan-Européenne Distribution (France)
IFC Films (United States)

Running time

| 94 minutes
Countries| Italy
France
United States
Languages| English
Hebrew
French

Mary is a 2005 drama thriller film, written and directed by American director Abel Ferrara. The film stars Juliette Binoche, Forest Whitaker, Marion Cotillard, Matthew Modine and Heather Graham.

The film premiered at the 2005 Venice Film Festival where it won the Special Jury Prize, as well as three smaller awards. The film also played at the 2005 Toronto International Film Festival, Deauville Film Festival and San Sebastián International Film Festival.

Although co-produced by an American and French film company and shot in English and partly in the United States, the film has been little seen outside of Europe, and does not have a Region 1 DVD release. It received a limited theatrical release in America a full three years after premiering at the Venice Film Festival. The film has three European non-English language websites, but no English language website. UK DVDs use the title Mary: This is My Blood.

## Plot summary

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Following the shooting of a film on the life of Jesus called This Is My Blood, Marie Palesi, the actress who plays Mary Magdalene takes refuge in Jerusalem in search of the truth behind the story, while the film's director, who also plays Jesus, returns to New York to aggressively promote the film. The film within a film is drawing public controversy for reasons that are never directly specified, but some scenes in the film draw on the non-canonical Gnostic Gospels, while there are public allegations that the film is anti-Semitic for reasons that are not given. In New York, television journalist Ted Younger (Forest Whitaker) is presenting a series of programs about the life of Jesus, and chooses to interview the film's director. Privately, Younger is having a crisis of faith.

## Cast

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* Forest Whitaker – Ted Younger
* Juliette Binoche – Marie Palesi/Mary Magdalene
* Matthew Modine – Tony Childress/Jesus
* Heather Graham – Elizabeth Younger
* Marion Cotillard – Gretchen Mol
* Stefania Rocca – Brenda Sax
* Francine Berting – Nurse #2
* Giovanni Capalbo – Police man
* Massimo Cortesi – Priest
* Ettore D'Alessandro – Apostle Andrew
* Alex Grazioli – Apostle Matthew
* Emanuela Iovannitti – Johanna, Mary's follower
* Marco Leonardi – Apostle Peter
* Amos Luzzatto – himself
* Thure Riefenstein – Silvanus
* Gisella Marengo – Nurse Nicu
* Mario Opinato – Apostle James
* Gabriella Wright – TV technician
* Dominot – First Angel
* Elaine Pagels
* Jean-Yves Leloup

## Reception

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Upon its release, Mary immediately divided critics and viewers alike, it holds a 59% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 17 reviews, with an average score of 5.5/10.[1]

### Positive

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* "A sincere grapple with faith and redemption in cynical times." – Leslie Felperin, Variety[2]
* "Somehow turns confusion into a concise study on what it means to believe in God in this day and age." – Chris Cabin, Filmcritic.com[3]
* "..both Forest Whitaker and Juliette Binoche (as with the rest of the cast) give such amazing performances that they should be added to the list of the best work of their careers." – Michael Ferraro, Film Threat[4]

### Negative

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* "Ferrara presents his ideas in what's meant to be a meditation on the nature of faith but ends up an incoherent, pretentious mess." – Josh Bell, Las Vegas Weekly[5]
* "Some critics went as far as rebaptising (excuse the pun) the director "Unable Ferrara" after the press screening here in Venice." – Boyd van Hoeij, Europeanfilms.net[6]
* "Murky and forgettable." – Ray Bennett, The Hollywood Reporter[7]

## Soundtrack

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The original soundtrack was written by Francis Kuipers.

### Track listing

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* "Mary (prologue)" – 1.53
* "They Took my Lord" – 6.15
* "Disciples & Discord" – 4.04
* "Street Attack" – 1.06
* "Mary in the Desert" – 3.54
* "Gnostic Gospel" – 3.29
* "Women at Sea" – 1.56
* "Sacred Heart" – 3.18
* "Among Believers" – 2.50
* "Holy Land Explosion" – 1.25
* "Madness of God" – 3.36
* "This is my Blood" – 5.43
* "Hidden Scripture" – 2.53
* "Mary (Epilogue)" – 3.35

### Soundtrack credits

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* Francis Kuipers – Guitar
* Miriam Butler – Bassoon
* David Barittoni – Voices
* Giulio Luciani – Viola, violin
* Roberto Bellatalla – Double Bass
* Paola Di Silvestro – Soprano
* Fabio Colucci – Music producer and mixer

Recorded at Herzog Studios, Rome (Italy)

## Awards

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Venice Film Festival 2005

* Grand Jury Prize
* Mimmo Rotella Foundation Award
* SIGNIS Award
* Sergio Trasatti Award

## French film poster

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The French poster for Mary features a woman praying at an altar. The image was taken in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem. The film was the first film to be allowed film in the actual church.

## References

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1. ^ "Mary (2008)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 21 May 2018.
2. ^ FELPERIN, LESLIE (Sep 19, 2005). "Mary". Variety.
3. ^ Cabin, Chris. "Mary". filmcritic.com. Archived from the original on 2007-02-11.
4. ^ Ferraro, Michael (2006-06-15). "MARY". Film Threat.
5. ^ [1] Archived December 29, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
6. ^ "Europeanfilms.net/Blog » Venice Film Festival 2005: Day 6". europeanfilms.net. Archived from the original on 30 September 2007. Retrieved 17 January 2022.
7. ^ [2] Archived September 30, 2007, at the Wayback Machine

## External links

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* Mary – Official French Site
* Mary – Official Polish Site
* Mary – Official Italian Site
* Mary at IMDb
* Mary at Rotten Tomatoes

* v
* t
* e

Films directed by Abel Ferrara

* 9 Lives of a Wet Pussy (1976)
* The Driller Killer (1979)
* Ms .45 (1981)
* Fear City (1984)
* The Gladiator (1986)
* China Girl (1987)
* The Loner (1988)
* Cat Chaser (1989)
* King of New York (1990)
* Bad Lieutenant (1992)
* Body Snatchers (1993)
* Dangerous Game (1993)
* The Addiction (1995)
* The Funeral (1996)
* The Blackout (1997)
* New Rose Hotel (1998)
* 'R Xmas (2001)
* Mary (2005)
* Go Go Tales (2007)
* Chelsea on the Rocks (2008)
* Napoli, Napoli, Napoli (2009)
* 4:44 Last Day on Earth (2011)
* Welcome to New York (2014)
* Pasolini (2014)
* Piazza Vittorio (2017)
* Alive in France (2017)
* The Projectionist (2019)
* Tommaso (2019)
* Siberia (2020)
* Sportin' Life (2020)
* Zeros and Ones (2021)
* Padre Pio (2022)
* Turn in the Wound (2024)

* v
* t
* e

Venice Film Festival Grand Jury Prize

1951–1968|

* A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)
* The Curious Adventures of Mr. Wonderbird / Mandy (1952)
* Executive Suite (1954)
* The Lovers / La sfida (1958)
* The Magician (1959)
* Rocco and His Brothers (1960)
* Peace to Him Who Enters (1961)
* Vivre sa vie (1962)
* The Fire Within / Introduction to Life (1963)
* The Gospel According to St. Matthew / Hamlet (1964)
* I Am Twenty / Modiga mindre män / Simon of the Desert (1965)
* Chappaqua / Yesterday Girl (1966)
* China Is Near / La Chinoise (1967)
* Our Lady of the Turks / Le Socrate (1968)

1981–2000|

* Sweet Dreams / They Don't Wear Black Tie (1981)
* Imperative (1982)
* Biquefarre (1983)
* Favorites of the Moon (1984)
* Tangos, the Exile of Gardel (1985)
* A Tale of Love / Wild Pigeon (1986)
* Hip Hip Hurrah! (1987)
* Camp de Thiaroye (1988)
* And Then There Was Light (1989)
* An Angel at My Table (1990)
* The Divine Comedy (1991)
* Death of a Neapolitan Mathematician (1992)
* Bad Boy Bubby (1993)
* Natural Born Killers (1994)
* God's Comedy / The Star Maker (1995)
* Brigands (1996)
* Ovosodo (1997)
* Terminus Paradis (1998)
* The Wind Will Carry Us (1999)
* Before Night Falls (2000)

2001–present|

* Dog Days (2001)
* House of Fools (2002)
* The Kite (2003)
* The Sea Inside (2004)
* Mary (2005)
* Daratt (2006)
* I'm Not There / The Secret of the Grain (2007)
* Teza (2008)
* Soul Kitchen (2009)
* Essential Killing (2010)
* Terraferma (2011)
* Paradise: Faith (2012)
* Stray Dogs (2013)
* The Look of Silence (2014)
* Anomalisa (2015)
* Nocturnal Animals (2016)
* Foxtrot (2017)
* The Favourite (2018)
* An Officer and a Spy (2019)
* New Order (2020)
* The Hand of God (2021)
* Saint Omer (2022)
* Evil Does Not Exist (2023)
* Vermiglio (2024)

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