Andre Santanche
This movie portrays a fantastic and moving experience with great beauty and sensibility. When I saw the trailer I figured out the greatness of this movie, but it went further, exceeding expectations. It not only a great story, but it is full of surprises from the beginning to the end.A life reflection. To which confines can a human heart go looking for the other. Which barriers can a human mind surpass in the most lost place. It is touching to follow Marie and Marguerite groping for dark paths to meet and understand each other. The fury, the despair, the discouragement, the resumption, resumption, resumption. This is a movie for the heart above all.
wayno-6
For me, this was the best Netflix film find of the year.This is a French movie, with subtitles in English. Marie's Story is the biography of Marie Heurtin. Not unlike Helen Keller, Marie is deaf and blind. The story unfolds very similarly to that of The "Miracle Worker." But unlike The Miracle Worker, this film explores fully aspects of life, that "The Miracle Worker" never dared to cross.In the space of 95 minutes, this movie explored the full range of human emotion. There very little need for spoken dialogue. Instead what was communicated through the actions of the characters, needed no audible communication to comprehend.The acting was truly exceptional. The music was perfect. Not overpowering. Not distracting. Marie's signing at the end weren't words. They were poetry from the heart.Wayno
gradyharp
Writer (with Phillipe Blasband) and Director Jean-Pierre Améris has created a stunning film that speaks about people born with disabilities and how in the case of this character those people often become significant contributors to our understanding of humanity at its most sensitive. Based on a true story the film is radiant in both the acting and the extraordinary setting in which the story is presented. The synopsis outlines the message very succinctly:' At the turn of the 19th century, a humble artisan and his wife have a daughter, Marie (Ariana Rivoire), who is born deaf and blind and unable to communicate with the world around her. Desperate to find a connection to their daughter and avoid sending her to an asylum, the Heurtins (Gilles Treton and Laure Duthilleul) send fourteen-year-old Marie to the Larnay Institute in central France, where an order of Catholic nuns manage a school for deaf girls. There, the idealistic Sister Marguerite (Isabelle Carré in a luminous performance) sees in Marie a unique potential, and despite her Mother Superior's skepticism, vows to bring the wild young thing out of the darkness into which she was born. The film recounts the courageous journey of a young nun and the lives she would change forever, confronting failures and discouragement with joyous faith and love.'A sensitive film, rich in message and in visual realization, this is one of those quiet, uplifting films – especially made for those who tire of the deluge of killing/action/crash/apocalyptic/undead films that assault our senses. Highly Recommended.
KawaiiKiwi
Marie Heurtin is based on the true story of Soeur Marguerite, a sister who lived in a covenant in the 1800, in France, and Marie Heurtin, a young girl who was born blind and deaf. She grew with almost no education, and at the age of ten, her parents brought her to the covenant les Filles de la Sagesse, which was specialized in taking care of deaf girls and teaching them sign language. However, Marie proved much of a challenge because she was also blind.The film relates the early life of Marie Heurtin, who was taught sign language by the kind and determined sister Marguerite. Although Marie is very difficult to teach to, Soeur Marguerite's perseverance and the bound they build together is extremely touching. The movie doesn't have a lot of spoken dialogue, in fact most of the dialogue is through sign language and is intentionally not subtitled, because we are meant to feel it; the words are not important, we can figure out their meanings just by looking at the emotions the characters convey to us through the screen. Isabelle Carré and Ariana Rivoire's performances are poignant and real.The only thing I found disappointing is that the movie only shows us a very small portion of Marie Heurtin's life, and makes it seem like Soeur Marguerite only taught her for about a year or so, when in reality, she taught her sign language for around ten years of her life, and Marie was 25 years old when her teacher passed, not 10 or so like in the movie. Then Marie Heurtin at her turn taught sign language to many other girls, including her young sister who was also blind and deaf. I think it was a mistake to omit her later years from the movie, especially since it runs a little long. Seeing her grow up would have been a real plus to the movie, so that's a missed opportunity.Nonetheless, it's a beautiful and heart-warming movie that shows us the importance of what love and interaction between people can bring into our lives, and the power that being able to convey feelings really gives us.