Paradise: Faith/Paradies: Glaube (2012) - Strong Catholic faith through Seidl's lens

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A woman in front of a crucifix exposes her butt on this curious poster for Ulrich Seidl's Paradise: Faith

Marianne is a deeply religious Catholic cancer ward nurse, and in her off time she walks outside with her sculpture of the Virgin Mary. When her invalid Muslim husband returns home, sparks between the two erupt.

 

Paradise: Faith is written by Veronika Franz (Safari (2016)) and great Austrian filmmaker, co-writer/director Ulrich Seidl (Models (1999)). It is the 2nd film in the pair's Paradise trilogy, which also consists of Paradise: Love (2012) and Paradise: Hope (2013). The title is a literal translation of the original German title.

It is presents a peculiar and original as well as a completely straight-lined and understandable narrative with impressively authentic performances, made in Seidl's signature docu-style. Especially Maria Hofstätter (Orkester (2021)) in the unembarrassed lead as Marianne, a fascinating and inspiring character, because she lifts her faith so actively, going out to confront her fellow (sad, miserable) Austrian countrymen with it. Her conflict with her husband has depth and nuances: Are we here witnesses to a rare artistic reflection of the cultural clash between Muslims and the West? Is Marianne's mission hopeless, pointless? Or meaningful and reputable? 

Paradise: Faith lets the questions stand open until the last scene, SPOILER in which Seidl's own assessment of Catholicism as a judgmental, restrictive kind of sadomasochism seems to take over, - which at best does not fully cover it, and at worst is an unfair rejection.

 

Related post:

 

Ulrich Seidl: Paradise: Love/Paradies: Liebe (2012) - Woman's love safari fertile ground for Seidl drama

 

 

Seidl talks about the film in a video here

 

Cost: Unknown

Box office: 618k $

= Uncertain but likely a mega-flop (projected return of 0.34 times its cost)

[Paradise: Faith premiered 30 August (Venice Film Festival) and runs 113 minutes. Shooting took place from September - November 2011 in Vienna, Austria. The film opened #95 to a 2k $ first weekend in North America, where it never ranked higher and grossed 6k $ (1 % of the total gross). Its biggest markets were Austria with 295k $ (47.7 %), Germany with 226k $ (36.6 %) and Spain with 48k $ (7.8 %). If made on a realistic 1.8 mil. $ budget, the film would rank as a mega-flop. The film won a European Film award, among other honors. Seidl returned with Paradise: Hope (2013). Hofstätter returned in Braunschlag (2012, TV-series) and theatrically in Paradise: Hope. Paradise: Faith is fresh at 73 % with a 6.40/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

 

What do you think of Paradise: Faith?