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France Non Linear Parenthood Religion

Hail Mary begins on the shore of a lake into which someone is tossing large objects. Cut to Joseph at a table in a café with a haggard, teary eyed, Mary. When she offers the solution that "they could get married" it doesn't really seem to make Joseph any happier. A chamber organ plays in the background while Joseph says not a word.

Cut to a girl's, high school, basketball game where Mary looks confused but recites poetry while the camera cuts to a shot of the moon. In science class we discuss the origin of extraterrestrial as well as terrestrial life. Cut to a plane flying low over Mary's house, a sunset, an emergency shoe tying in the mall, a cab driver explaining existential issues to a dog, a cab ride and Mary grilled at a gas station regarding the father of her child...

There's not a chance that I'm going to try to catch every cut on this one. I'm not even going to attempt to tell any of the narrative. It's all just so very strange. Godard's narrative works in film. In text it would probably read a bit like one of James Joyce's more difficult novels. The movie is put together a bit like a poem; the dialogue seems to have been written with that intent, the film uses a lot of metaphor and the images are assembled in short, vaguely related bits that frequently "suggest" rather than attempting to lead you anywhere. Despite that, Hail Mary is surprisingly easy to keep up with. It does require a bit of effort and you will need to pay close attention. I suppose it helps if you're familiar with the narrative this is derived from.

The movie deals with Mary and Joseph and the virgin birth, but sets things in Paris in 1985. Mary is a lower middle class girl whose father owns a gas station. She's young and lovely and just a little confused by the whole thing. Joseph is a youngish guy that's similar to many of Godard's earlier "hero" types. He's very "French", angry and something of a tough guy. He spends a lot of time coming to terms with the whole idea as well. He does seems to really love the girl so he makes a real effort.

Godard does some off the wall philosophizing regarding computers, extra-terrestrials, politics, religion, saxophones and all sorts of bizarre scientific phenomenon while he's telling this story. It's the sort of thing that might appeal to fans of Nina Hagen's later work. There's a lot of nudity as well but it's dealt with pretty artistically. It comes across as "beautiful" rather than "smut".

The way this is put together you could probably watch it many times and see it differently every time. You may actually need to watch it a couple of times just to figure out what's happening. The movie does pound you with a lot of data, though, eventually, it does manage to calm down just a bit and present a fairly "realistic" portrayal of the way things might go if the situation it deals with were to actually happen.

This disk comes with a second film by Anne-Marie Miéville that's called The Book of Mary. It's basically about a small girl named Mary who has to deal with her parents separation. It's a pleasant, little, slice of life style thing that makes for a pleasant framework in which to deal with many of the questions that a lot of us have had to deal with at some point in our lives. Mary spends a bit of time alone, doing what kids do when they're alone and a bit of time with her parents doing what kids do with their parents. It makes for several minutes of pleasant entertainment.

Jean-Luc Godard