Maria Magdalena

An incredible clean film in its simple message and the modest power of the image. Admittedly, it clashes with my worldview, and in the future I'll always prefer Scorsese's subversive and much richer interpretive masterpiece, but Davis's take on "the most famous story of all" through a woman's eyes was refreshing, and you can’t even say that it’s strongly conservative (seemingly), because as the end credits will also enlighten you, the figure of Mary Magdalene has been treated a little differently, euphemistically speaking, in the eyes of churchmen for centuries. And Mara a Phoenix deliver masterful performances. (04.08.2018)

This movie is pretty boring even for the Christian TV channel Noe. Too bad, Joaquin Phoenix, about whom the film was more than it was about Mary, truly proved with his mesmeric gaze that for those hours on the screen he truly was Jesus. (16.12.2018)

For a biblical drama, this is a surprisingly intimate and deliberately non-epic film, suited by the modest gray color stylization and the almost meditative storytelling tempo. However, the attempt to capture the well-known story of Jesus Christ from the perspective of Mary Magdalene proves ineffective. The personal storyline dedicated to the protagonist ends after almost half an hour and is brutally overrun by the storyline with Jesus and his apostles, who immediately come to the center of attention. Meanwhile, Mary is relegated to the role of a helping escort and gets attention again at the very end, when she is the only one who understands Jesus's metaphors. The essential parts of the story of Jesus in which Mary was not personally present are then cut out, and the film is thus deprived of context in a number of scenes. The film completely gives up on any sort of drama and effort to influence the viewer emotionally, its scenes are desperately non-intensive and there is no culmination, even if it could be offered in the scenes of Jesus's crucifixion, which happens too quickly and abruptly. The film's focus is not at all based on telling this familiar story from a new perspective, but is rather about revealing the ideology of the individual characters. Unfortunately, its work with the characters is too superficial and its message, which goes hand in hand with Jesus's teaching on having peace in your heart, love and forgiveness, is too trivial. Mary Magdalene is sketched simply and her motivations are plain, whilst Jesus is a character so complex and complicated that the film fails in sufficiently rendering him (this is greatly saved by Phoenix's acting, thanks to which, next to Mary Magdalene, with the somewhat stiff expression of Rooney Mara, Jesus at least feels a bit like a three-dimensional figure). The story of Jesus Christ is timeless and immensely powerful, yet this presentation is dull and lifeless. (20.03.2018)

Although I give Phoenix a lot of credit for his acting talent, his portrayal of Jesus was not very good... (18.04.2020)

Finally, a movie with this theme which is filmed without trying to score points on exaggerated gore, or the contrary, uncritical adoration of the greatest story of all time. Great acting performances, but the pace could have been a little faster and the technical and musical aspect could have been more inventive. However, I appreciate the telling of the story from a completely different angle. The many times confirmed phrase “cherchez la femme” does apply here. (20.11.2018)