Product Description

THÉRÈSE tells the story of a young girl who fell in love with Jesus Christ and demonstrated a path of spirituality through the actions of unconditional love, human compassion, and her "Little Way" to the modern world. This inspiring true story is told through simple narrative which invites the audience to contemplate and apply such spirituality in their own modern lives, regardless of one's own faith or religious background.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #11783 in DVD
• Brand: LIONSGATE ENT.
• Released on: 2006-02-14
• Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
• Formats: AC-3, Color, Dolby, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: French, Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .30 pounds
• Running time: 96 minutes

Features

• Therese tells the story of a young girl who fell in love with Jesus Christ and demonstrated a path of spirituality through the actions of unconditional love, human compassion, and her "Little Way" to the modern world. This inspiring true story is told through simple narrative which invites the audience to contemplate and apply such spirituality in their own modern lives, regardless of one's ow

Customer Reviews

Hallmark spirituality
I was very excited to see this film in the video store, but on the whole was quite disappointed with it. Comparing it to the actual life and writings of St. Therese is like comparing one of the saccharine pictures of her to an actual photograph. Nice - maybe inspiring, but superficial and insipid when placed next to the real thing.

One of the big mistakes I think the makers of the film made, unless their goal was an introductory hagiography, was to attempt to portray Therese's entire life, at least beginning shortly before her mother's death. Even a relatively uneventful 15-20 years cannot be covered in any depth in an hour and a half. Also, even though she has a few crying spells, she is still shown as an almost perfect human being right from the beginning, so I didn't really get a sense of her spiritual struggle and growth. In addition, the passivity with with she is portrayed almost completely dilutes the power of her "little way." I believe that the French film mentioned by one of the other reviewers concentrated on the period of her illness and death, and was able to show her life and personality in much more depth.

A couple of things that could have been brought out or portrayed even in this version: the fact that Therese was made Mistress of Novices, entrusted with the spiritual direction of women who were sometimes older than herself; her relationship with the saintly old Mother Superior who died during her time at Carmel; and more than a glancing reference to the writing of the manuscripts that were published as _The Story of a Soul_.

However, if this movie inspires people to go out and read Therese's writing (I also recommend the biography _The Story of a Life_ by Msgr. Guy Gaucher, which is where I first encountered her), I suppose it will have fulfilled its purpose.

Fluffy, yet Inspiring
I saw this movie when it was at the theater. Being well acquainted with the life of St Therese made me realize the liberties which the film makers took in the film and how fluffy they made her seem, yet when the movie was over, I was glad that I had seen it. It is an uplifting movie, a movie that makes you question what you hold as valuable. There are funny scenes and sad scenes, but the theme that runs throughout is joy. The movie was not as deep as I expected, and if you have more than an introductory knowledge of her life you will be disappointed, but as a summary of her life it works. I would recommend it to those who desire to have a glimpse of her personality, freed of all of the false Jansenistic overtones some movies give her, but do not take it as a completely accurate interpretation of the woman.

I'm sorry to write this....
...because I feel I'm being, in some way, sacrilegious but this film was a very poor attempt to portray an extraordinary person, at least in my life. I am a Catholic and have been devout to the St. Therese of Lisieux for most of my adult life and I was really looking forward to this film. Like many of the other reviewers, I have also seen the French film of the same title and found it a far more rewarding experience than this new production. The movie plays out like a religious Anne of Green Gables, with a Hallmark film quality that manages to gloss over everything to the point of making every character come across as one-dimensional cut outs of piety and wholesomeness. Having read Story of a Soul, I know that Therese was not a faultless divine creation, but rather a very human woman with an extraordinary devotion to, love for and faith in God. Everyone is so saccharine sweet and perfect that it bordered on the sickening. It just wasn't believable. Even more so, using the same actress to portray Therese from the age of 14 to 26 was an insane idea (Lindsay Younce was 21 at the time of filming). Not only do we not witness her spiritual growth but there is no sense of the passing of time. The acting is a bit pedestrian and the dialogue an exercise in stilted screenwriting, the music hockey and contrived, but the production values are high and the movie has beautiful look to it. No doubt everyone's heart was in the right place but this is just not the kind of film that will really shed any light on Therese Martin, woman and Saint.