Mary Magdalene (2018): Thoughts! Questions!
With Mary, you’ll never walk alone
It’s clear that Mary Magdalene (Rooney Mara) is in it to win it. Her steadfast, loyal, insert-all-the-adjectives-here resolve to share another person’s burdens of vulnerability and suffering provides the movie’s compelling through line. Unbidden, the words kept coming to mind: “You’ll never walk alone.”
Anyway, hello, welcome, and thank you for stopping by. For new visitors, here’s what this situation is all about:
With Savor the View, we’ll watch, think, and talk about movies and the things that matter. A special welcome and thanks to our regular crew!
Each Monday, I share brief, spoiler-free remarks and questions to frame viewing a movie on our own.
Each Thursday, I share post-viewing questions to poke at the issues, ideas, quandaries, inspirations...whatever...that movie might have summoned (spoilers, ahoy!).
Paid subscribers can talk it all out in a weekly Discussion Thread.
General thoughts?
The universal/general
What does it mean to “know God?” How does one do that? What comes from this effort? Are there any costs to it? Can one live within the terms of an ordinary life, but also try to know God?
The specific/unique
How is Mary Magdalene (Rooney Mara) introduced? What do we learn about her and her life? And about the life of any woman during this period?
What are this society’s norms and how does Mary conform (or not)? How do others react to Mary?
What are Mary’s choices for her life? Do they change as the movie goes on?
What kind of Jesus (Joaquin Phoenix) do we see here? How would you describe him?
There’s a lot of water. What’s that all about?
The viewer is always present
Does this movie do anything for you, in terms of thinking about forgiveness, faith, and compassion?
In this story, given the pretty stark and consequential disconnect between Jesus and his apostles, why does he even hang out with them?
Worthwhile Reads
https://www.vox.com/culture/2019/4/10/18302354/mary-magdalene-review-rooney-mara-joaquin-phoenix
Next Week’s Movie?
For August – the month of “Genre Grab Bag” – Godland (2022)
Why subscribe?
Paid subscribers can gather round their screens and share their thoughts on each week's Discussion Thread and get full access to the publication archives.
Subscribe any which way to get full access to the newsletter.