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Story of the day:
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THERESE-MOVIE Mar-17-2004 (690 words) xxxn
Without Gibson's star appeal, 'Therese' film has trouble finding niche
By Lena Pennino
Catholic News Service
ROCKVILLE CENTRE, N.Y. (CNS) -- Absent the star power of Mel Gibson, who directed, produced and co-wrote "The Passion of the Christ," other privately funded Christian films are struggling to get into theaters. One such movie is "Therese," the story of St. Therese of Lisieux, also known as the Little Flower, who lived a short life in a French Carmelite monastery doing little things with great love.
"Therese" had been scheduled for release last autumn, but it's been postponed until October to drum up public and monetary support.
"'Therese' is a different kind of film, filled with the innocence of simplicity and reveals the incredibly rich interior life of the human soul," said director Leonardo Defilippis, whose nonprofit firm, Luke Films, produced the film.
Although the 19th-century period production garnered a standing ovation from Catholic dignitaries associated with mission work at a private Vatican screening last May, it has not yet created a stir among the public.
"There have been difficulties," said Defilippis. He estimates the company still needs $2 million to open in select theaters. "This movie is a total work of charity. It has been done the 'Little Way' with all these little people scattered all over the world, trusting in this project."
"Therese" is relying heavily on publicity from a Web site called www.theresemovie.com and efforts from grass-roots religious volunteers to push the film into theaters.
"It's just how the Gospel started," Defilippis told The Long Island Catholic, Rockville Centre's diocesan newspaper. "Christ told the people around him and then the word just spread."
"Many miracles were needed to make this dream a reality," said Defilippis. Although St. Therese is a popular saint, Luke Films would need another miracle to drum up just a fraction of the attention "The Passion of the Christ" has achieved.
"Our movie, I have heard someone say, is like opening up a door and looking into a very private world. It's like looking into someone's soul," he said. St. Therese's adventures were mental, emotional and spiritual so "how do you go inside a young woman's heart and mind? That's the challenge. St. Therese is like the Blessed Mother, very hidden in the Gospel; there is not the drama of the Crucifixion."
St. Therese of Lisieux's story is a bittersweet one. She fell into depression after her mother died when Therese was 4. Her sister, who was like a second mother to her, left to join a Carmelite monastery a few years later. At 14, Therese fell in love with God, traveled to the Vatican and successfully petitioned the pope to allow her to enter a Carmelite religious order, although she technically wasn't old enough.
Although she died of tuberculosis when she was 24, Pope John Paul II proclaimed her a doctor of the church in 1997 -- one of only three women to hold that honor -- largely due to her philosophy of the Little Way. "What matters in life, is not great deeds, but great love," she wrote in her autobiography, "Story of a Soul," published after her death.
"She was not a Joan of Arc, not a Mother Teresa, she did not do dramatic things," said Defilippis. Yet the saint's Little Way resonates with many people including Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta, who took her religious name in honor of the Little Flower and borrowed the saint's philosophy, "Do small things with great love."
"A lot of us haven't done anything so dramatic that it will appear in the press and that's OK," said Defilippis. "You don't need to climb Mount Tabor or save a multitude. If you have love, help your mother, a stranger; you have given a great gift."
The director is hopeful that "The Passion of the Christ" will create a media path so other Catholic and Christian movie producers can follow in the wake of its success.
"'The Passion' is stirring up all kinds of things and awareness of Christ," he said.
"It's God's providence that the 'Passion' go first; Therese would want it no other way. The master should lead and the servant will follow," he said.
END
Copyright (c) 2004 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The CNS news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed, including but not limited to such means as framing or any other digital copying or distribution method, in whole or in part without the prior written authority of Catholic News Service.
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