Lourdes

Considering the potential to either offend or glorify, Lourdes takes an admirably impartial stance. Christine could indeed experience a miracle or merely the remission (albeit unexpectedly complete) of her multiple sclerosis. Either way, the question everyone - pilgrims, helpers - asks is "why her?". She's not a particularly devout pilgrim - she explains that it's the only way she can get out - so there's no obvious reason why she should be singled out. And there is no answer to this. Rather the camera contemplates the events with a minimal amount of movement. The viewer has time to ponder the sheer number of pilgrims, the oddly beautiful basilica, the tawdry souvenir shops, as well as becoming aware of helper Cecile's increasing pallor and her habit of fiddling with her hair (later revealed to be a wig disguising her baldness and therefore her illness) and of the very slight movement of Christine's hand at the baths. There's even time for a fabulously agnostic joke from the leader of the male helpers (told to a priest!) But the film also captures an essential truth: the cruelty of having hope snatched away. We've already seen it in the figure of the mother whose disabled daughter briefly seems cured, and there's a hint that possibly the same fate might await Christine.