Movies/Scenes Representing Female
Christ Figures
- Mission Impossible 2
(2000)
- A John Woo action flick. (Simple lot, stylish action and photography, really loud) This is a good, engaging action movie with many plot hole. So, check your brains in at the door and enjoy the ride.
- Chocolat
(2000)
- A mysterious, appealing woman Vianne appears in a small French town. She quietly challenges the religious establishment's hold on the people, by the generously hospitable way she lives and by her welcome of outcasts. The Mayor keeps the people in line by the force of his joyless, controlling personality, and has brought the church under his influence (he writes the priest's sermons, exhorting the people to fasting and abstinence). Vianne opens a chocolate shop, and the people start secretly visiting during Lent. They are torn between their religious duties and the vision of joy represented by Vianne's hospitality and wonderful food. She and the Mayor come into conflict, as he resents her power to attract the people and cause them to break the Lenten fast. Eventually the Mayor's midnight attack on her shop backfires on him, as he unwittingly tastes the chocolate and surrenders to his own need for joy and comfort. (Marnie Barrell, Auckland, New Zealand)
- While I am a little troubled by her "pagan" portrayal, Vianne is clearly a Christ figure. She reaches out to the outcast (Armande, Josephine, and Roo the "River Rat."). She can identify the wounds each person carries and knows how to heal them. She is unafraid to associate with "sinners," and understands the need for forgiveness (especially in terms of Josephine) better than anyone else in the town. She also serves a special meal for Armande and friends. Finally, her name sounds an awful lot like "Viens," (the "s" is not pronounced in French), which means "Come." Think of all the times she invites people to come in! ("Come to me, all you who are burdened...") (Lorinda H.M. Hoover)
- The Bone Collector (1999)
- Amelia's love for Lincoln Rhyme brings about the rebirth of his hope & life.
- Eyes Wide Shut (1999)
- "Stop. I am ready to redeem him." (DVD Chapter 22) Bill almost kisses the corpse in the morgue in a sort of pieta scene.
- Double Jeopardy (1999)
- Libby's fierce love for her child. The resurrection from the casket scene.
- Life is Beautiful (1997-98)
- The mother, who is from a prominent Italian family, learns that her Jewish husband and son have been taken away by German soldiers. She goes to the train station and tries to convince the soldiers that a mistake has been made. When an officer insists that she doesn't belong there, she demands to be put on the train with the others. Though without "guilt" (she is not Jewish), she chooses to identify herself with those who have been condemned, giving up her own life. The ending represents a resurrection, as she survives in the camp and is reunited with her son. (submitted by FUMC, Natchitoches, LA)
- The Fifth Element (1997)
- Leeloo as the Light of the World
- The Spitfire Grill (1996)
- Percy Talbott rolls into town with a shadowy past (in much the same way that Jesus must have had a whispered reputation as the son of Joseph who was not REALLY the son of Joseph, wink, wink) and it is her connection to the film's "untouchable" and the sacrificial gift of her life that allows other people to see them truth about themselves and that forms a community in its wake. (Rev. Stephen H. Sylvester, First Lutheran Church, St. Paul, MN)
- Breaking the Waves
(1996)
- The director of Breaking the Waves, Lars Von Trier, intentionally created a Christ figure in Bess. In a culture in which a shameful death - as in a 1st century crucifixion - has little meaning, he found a way to portray an innocent, intentionally enduring suffering and death, in order to save the one she loves. (submitted by Anita Milne, Leechburg, PA)
- Babbette's Feast (1987)
- Babbette sacrifices herself in order to feed and bring grace.
- Out of Africa (1985)
- Karen rides into the camp at the front to bring supplies to her husband. She has just killed the lions which attacking the oxen, and she is dirty and disheveled. The crowd parts for her, looking on with a mixture of awe and horror. (DVD ch 9)
- The Poseidon Adventure
(1972)
- Mrs Rosen - the former underwater swimming champion - saves the priest (and thus the group), but loses her life while doing so. She almost makes it to the end but does not leave the ship alive.
