''Mary Magdalene'' is a 2018 biblical

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super ...

about the woman of the same name, written by Helen Edmundson and Philippa Goslett and directed by

Garth Davis Garth Davis (born 1974) is an Australian television, advertising and film director, best known for directing the film ''Lion'' (2016), and the film ''Mary Magdalene'', written by Helen Edmundson. He earlier directed episodes of the series '' T ...

. It stars

Rooney Mara Patricia Rooney Mara ( ; born April 17, 1985) is an American actress. She has received various accolades, including a Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actress, in addition to nominations for two Academy Awards, a British Academy Film Award, ...

, Joaquin Phoenix,

Chiwetel Ejiofor Chiwetel Umeadi Ejiofor ( ; born 10 July 1977) is a British actor. He is the recipient of various accolades, including a BAFTA Award, a Laurence Olivier Award, an NAACP Image Award, and nominations for an Academy Award, two Primetime Emmy Awa ...

, and

Tahar Rahim Tahar Rahim (born 4 July 1981) is a Franco-Algerian actor. He is known for his starring role as Malik El Djebena in the 2009 award-winning French movie '' A Prophet'' by Jacques Audiard, FBI Agent Ali Soufan in '' The Looming Tower'', Judas in ...

. The film had its world premiere at the

National Gallery The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London, England. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The current Director ...

in London on February 26, 2018. It was released in the United Kingdom on March 16, 2018, by

Universal Pictures Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Ameri ...

, in Australia on March 22, 2018, by

Transmission Films Transmission Films is an Australian and New Zealand film distribution company based in Sydney, Australia and Auckland, New Zealand founded in 2008 by Richard Payten and Andrew Mackie. History Transmission Films was founded in 2008 by Richard Pay ...

, and in the United States on April 12, 2019, by IFC Films. It is the last film score completed by composer Jóhann Jóhannsson before his death.

Plot

In the year AD 30 when

Judea Judea or Judaea ( or ; from he, יהודה, Standard ''Yəhūda'', Tiberian ''Yehūḏā''; el, Ἰουδαία, ; la, Iūdaea) is an ancient, historic, Biblical Hebrew, contemporaneous Latin, and the modern-day name of the mountainous sou ...

was under the control of the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post- Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings around the Mediter ...

, a woman named

Mary Mary may refer to: People * Mary (name), a feminine given name (includes a list of people with the name) Religious contexts * New Testament people named Mary, overview article linking to many of those below * Mary, mother of Jesus, also calle ...

from the small town of Magdala begins to follow

Jesus Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label= Hebrew/ Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religiou ...

of Nazareth. Her family and father try to interfere with her departing from her home, but she sends them away. She accepts baptism from Jesus and accepts his charge for her and the other apostles to baptize in the name of the Father. She appears to be fully as one with the other apostles in asserting the authority of the spirit of Jesus working through her on behalf of the followers of Jesus. This causes conflict with the other male disciples, including Saint Peter. Mary follows Jesus all the way to the Crucifixion and

Resurrection Resurrection or anastasis is the concept of coming back to life after death. In a number of religions, a dying-and-rising god is a deity which dies and is resurrected. Reincarnation is a similar process hypothesized by other religions, whic ...

. In the end she is accepted by Peter as a faithful follower of Jesus. Peter accepts her report of the resurrection of Jesus and encourages the other apostles to also accept her message of the Resurrection and to proclaim it as part of the kerygma and good news proclaimed by Jesus as consistent with his ministry when he was alive. In the closing captions, Mary is first identified as having been wrongly called a common prostitute by the early church in the first millennium. In the third millennium, she has come to be accepted as one of the followers of Jesus who was among the twelve apostles and together with them.

Cast

as Mary Magdalene * Joaquin Phoenix as Jesus of Nazareth *

Peter Peter may refer to: People * List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Peter (given name) ** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church * Peter (surname), a sur ...

Judas Judas Iscariot (; grc-x-biblical, Ἰούδας Ἰσκαριώτης; syc, ܝܗܘܕܐ ܣܟܪܝܘܛܐ; died AD) was a disciple and one of the original Twelve Apostles of Jesus Christ. According to all four canonical gospels, Judas betr ...

* Sarah-Sofie Boussnina as Martha, Mary's friend * Hadas Yaron as Sarah * Lubna Azabal as Susannah * Lior Raz as Magdala Community Leader * Ryan Corr as Joseph * Tchéky Karyo as Elisha, Mary's father * Jacopo Olmo Antinori as Magdala Man *

Shira Haas Shira Haas ( he, שירה האס; born ) is an Israeli actress. She initially gained national prominence for her roles in local film and television, having won two Israeli Ophir Awards out of five nominations since 2014. In 2020, she gained in ...

as Leah * Uri Gavriel as Philip * David Schofield as Thomas * Charles Babalola as Andrew * Tawfeek Barhom as James * Tzachi Halevy as Ephraim, a potential suitor for Mary * Zohar Strauss as

John John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Secon ...

* Michael Moshonov as Matthew * Ariane Labed as Rachel * Theo Theodoridis as Lazarus * Denis Ménochet as Daniel, Mary's brother * Irit Sheleg as Mary, Jesus's mother

Production

In February 2016,

joined the cast of the film portraying the role of Mary Magdalene, with

directing the film,

, Film4 Productions and

See-Saw Films See-Saw Films is a British-Australian film and television production company founded in 2008 by Iain Canning and Emile Sherman, with offices in London and Sydney. Their productions include ''The King's Speech'', '' Top Of The Lake'', ''Lion'', ...

will co-produce the film, with Iain Canning and Emile Sherman serving as producers. In April 2016, Mara's partner Joaquin Phoenix was in talks to portray the role of Jesus Christ. In July 2016,

and

joined the cast of the film. In September 2016, Hadas Yaron joined the cast of the film.

Hildur Guðnadóttir Hildur Ingveldardóttir Guðnadóttir (born 4 September 1982) is an Icelandic musician and composer. A classically trained cellist, she has played and recorded with the bands Pan Sonic, Throbbing Gristle, Múm, and Stórsveit Nix Noltes, and ...

and Jóhann Jóhannsson composed the film's score, the latter's final score before his death in February 2018.

Principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as a ...

began on October 3, 2016 and concluded on December 2, 2016. The film was shot in Rome and in multiple locations in Southern Italy including Matera in Basilicata,

Gravina in Puglia Gravina in Puglia (; nap, label= Barese, Gravéine ; la, Silvium; grc, Σιλούϊον, Siloúïon) is a town and ''comune'' of the Metropolitan City of Bari, Apulia, southern Italy. The word ''gravina'' comes from the Latin ''grava'' or from ...

in Apulia, Trapani in

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

and

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

in Campania.

Release

In February 2016, it was reported that

The Weinstein Company The Weinstein Company (usually credited or abbreviated as TWC) was an American independent film studio, founded in New York City by Bob and Harvey Weinstein in March 2005. TWC was one of the largest mini-major film studios in North America pri ...

would distribute the film. It was originally scheduled to be released in the United States and Canada on November 24, 2017. In August 2017, the release was pushed back to March 30, 2018. In January 2018, it was pulled from the schedule. In March 2018, it was announced The Weinstein Company would no longer distribute the film, and the producers were attempting to find another distributor to release the film. IFC Films distributed the film in the United States on April 12, 2019. The film had its world premiere at the

in London on February 26, 2018. It screened at the Audi Dublin International Film Festival on February 28, 2018. It was released in the United Kingdom on March 16, 2018, and in Australia on March 22, 2018.

Reception

According to the review aggregator website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, the film holds an approval rating of , based on reviews, with an average rating of . The site's critics consensus reads, "''Mary Magdalene'' has obvious reverence for its subject; unfortunately, it lacks enough momentum or depth of character to make her story interesting." At

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

, the film has a weighted average score of 48 out of 100, based on 24 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Nick Allen of '' RogerEbert.com'' gave ''Mary Magdalene'' 4 stars, calling it "an extraordinary film" and writing that it "moved me in a way that no previous film about Christianity ever has."

Accolades

References

External links

* * * {{Garth Davis Portrayals of Mary Magdalene in film 2018 films 2018 drama films American drama films British drama films Australian drama films Helen Edmundson Film4 Productions films Films shot in Matera Perfect World Pictures films Portrayals of Jesus in film Films scored by Hildur Guðnadóttir Films scored by Jóhann Jóhannsson Films produced by Liz Watts Films produced by Iain Canning Films produced by Emile Sherman Focus Features films IFC Films films Films based on the Gospels Films set in the 1st century Films set in the Roman Empire Films about Christianity 2010s English-language films 2010s American films 2010s British films