This feature-length film tells the story of the passion between Marie de l’Incarnation, a mid-seventeenth-century nun and God, her "divine spouse." Fusing documentary and acting by Marie Tifo, whom we follow as she rehearses for this demanding role, the film paints an astonishing portrait of this mystic who abandoned her son and left France to build a convent in Canada, where she became the first female writer in New France.
This feature-length film tells the story of the passion between Marie de l’Incarnation, a mid-seventeenth-century nun and God, her "divine spouse." Fusing documentary and acting by Marie Tifo, whom we follow as she rehearses for this demanding role, the film paints an astonishing portrait of this mystic who abandoned her son and left France to build a convent in Canada, where she became the first female writer in New France.
How
was Marie de l’Incarnation different from her religious contemporaries,
especially in her attitudes toward Native people? The actress who plays the
role of Marie de l’Incarnation consults a number of people to help her:
historians, a singer, a dancer, and so on. Does this help us better understand
history? Have students pick a historical figure and attempt to “decode” that
person from a physical and emotional perspective.