Marie's Story - Movie Review

This movie is a true story of a 14-year-old girl named Marie, who is both deaf and blind living in late 19th century France. Her part is played by Ariana Rivoire who is not blind but she is deaf. The film is in French with English subtitles. The dialogue is mostly in sign language which makes it easy to keep up with the subtitles. The French setting of the country-side where the movie was shot was beautiful, although Marie was an unwashed mess when she arrived at the convent.

The nun-run blind and deaf school and convent in Poitiers is where deaf and blind girls go to learn sign language, and become sisters. Marie’s father took her to the convent with high hopes but they told him they only accept the deaf or blind but not a girl that is both. So, he took her back home. But one nun, Sister Marguerite, came back for her and made it her mission to help Marie. Sister Marguerite pushes her back to the convent in a wheel barrow and Marie absolutely loved it. The first thing she does when she arrives is feel the face on each nun there to get to know who they are.

The movie has a strong resemblance to Helen Keller’s story (The Miracle Worker). Marie was born only five years after Helen Keller. She is as wild as an animal, just as Helen was, and the nun is patient and willing as was Helen’s teacher. The nun had to fight her with her food and utensils just to eat, and bath her while she splashes in anger. She must endure her kicks and screams as she tries to dress her, but one day just as Helen Keller had learned her first sign language word, water; Marie learned her first sign language word, knife.
You can really see Sister Marguerite’s selfless love in the hair brushing scene. Marie and Sister wrestle on the floor as Sister tries to brush her hair until Marie is too tired to fight anymore, or maybe she is starting to feel that this nun is trying to help her. Soon after that, the nun could finally give her a peaceful bath, and notices one thing during this moment. The young girl wants to learn. She took the wash cloth from the nun and started bathing herself. I believe this is a turning point for Sister Marguerite, as she realizes there may be more peace now that they have built the bond of trust.
After Marie learned the word knife in sign language, she instantly wanted to learn more sign language by handing the Sister a fork and then a piece of bread to teach her the words for. After learning the first word she quickly learned every word taught to her, even learning to spell her name with blocks.

Sister Marguerite has a lung disease and knows she is dying but telling Marie will be incredibly hard, but she must do it soon. Sister collapses outside and leaves to take rest and care of herself, but when she hears that Marie has been angry about her leaving, she returns against her doctors orders to finish her task. Sister calls Marie “the daughter of my soul, my joy”. It is obvious that Sister believes Marie was sent to her by God, and that it is a task she must complete. When Sister told Marie that she was dying, Marie seemed upset but eventually was accepting. Marie is the one who takes care of her in her final days and vows to help other children at the convent. History says that Marie continued her education at the convent until her death at age thirty-six.