Anna’s brother, Martin, lay dying as Anna prays to God to heal him. She kneels at his bed in the humble cottage where they have made life work. Elisabeth is a young, wealthy woman who is angry at the world for being a wheelchair user.
One day, while confessing her deep love for Martin, Anna’s prayers are answered, and Martin lives. Word gets around the village of Anna’s healing abilities, and people line up out her door for the opportunity to be prayed over and healed. Elisabeth hears of Anna’s work and invites Anna to live with her.
Upon meeting Anna, Elisabeth can walk. Elisabeth becomes convinced of Anna’s ability to heal and wants to show the world and the church Anna’s powers.
The film is a meditation on belief and the ameliorative powers of love. The film never confirms or denies Anna’s ability to heal, but it seems contingent on the person to be healed believing in Anna and on a mutual love between Anna and the healee. Elisabeth’s will to live may have been what allowed her to walk, and it was her love for Anna that gave her that will.
The film is a follow-up collaboration between Hertha Thiele and Dorothea Wieck, who also experienced vague queer longing in Mädchen in Uniform, a movie I loved. While both have some degree of magic, this movie is far more restrained and less overt about its queer subtext.
If you remade this movie in the present day, it would feel like a lot of 90s family movies, especially in how it unfolds. It feels a bit like Michael, but nowhere near as schmaltzy.
I can’t say I loved this movie, and the pacing was glacial, despite being an hour and a change. If you, like me, need more Hertha Thiele and Dorothea Wieck queer longing, this has it, but it won’t feel quite the same.