Visions du Réel 2024: Mother Vera | Review
In Mother Vera, Cécile Embleton and Alys Tomlinson follow the poignant journey of a former addict turned devout monastery resident, whose search for freedom ultimately leads her to find liberation in the embrace of nature.
Former addict, Mother Vera found refuge in an Orthodox monastery in Belarus. For about twenty years now, she has led a simple and devout life within this community, which also welcomes men in rehabilitation. Prayers, sometimes chanted fervently, sometimes whispered in the flickering light of a candle, punctuate her days, providing her with a certain stability. This sets the stage for the feature-length documentary Mother Vera, directed by British filmmakers Cécile Embleton and Alys Tomlinson, which premiered at Visions du Réel 2024 in the International Feature-Length Competition.
Gradually, direct cinema gives way to narrative sequences, during which Mother Vera confesses with modesty, complemented by the visuals presenting a snowy landscape or her hands playing with a rosary, overlaid with her voice. Seeking her freedom in this sacred place, Mother Vera gradually revisits her past and confesses her doubts to us. “Now, the living feeling of who I am, it dissolves.” For Mother Vera, peace seems to embrace her most when she is in the surrounding nature, in contact with the horses peacefully grazing the monastery lands. A mutual trust has developed between her and these animals, to the extent that she can recline against one of them as she would with a friend.
This passion and her desire for life ultimately lead her, after twenty years of service, to leave the monastery and join a horse farm in the south of France. She feels a genuine liberation. “I had a feeling that I was in hiding and I burned the habit that I had on my back when I returned from the monastery. […] and when that thing burned into the fire, turned into ashes and dissolved in the air I […] felt the beginning of liberation.” This transformation is underscored on screen by the shift in color palette. While the imagery was previously highly desaturated, almost black and white, it now bursts with soft colors, depicting the countryside of southern France from the very first scenes of her new life. However, despite the emphasized visual contrast, it is worth noting that the film does not pass judgment on monastery life. The filmmakers simply follow Mother Vera’s journey.
Exploring the notions of individual freedom and identity, Mother Vera is a touching and beautifully crafted film, with the final scene being, in my opinion, a poignant example. Through the reflection on the water’s surface, we watch Vera enter a stream, unclothed. Poetic, this scene is also deeply meaningful: it is through communion with nature, through movement, that Mother Vera has found her freedom once again.
