Unfortunately but predictably, the packaging for Hail Mary tries to revive the controversy that gathered around the 1985 film's original release. The DVD sleeve quotes Pope John Paul II: "Hail Mary deeply wounds the religious sentiments of believers." Here, Godard remixes Christian beliefs, much as he would later assemble a script entirely out of literary quotes in his 1990 film Nouvelle Vague. His modern Mary (Myriem Roussel) is a basketball-playing teenager who works at a gas station. Her boyfriend Joseph (Thierry Rode) drives a cab for a living. One day, the angel Gabriel tells Mary that she will soon give birth. As time passes, she does indeed find herself pregnant, despite the fact that she's still a virgin and hasn't let Joseph touch her.
The most provocative aspect of Hail Mary is its extensive female nudity. But far from exploitation, Godard's depiction of Mary's body is central to this film's main concern: the intersection of the divine and carnal. Hail Mary is frank about Joseph's sexual frustration, but for all its sympathy towards him, it respects Mary's desire to remain chaste. The final scene, in which she hesitates before applying lipstick, suggests that she has finally found a balance between soul and body.
While Godard has a reputation for didacticism, it's hard to get a clear message from Hail Mary. At best, its dialogue is crammed with philosophical ideas; at worst, it's a collection of non sequiturs. Its spiritual yearning, expressed through beautiful shots of the sun, moon and nature (as well as percussive outbursts of Bach), comes through loud and clear, though. It would be a shame if controversy overshadowed Hail Mary once again; it's best experienced as one part of an oeuvre increasingly drawn to religious concerns, although rarely this directly. Notre Musique, Godard's last feature, went one step further, beginning in hell and ending in heaven. — Steve Erickson
SPECIAL FEATURES: The DVD includes The Book of Mary, a 25-minute short directed by Godard's partner Anne-Marie Mieville. While it has no direct relationship to Hail Mary, it played on the same bill when the film was originally released. Although visually accomplished, its depiction of a pained separation seems prosaic next to Godard's larger canvas. The DVD also includes a real rarity, the essay-film Notes About Hail Mary. Using commentary from the director and his actors, it seeks to fill in some of the context behind Hail Mary, explaining references to painting and other films, and shows the development of Godard's use of video, which would later blossom in his four-part Histoire(s) du Cinema.