A Beguine in Modern Europe: On Bruno Dumont’s Hadewijch

Joanna WOJNICKA

Katedra Historii Filmu, Instytut Sztuk Audiowizualnych, Wydział Zarządzania i Komunikacji Społecznej, Uniwersytet Jagielloński, ul. Łojasiewicza 4, 30-348 Cracow, Poland , Poland

Abstract

The article focuses on Hadewijch, a film by the French director Bruno Dumont. The film is discussed from the perspective of the contemporary religious experience. Bruno Dumont, one of the most interesting French directors, refers in his movie to the tradition of Robert Bresson. The protagonist of Hadewijch, a contemporary girl fascinated by the medieval mystic Hadewijch, experiences her religiousness in a world completely devoid of any metaphysical context. Her loneliness draws her near the circles of Islamic terrorists. Dumont’s ambiguous movie poses numerous questions and while it does not offer an unequivocal answer to any of them, it succeeds in providing a painful diagnosis of the condition of contemporary Western Europe.

Keywords:

Hadewijch, Bruno Dumont, Robert Bresson, Hadewijch, contemporary mysticism, contemporary religiousness, Christian spirituality, Islam