You probably haven’t seen a movie cause a literal riot lately. In the mid-80s, that’s exactly what happened. When we talk about the hail mary movie 1985—originally titled Je vous salue, Marie—we aren’t just talking about a piece of French New Wave cinema. We’re talking about a cultural explosion that saw the Pope himself issuing public condemnations while protesters threw smoke bombs into theaters. It was wild.
Jean-Luc Godard, the director, didn’t really do "simple." He liked to break things. He broke the rules of editing in the 60s, and by 1985, he decided to take a crack at the Virgin Birth. But he didn’t set it in ancient Palestine. He put it in a gas station.
The Plot That Set the World on Fire
The story is deceptively basic, which is part of why it got under people’s skin. Marie is a student who plays basketball and works at her father's petrol station. Her boyfriend, Joseph, is a taxi driver. Suddenly, a guy named Uncle Enzo arrives in a plane and tells her she’s pregnant.
It sounds like a joke. It isn't.
Godard treats the subject with a weird, cold sincerity. There’s no sex. There’s barely any traditional "action." Instead, the hail mary movie 1985 focuses on the physical reality of a woman’s body undergoing something she can’t explain. Joseph is jealous. He doesn't believe her. He’s human. He wants to touch her, and she’s trying to navigate a divine mandate that feels more like a burden than a blessing.
The movie is obsessed with nature. You get these long, lingering shots of the moon, the sun, and water. It’s like Godard is trying to find the "divine" in the molecules of the earth rather than in a church building. Honestly, if you watch it today, it feels more like a philosophical poem than a blasphemous attack, but try telling that to the crowds in 1985.
Why the Vatican Lost Its Mind
Pope John Paul II didn't just dislike the film; he said it "deeply wounds the religious sentiments of believers." That is a massive understatement regarding the reaction.
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In France, the previews were met with organized protests. When it traveled to the United States, the fervor followed. It’s hard to imagine now, in an era where everything is available for streaming, but people were genuinely terrified of this movie's existence. They saw the depiction of a "modern" Mary—one who showed skin and used casual language—as a direct assault on the sanctity of the Mother of God.
- Protesters in Versailles blocked theater entrances with their bodies.
- In New York, the film's screening at the Lincoln Center was a logistical nightmare of security and shouting matches.
- The film was banned in several countries, including Brazil and Argentina, for years.
The irony? Godard actually considered himself a believer in his own strange way. He wasn't trying to mock Mary. He was trying to make her real. He wanted to strip away the gold-leaf statues and see what it would actually look like for a teenage girl in a tracksuit to be told she was carrying the son of God. But for the Catholic Church in the 80s, "real" was synonymous with "sacrilegious."
The Technical Brilliance of the Hail Mary Movie 1985
If you ignore the controversy, what’s left? A masterclass in sound design.
Godard was a tinkerer. He used sound like a blunt instrument. In the hail mary movie 1985, the audio often cuts out abruptly or overlaps in ways that make you feel slightly dizzy. You’ll hear a Bach cello suite clashing against the sound of a jet engine or the wind whistling through trees.
It’s meant to be jarring.
The cinematography by Jean-Bernard Menoud is equally striking. It’s crisp. It’s luminous. Even if you hate the dialogue or the pacing—and let’s be honest, it’s a slow burn—you can’t deny it looks incredible. The way the light hits the gas pumps makes the mundane look holy. That was the whole point. Godard was arguing that if God exists, He’s in the petrol station, too.
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The Myra Melford and Book of Mary Connection
A lot of people forget that Hail Mary is often paired with a short film called The Book of Mary (Le livre de Marie), directed by Anne-Marie Miéville.
Miéville was Godard’s long-time partner and collaborator. Her short film acts as a sort of prologue. It follows a young girl named Marie whose parents are divorcing. It’s grounded, emotional, and very different from Godard’s abstract style. Together, they create this weird diptych about femininity and transition.
Without Miéville’s contribution, the hail mary movie 1985 feels a bit too detached. Her film provides the human heart that Godard’s intellectualism sometimes obscures. It’s about a girl finding her own rhythm in a world that’s falling apart—a perfect mirror to the main feature's themes.
Is It Blasphemy or Just Art?
Looking back from 2026, the anger seems almost quaint. We’ve seen much more provocative things since then. But the hail mary movie 1985 holds a specific place in cinema history because it forced a conversation about who "owns" religious figures.
Does Mary belong to the Church, or does she belong to the world?
Godard’s Marie is frustrated. She’s sweaty. She’s confused. By showing her as a human being with a physical body, he arguably made her more relatable than any Renaissance painting ever could. Of course, the nudity in the film was the main sticking point for censors. It wasn't sexualized, though. It was clinical. It was about the mystery of the flesh.
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Critics like Roger Ebert gave it a mixed review at the time, noting that while it was visually stunning, it was also intentionally difficult to watch. That was Godard's brand. He didn't want you to be comfortable. He wanted you to think.
How to Watch It Today and What to Look For
If you’re going to track down the hail mary movie 1985, don’t expect a traditional narrative. It doesn't have a beginning, middle, and end in the way a Hollywood flick does.
- Watch the sound. Pay attention to when the music stops. It’s usually a clue to what the character is feeling internally.
- Look at the nature shots. Godard uses the elements (fire, water, air, earth) to represent the divine.
- Don't over-intellectualize. Sometimes a shot of a basketball is just a shot of a basketball, but in this movie, it’s also a sphere—a symbol of perfection and the cosmos.
The film is currently available through various boutique labels like Cohen Media Group. It has been painstakingly restored, so the colors pop in a way they didn't on those old bootleg VHS tapes that used to circulate in the 90s.
The Enduring Legacy of Godard's Vision
The hail mary movie 1985 didn't destroy the Church. It didn't end Godard's career, either. If anything, it solidified his status as the "Enfant Terrible" of cinema well into his 50s.
It remains a touchstone for directors who want to explore spiritual themes without the baggage of traditional religious imagery. You can see its influence in the works of Terrence Malick or even some of the more experimental A24 films of the last decade.
Ultimately, the movie asks a question that still resonates: How do we handle the "miraculous" when it shows up in our boring, everyday lives? Do we recognize it, or do we try to suppress it because it doesn't fit our expectations?
Actionable Insights for Cinephiles:
- Seek out the restored version: The visual fidelity is essential to understanding Godard's intent regarding the "divine in nature."
- Contextualize with the "Book of Mary": Never watch the main feature without Anne-Marie Miéville’s prologue; they are designed to function as a single emotional experience.
- Research the 1985 protest footage: To truly appreciate the film's impact, look up archival news clips of the New York and Paris screenings to see the raw emotion it stirred in the public.
- Compare with "The Last Temptation of Christ": To understand the 80s "culture war" in cinema, watch these two films back-to-back to see how different directors approached the humanization of sacred figures.