MARY

Australia, 1994, 75 minutes, Colour.
Lucy Bell.
Directed by Kay Pavlou.

Mary (1994) is a small-budget docudrama on Mary Mac Killop, released just before Pope John Paul II's visit to Sydney for the Beatification ceremony, January 1995. A number of documentaries for television (including a Four Corners report) were produced at the time. At the time of the Bicentenary, Michael Willessee produced a series of 45 minute telemovies which included Mary Mac Killop with a vigorous Lorna Lesley in the role.

Mary has an interesting selection of talking heads (Sisters of St Joseph, Fr Gumpel, the German Jesuit looking after the case for the Vatican, and interviewer, Claire Dunne). However, a number of sequences of Mary's life were re-enacted with a vivacious Lucy Bell as Mary. She was not a holy card Mary (except for a sequence with Pope Pius IX) and she gives us some insight into the pioneer nun and her struggles and achievement. The miracle sequence at the end is an odd combination of the earthy and the haloed holy. The director was Kay Pavlou (who admired Mary but whose background was Greek Orthodox).

1.A portrait of Mary Mac Killop? The background of the beatification in Sydney and this film as part of the event? Audience knowledge of Australian history, of Mary Mac Killop and her work? The film as a piece of Australiana?

2.The film as docu-drama: the contribution of talking heads - Claire Dunne, the Sisters of St Joseph, Father Gumpel? The comments interspersing the narrative? The nature of the commentary on events, on Mary's character, the assessment of Mary and the situations, offering insights? The talking heads supplying for some of the drama? Propelling the narrative ahead?

3.The title, its focus on Mary Mac Killop, as a woman, as a nun, as a saint?

4.Claire Dunne and the lay perspective on Mary Mac Killop? The Sisters of St Joseph and their perspective from the point of view of religious life? Of the church? The unsympathetic portrait of the bishops - founded in fact? The sympathetic picture of the Pope and his support of Mary and of the order? The feminist point of view from the late 20th century and its interpretation of Mary MacKillop?

5.Father Gumpel and his interventions, his work in Rome promoting the causes of saints? His observations on Mary Mac Killop and her history?

6.Lucy Bell as Mary? Seeing her as a young woman at the beginning of the film, the red dress, riding the horse? Mary as a woman before being a nun? Mary within the context of her family? Her mother and the children? Australian battlers? Poor? Alex Mac Killop and his hard luck? Money? Mary and her tutoring and teaching?

7.Mary and her vocation, her dreams, her vision? Being a nun in Australia in the middle of the 19th century? A young woman in her twenties? The possibilities and difficulties? The meeting with Julian Tenison- Woods? The collaboration? Her vows and the crown? The habit? The development of the order in South Australia? Her goals and her pursuit of her goals? The rule? The importance of poverty - and helping the poor children and the question of the governor's son? The streets, the kids, the prostitutes? The nuns begging for supplies - and being spat on?

8.19th century spirituality and its piety and devotion? The nuns influences by this? Nuns and piety and madness, mania? The Stigmata? Tenison- Woods and his support of these phenomena? The contrast with Mary and her ordinariness, her travels? The impact of Francesca, the rule, Mary and the excommunication? Sister Clare and the reporting of the drinking, Sister Teresa and the accounts? The difficulties with the early vocations, suitable or not, human interactions?

9.Developing the portrait of Mary, her love for the congregation, her work, her illness, her angers? Tenison- Woods, the separation? The canonical difficulties? Bishop Shiel and his curt attitude, the excommunication? Bishop Quinn and his dislike of Mary, wanting to control the sisters? Reynolds and more sympathy? The visit to the Pope and his listening to her?

10.The portrait of the bishops, the critique of bishops? Their assistance and the role that they played, loyalty, diplomacy, arrogance?

11.The portrait of Julian Tenison- Woods: genius, his foppish style, his capacity for work, his geological background, his education background, his vision?

12.Mary and the spread of the congregation, the growing number of nuns, the requirements of travel, her work in the various states? Their response to the bishops, moving from South Australia to New South Wales? The failure in Queensland?

13.Mary and her ageing, her illness - and the appropriateness of the second actress as portraying Mary? The photos? The death scene?

14.The film's comment on the legacy of Mary Mac Killop for the congregation, for the Catholic Church, for Australian education? Mary as an Australian icon? A woman of the 19th century with its colonial background, its limits on women's ministry, the nature of church practice, religious life, the needs of the people?

15.The miracle sequence - credible, treated with hallowed piety?

16.Australia's first saint? The impact on the church, on Australians and the nation as a whole?