Synopsis
Maria finds herself caught between two worlds. At school this 14-year-old girl has all the typical teenage interests, but when she’s at home with her family she follows the teachings of the Society of St. Paul and their traditionalist interpretation of Catholicism. Everything that Maria thinks and does must be examined before God. And since the Lord is a strict shepherd, she lives in constant fear of committing some misconduct...
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Cast
- Lea van AckenMaria
- Franziska WeiszMother
- Florian StetterPater Weber
- Lucie AronBernadette
- Moritz KnappChristian
- Michael KampVater
- Georg WeschThomas
- Chiara PalmeriKatharina
- Linus FluhrJohannes
- Birge SchadeSportlehrerin
Recommendations
- 90
The Hollywood Reporter
Newcomer Van Acken is a phenomenal find and she’s never less than believably torn between doing the right thing and being her own person. - 80
The Guardian
It is all intensely controlled, although this is a drama that goes by the book, in all senses; there are no unabsorbed events to disorder the parable’s secular/religious alignment, and the Greeneian miracle it eventually conjures is arguably a little too pat. Yet it is also strangely moving. - 75
Slant Magazine
Stations of the Cross acknowledges that putting theoretical behaviors and mindsets into practice can have unwieldy consequences if context and intent are wholly ignored. - 75
RogerEbert.com
Despite that emotional distance, the film is carried by young actress Lea van Acken, forced to really emotionally deliver given the lack of camera tricks some actors use as a crutch. - 70
Village Voice
The ending's a touch too cute, but the best scenes here stand as potent, empathetic, well-observed broadsides against fundamentalism. - 70
Variety
The fixed gaze of each “station” is an appropriate choice for illustrating unbending dogma, and helmer Brueggemann always makes interesting use of the frame. - 67
The A.V. Club
Formally, Stations Of The Cross is a rigorous achievement; there’s a purity, cinematic if not spiritual, to the way Brüggemann carefully composes each static shot, as though they all really were paintings to be arranged in succession along a line of pews. It’s less successful on a dramatic level. - 60
Empire
Lea van Acken is outstanding but Dietrich Brüggemann’s severe gaze invites voyeurism, not empathy. A stony, stifling if fascinating film.
