A Review of The Miracle Club by Nick Olszyk
Distribution Service: Theatrical
MPAA Rating, PG-13
CNS Rating, Not Rated at the Time of this Review
Reel Rating, Two and one half reels
Disclaimer: Contains Spoilers
St.
Paul wasn’t mincing words when he said, “If Christ was not raised, our faith is
in vain” (1st Corinthians 15:14). Our faith is one of miracles, and
not in the postmodern sense where everything is a miracle.
God has created this world with a splendid array of natural laws and given man
the intellect to understand and use them for his needs. Yet God, as the Author
of natural laws, is not bound by them. To give his people faith, He will – on rare
occasions – allow things to pass that cannot be explained through the normal
language of reality. The women who make up The Miracle Club seek this
kind of miracle though none will find it. They will, however, on their journey,
find peace, forgiveness, and new perspective. This is fine and good, but it isn’t
a miracle, and it shouldn’t be mistaken it for one.
It
must be said from the outset that that this cast is among the highest caliber
possible and never disappoint. Oscar winners Kathy Bates and Maggie Smith play
Eileen and Lily, who, with their friend Dolly (Agnes O’Casey), make up a small
group of Irish performers in the late 1960s. They want to win 1st
prize at a local singing competition: free tickets for an all-expense paid trip
to Lourdes. They win 2nd prize (a giant 10lb ham), but the kind
child who wins 1st lets them have the tickets anyway. They had a
fourth member, but she recently passed away. When Chrissie (Laura Linney), the late
woman’s daughter shows up for the funeral, they all seem surprised. Chrissie has
been away for decades but agrees to take her mother’s spot on the trip.
All
these Dublin women are devout Catholics who pilgrimage to Lourdes not just hoping
for a miracle but expecting one. Eileen has a mysterious lump on her breast she
worries is cancerous while Dolly’s young son has never spoken a word despite
entering his sixth year of life. Lily, now well into her eighties, has trouble
walking from years of anisomelia but doesn’t seem intent on a miracle for
herself. “I’ve been doing it for so long,” she mutters, “If cured, I wouldn’t
know what to do; I’d probably lose my balance.” Instead, she seems to be saving
her divine gift for her son who drowned forty years prior. Chrissie has lost
her accent and faith while abroad in America, yet it gradually becomes clear
that she too needs healing of a different sort.
The
filmmakers’ treatment of miracles well represents the clash of cultures going on
in Ireland (and the Church entire) at the time. For the older women, miracles
are supernatural acts of God’s intervention, like being instantaneously healed of
a serious disability. Chrissie and Fr. Dermant (Mark O’Haloren), the young, hip
priest of the parish, interpret miracles in a more worldly context as spiritual
development. A miracle is a child in poverty going to bed with a full stomach
or reconciliation between estranged siblings. When told there have been
sixty-two confirmed miracles at Lourdes, Lily seems oddly unimpressed. “Sixty-two
since 1858?” she says astonished. “That’s not very many.” In her mind, that’s
well under one miracle a year, so her odds aren’t good. Meanwhile, Chrissie is
also unfazed. Even one genuine miracle should convince anyone but sixty-two doesn’t
mover her faith one iota. Neither really gets the point.
The
bigger difficulty that simmers underneath the surface is the pain that all have
experienced from a shared past trauma. In this holy place far from Dublin, each
character’s role is uncovered. Without spoiling too much, it would eventually
lead to the deaths of two people and shatter the lives of everyone else. At first,
Chrissie joins the trip out of pure spite but soon becomes Lily’s reluctant
caretaker. They share a cramped hotel room and constant jabs until the veil
gives, and they begin to share their hearts. “Can you forgive me?” the old
woman finally asks. Chrissie hesitates, then nods. She even agrees to take
Eileen to see the doctor after the lump doesn’t disappear when it hits the holy
spring.
In
the last scene, there’s a faint glimmer that perhaps a real miracle occurred,
but it is easily explained away. The real purpose of this pilgrimage was a
journey into the hearts of these women and – more broadly – into the soul of
Ireland herself. After decades of secularization and the revelations of concealed
sex abuse, the modern Irish generation seems intent on abandoning its past,
including the Catholic church. Director Thaddeus O'Sullivan is now in his 70s
and has seen the transformation of this once vibrant daughter of the Church. Gently
but firmly, he is asking his people not to leave their heritage behind but
recover her, cancerous lumps and all. It’s a beautiful story but could have
benefited from a real miracle.
This article first appeared in Catholic World Report on July 14th, 2023
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