(consider adapting to stage - rehearsal juxtaposed with the play itself...)
Outline:
We follow a video crew on a shoot in Southern France � subject of the shoot is a modern-day "docu-drama" about the secret arrival in S. France of the pregnant wife of a so-called terrorist after his execution on false charges in the Middle East. Subsequently her family and followers flower into a cultural/political force that is inevitably on a collision course with the Establishment�
The historical subtext is the myth/story of the "Saintes Maries de la Mer" - Mary, mother of Jesus, and/or Mary Magdalene (Jesus "best friend") and Joseph of Arimethea (carrier of the San Graal - The Grail - the Sang Real - the "Royal Blood") who were fleeing the Romans, escape by boat to France after the Crucifixion. They become the founders of an early, more mystical Christianity that possibly had links with the Cathar/Merovingian religion/dynasty in France in the 12th C., which was eventually destroyed as heretical by the Catholic Church in the Albigensian Crusade, the final massacre occurring at the Chateau de Montsegur in the Languedoc region.
The creative twist is the shifting timeframes and contexts in which the story unfolds.
The producer, director, talent, crew and a writer discuss the facts and mysteries of the case as the shoot proceeds. The drama unfolds both in the film being shot AND in the relationships and events that the crew undergo as they shoot it. The landscape and characters are both present and past. In dreams modern dress gives way to traditional. Characters express their opinions and experience both inside and outside the movie.
The movie story itself gradually reveals itself to be a retelling of the beginnings of the Grail Legend:
- the secret escape of Mary Magdalene (MM), pregnant with Jesus' child, from the Roman and Jewish authorities;
- the beginning of the Romance of the Grail (as told much later by the Troubadours);
- the Cathar's gnostic practices (mystical experience of religion and loving compassion between equals vs. Roman Church and its self-centered male-dominated hierarchy of power;
- the Merovingian dynasty - the Royal Bloodline (Sang Real) of Jesus and David, alive in Provence (Mero=Mary, Vingian=vine =Vine of Mary);
- the Crusades, one aim of which is to place a (Merovingian) descendant of David on the Throne in Jerusalem;
- the Knights Templar, returning from the Crusades, to become builders of the great Cathedrals of France, but also thought to be keepers of The Grail;
- the Troubadour tradition of Courtly Love - the devotion of one's love to a lady as an icon of "The Lady" (possibly MM);
- Mary worship in France (Mother of Christ or Lover of Christ? Or both?)
- All of which cultural ferment eventually led to the birth of the Renaissance itself.
- Les Gitanes and May 24th. fete of the Marys by the sea in Ste. Maries de la Mer;
- The itinerant nature of gypsies and Troubadours and Cathar priests - a link?
Meanwhile the landscape against which the film is shot is in fact the landscape in which these events took place: Provence, Languedoc, Rennes-le-Chateau, Montsegurs, and it subtly seems to take over the making and meaning of the movie - shadow figures are pulling strings, doors of opportunity open and close, odd occurrences and synchronicities start to shape the outcome - a near death, a vision - the historical/spiritual archetypes start breaking into the present, and official church forces act politically and directly once again to crush the new awareness before it gets out of hand...
The Millenium could feature as a backdrop -e.g. MM = Mary Magdalene = Age of Aquarius = Male and Female energies balanced/united = maybe even a female President of the most masculinity-obsessed country on Earth, the US of A?!
[Another renaissance? Male-dominated/rational/hierarchical/"logos" culture of power becomes balanced by the female/Eros" dynamic of relatedness and loving compassion (Jesus "pure" message, without a Power-obsessed Church behind it - the Cathar religion, basically) - a belated win for the "Secret Church of the Magdalene"...!]
Characters:
The different modern characters can be advocates for a variety of current attitudes, from tough-minded nihilist to air-headed New Age.
The Actor - plays Joseph of Arimethea - voice of experience and passion, people disregard his need for intimacy and love - alcohol might soften the pain of his life, but not the need to be filled�ends up throwing in his screen career to found a troupe of "Troubadours" with the Interpreter - becomes old-time travelling actor, telling his version of the Story around Europe - only difference is, he has a website, of course!.
The Actress - plays MM - an emotional realist, agnostic, doubting, but gradually won over by the image of balance MM represents in her life, her beliefs and relationships.
Being female versus "playing" female in relation to men�image and inner reality�being "The Grail" - the container and protector of a new life - the biological miracle of being able to create life versus the banal requirements of working life versus the flowering of passion and compassion as one step's outside gender roles and cultural roles into the light of a higher consciousness�she starts to "see"�
The intellectual writer - might be forced to become a "Hero" - from a man of words to a man of decision and action�and passion.
The Producer�he's got to believe in this "property" to make it work and to make it saleable�but how far will he support it when The Story starts taking over the Production�?!
The DP� love interest for the Actress - for once the DP is naked before the camera - will he be able to perform?!
The Interpreter/Facilitator/Medium - a local location scout, a professional woman, an "angel"/facilitator - belongs to the culture, the land; knows the people, the landscape, something of the Legend. Starts to get caught up in the ideas and the mysteries. Has "The Dream" - she is Mary, running, knowing what she knows, pregnant with a miracle, a real person caught up in an emotional and political whirlwind. She dreams there is a person they must meet, some trace memory from childhood, a song her grandmother sang as she came home from church in her little, ancient fortress town in the hills�she uses her intuitions (and the Tarot) to find him and sets up a meeting with "the Knight"� but someone dies during shooting: "The Hanged Man"�the tension increases�she must know�
The Troubadour�a jester, the Fool, a local drunk in the town who knows the old ways - and the way to the Knight.
The Knight� I've always been fascinated by the Sanctus, especially the phrase "blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord" - for some reason it's evocative for me. I see a knight, hooded, helmeted, passing through a stone doorway on a dark night, welcomed by fellow believers, and visiting on a mission of significance - a Templar. He is home, among friends and fellow-believers who care for him and who admire his commitment and work. A Knight Templar, doing Mary's work; a "real" man, who is not afraid of being spiritual, whose life is swept up in the drama and meaning of the Work...
More coming�!
I figure this will have a small audience on the Web - "pay per view"? A movie for grown-ups, with a little mystery to keep it moving�when will I make this? Who will help me? << Index