Search - Miracle of the Spring on DVD

Is Rose a Saint or a Liar?

Nancy R. Katz | NJ | 02/26/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Looking through a video guide recently, I was reminded that I never read the book The Patron Saint of Liars by Anne Patchett nor seen the cable movie. I decided to rent the movie and found msyelf spending a pleaurable time not only watching this movie but discussing it with friends who have seen the movie or read the book.

Rose, a young pregnant woman leaves home and finds herself
at a Christian home for unwed mothers. There she finds comfort
among the nuns and other pregnant girls. When she makes the
decision to keep her child and then marries another man,she
sets in motion a series of lies and behavior that will come
back to haunt her many years later.

I found the performances, particularly Sada Thompson as a nun and Dana Delaney as Rose, riveting. My one objection was that Ellyn Burstyn had much too small a role as the neighbor of the home for unwed mothers. I highly recommend this movie and look forward to reading the book.



"

The Patron Saint of Liars

sandy | 11/16/2008

(2 out of 5 stars)

"This was a well-acted movie about an incredibly selfish woman who leaves her husband because she doesn't love him and drives halfway across the country to a home for unwed mothers with the intention of giving her baby up for adoption. There she meets a man she can tolerate, maybe because he doesn't expect anything tangible from her, other than her physical presence. She decides to keep her baby and marry Son. He first accepts her obsessive secrecy about her past, when she is unwilling to divulge anything about herself to him, and then accepts her further withdrawal from both him and her daughter, when she moves back into the original house in which they lived, and leaves the two of them in the large house they inherited. Throughout the movie, she sends letters home to her mother, postmarked from different parts of the country so her hideout would not be revealed, and her past would not catch up to her and reveal her as a bigamist, another secret she keeps from her new husband. The coldness and selfishness of this woman was almost unbearable to sit through, and it is even harder to forgive her because she has had no traumatic experience in her life to legitimize her self-centered behavior. She abandons her daughter and husband when she realizes her first husband has found her location, and sleeps soundly in a motel while her car is broken into right outside her door, obviously unfettered by any trace of guilt. She seems more upset at the vandalism than any pain she might have caused her family. At the end of the movie, the magical healing spring flows suddenly upon her return to her daughter and second husband, suggesting a miracle occurred. I have to agree that it would take divine intervention to change a person who put her own agenda ahead of everyone else, including her child, for her entire lifetime. This was a very depressing story for anyone with a conscience."

I wasted 90 minutes of my life on this

Carla Lilie | Des Moines, Ia. United States | 02/06/2008

(1 out of 5 stars)

""The Patron Saint of Liars" features one of the least likable and least understandable characters I have ever seen. The main character, Rose, seems to be almost incapable of real feeling or emotion. She is loved but does not seem able to love in return. I kept thinking that at some point, the viewer would be given insight into why Rose behaves the way she does.
I was assuming that there was a reason she was so damaged, but there wasn't, or at least we are not told if indeed there was. Perhaps Ann Patchett, the author, is simply saying that some people are this way and they should just be accepted. The acting was ok, and it was nice to see Clancy Brown in the role of Rose's almost-too-good-to-be-true second husband, but it all just seemed so pointless. It felt like a huge waste of time."