Thérèse: The Story of St. Thérèse of Lisieux

Writer Patti Defilippis and director Leonardo Defilippis tell the story of St. Thérèse of Lisieux, the French Carmelite nun whose short life of simple piety, with her self-described “little way” of worshiping Jesus, has inspired generations of Roman Catholics since her death in 1897 and her canonization in 1925. An obvious labor of love, the movie suffers from the cloistered simplicity and lack of drama in Thérèse’s life—no visions, no voices, no miracles or great deeds—and the fact that most of the actors, like the writer and director, are inexperienced first-time amateurs. Leonardo Defilippis also plays Thérèse’s beloved father.