Vision: From the Life of Hildegard von Bingen

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81%

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Total Count: 37

71%

Audience Score

User Ratings: 1,177

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Movie Info

Hildegard von Bingen was truly a woman ahead of her time. A visionary in every sense of the word, this famed 12th-century Benedictine nun was a Christian mystic, composer, philosopher, playwright, poet, naturalist, scientist, physician, herbalist and ecological activist. In Vision, New German Cinema auteur Margarethe von Trotta (Marianne and Juliane, Rosa Luxemburg, Rosenstrasse) reunites with recurrent star Barbara Sukowa (Zentropa, Berlin Alexanderplatz) to bring the story of this extraordinary woman to life. In a staggering performance, Sukowa portrays von Bingen's fierce determination to expand the responsibilities of women within the order, even as she fends off outrage from some in the Church over the visions she claims to receive from God. Lushly shot in the original medieval cloisters of the fairytale-like German countryside, Vision is a profoundly inspirational portrait of a woman who has emerged from the shadows of history as a forward-thinking and iconoclastic pioneer of faith, change and enlightenment. -- (C) Zeitgeist

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Cast

Barbara Sukowa
as Hildegard von Bingen
Heino Ferch
as Brother Volmar
Hannah Herzsprung
as Richardis von Stade
Gerald Alexander Held
as Abbot Kuno
Lena Stolze
as Jutta
Sunnyi Melles
as Richardis' Mother
Paula Kalenberg
as Clara
Mareile Blendl
as Jutta von Sponheim
Salome Kammer
Stella Holzapfel
as Young Hildegard
Annemarie Düringer
as Abbess Tengwich
Devid Striesow
as Emperor Frederick Barbarossa
Christoph Luser
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Critic Reviews for Vision: From the Life of Hildegard von Bingen

All Critics (37) | Top Critics (15)

  • There was obviously much to this woman, yet somehow Visions feels curiously empty feeling.

    Feb 3, 2011 | Rating: C- | Full Review…

    Tom Long

    Detroit News
    Top Critic

  • Vision is shot through with issues of power - personal, political, spiritual. Which makes it a terrifically resonant work.

    Dec 17, 2010 | Rating: 3/4

    Lisa Kennedy

    Denver Post
    Top Critic

  • Barbara Sukowa brings her veteran presence to the role, and nicely fuses its dual nature, holy instrument and holy terror, the passive vessel of a higher power and the active force of the good mother.

    Dec 3, 2010 | Rating: 3/4 | Full Review…

    Rick Groen

    Globe and Mail
    Top Critic

  • Although this true story offers numerous opportunities for skepticism and irony, director Margarethe von Trotta accords Hildegard the respect of a proto-feminist forebear and frames her in golden light like a Vermeer painting.

    Nov 24, 2010 | Full Review…

    Joe Williams

    St. Louis Post-Dispatch
    Top Critic

  • It's hard to muster more than curious indifference to Margarethe von Trotta's "Vision: From the Life of Hildegard von Bingen."

    Nov 18, 2010 | Rating: 2/4

    Tom Keogh

    Seattle Times
    Top Critic

  • What we have here is the story of a very cool nun from a thousand years ago.

    Nov 11, 2010 | Rating: 3/4 | Full Review…

    Mick LaSalle

    San Francisco Chronicle
    Top Critic
View All Critic Reviews (37)

Audience Reviews for Vision: From the Life of Hildegard von Bingen

  • Dec 07, 2010
    Biopic on the life of the fascinating 12th century Bendectine nun who saw visions of God and was also a composer, philosopher, polymath, and a strong-willed woman who often butted heads with the Church's male hierarchy. Amazing in it's ability to draw you into its now alien world and get you involved with clerical politics and the slow, quiet rhythms of cloistered life.
    Greg S Super Reviewer
  • Nov 24, 2010
    Lovely and evocative tale of the famed 12th century German nun who was ahead of her time, claiming to receive visions from God. It's a period piece that doesn't feel like a period piece - lyrical, reverent portrait of a woman who was a pioneer for women in the church.
    Matthew L Super Reviewer
  • Oct 23, 2010
    "Vision" starts on December 31, 999 with a group of people fearing the end of the world with the Y1K virus, huddled together praying, expecting not to wake up in the morning.(I have heard of people who had hangovers so massive they almost wish they hadn't woken up but that's something else entirely.) They get a pleasant surprise when they do. Into this world of ignorance walks Hildegard von Bingen(Barbara Sukowa) who at the age of eight is given over to the care of a cloister. 30 years later and she is about to be appointed magistra but claims ill health and anyway her fellow nuns should vote for her which they do almost unanimously. Along with her spiritual duties, she becomes interested in medicine and studies how music can also be used to heal the body. And then the visions kick in which she confesses to Brother Volmar(Heino Ferch), resulting with her being threatened with the charge of heresy. Written and directed by Margarethe von Trotta, "Vision" is an engaging look at an amazing woman who was way ahead of her time, depicted not as a saint, but as a flawed human being. With the exception of the Arabic world, the Church had most of the accumulated learning which Hildegard used her skills to negotiate access to for her and her nuns. With this learning, she started the slow walk out of the dark ages into a new world of knowledge. And part of that comes with having respect for and knowledge of the body.(Unless you're getting off on it, I have never understood self-flagellation.)
    Walter M Super Reviewer
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