People: Mar. 4, 1985

Panned by some critics and damned by the church, Jean-Luc Godard's new movie, Hail Mary, is naturally packing in scandal-loving French moviegoers. Since it opened last month, the film has been banned briefly (a judge lifted the censorship), and demonstrators have jostled and insulted ticket holders in line. The reason for the fuss is the film's plot, a contemporary version of the virgin birth. Mary is the outspoken, truculent daughter of a gas-station manager; Joseph is a taxi driver who at the news of her pregnancy mutters about how good her other lovers must have been; the Archangel Gabriel is a...

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