Vidor brings a humane yet grounded aura to Anne, one that feels lived.

What we get here is no more real than a Hallmark card, except that it’s a different kind of Hallmark card, one in which Mary has to jump off a roof to escape a burning building and Joseph (Ido Tako) gets into sword fights.

The results aren’t disrespectful, just a hodge-podge, a sort of overly reverent sword-and-sandals epic rich in awe-struck characters, Luciferian mischief and historical opportunism.

The opening narration explicitly says that we don’t really understand her story…and then proceeds to tell a story about Mary that’s pretty much just every random thing people know about her.