Film

Resurrection

Name: Resurrection
Genre: Drama, Fantasy
Released: 1980
Cast: Ellen Burstyn, Sam Shepard, Richard Farnsworth, Roberts Blossom, Clifford David

Other titles called Resurrection: the 2014 series (ABC), the 2022 film.

A woman emerges from a near-fatal car crash with the inexplicable ability to heal others. As word spreads, she becomes a reluctant focal point for the desperate, the faithful, and the skeptical—forced to grapple with what her gift means, who she should help, and whether miracles come with a cost. Quietly luminous and ethically complicated.

TMDb rating

3.3

If you liked this

Tender Mercies1983

Robert Duvall gives one of cinema's most understated performances as a former country singer finding grace in ordinary redemption. Like Resurrection, it trusts you to feel the spiritual without preaching it.

But Very slow. The emotional payoff is internal, so if you need plot momentum or grand gestures, you'll find it almost mannered.

Miracle Mile1989

A romance derailed by apocalyptic knowledge—like Resurrection, it's about ordinary people suddenly forced into extraordinary moral weight. Piercing and strange and deeply human about how we love when time matters.

But The tone is unsettling and the ending is dark. It doesn't offer comfort, which some will find bleak rather than cathartic.

The Straight Story1999

David Lynch making a film about a man riding a lawn mower across Iowa to see his estranged brother. Spiritual without being religious, it has Resurrection's quiet belief that grace lives in small acts and patient attention.

But Genuinely static. Lynch devotees expecting strangeness will be disappointed; others may find the slowness punishing rather than meditative.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Resurrection

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Ordet1955

Both films hinge on a character with claimed healing power and force the viewer to decide what they're actually witnessing—faith, delusion, or something genuinely inexplicable.

A Danish family's faith is tested when a young woman dies in childbirth and a mentally troubled son claims he can resurrect her. Bresson-like in its austerity, it asks the same question Resurrection does: what would we believe if we saw a miracle?

But Black-and-white, subtitled, shot in 1955 with theatrical pacing. The resurrection scene plays without sentimentality or visual spectacle—some will find it static rather than moving.

Stalker1979

Tarkovsky's sci-fi parable about desire and faith. A man guides two others through a mysterious zone toward a room that grants wishes—like Resurrection, it's fundamentally about what we truly want and whether we deserve to have it.

But Notoriously paced. At 163 minutes, it requires patience bordering on surrender. Many find it tedious rather than transcendent.

The Poseidon Adventure1972

An ensemble disaster film where faith and doubt collide as survivors navigate a capsized ship. It's formulaic in structure but earnest in its wrestling with fate, doubt, and whether to trust in salvation.

But Dated effects and some clumsy dialogue. It's a product of 1972 action cinema—solid but not subtle.

Johnny Got His Gun1971

A man severely injured in war becomes a vessel for miraculous communication—exploring what it means to have power in a broken body. Deeply political where Resurrection is spiritual, but both interrogate the burden of being special.

But Genuinely disturbing and angry. It's not meditative; it's a scream. The premise alone—sensory deprivation—will alienate viewers seeking gentleness.

The Visitors1972

Three Vietnam vets visit the men who gang-assaulted them. Searingly human about violence, shame, and whether forgiveness can heal wounds that won't close. Unflinching in ways Resurrection approaches obliquely.

But Ugly and deeply uncomfortable. It's deliberately provocative and offers no catharsis—just moral vertigo.

Blade Runner1982

Replicants—artificial beings—question whether they have souls. Like Resurrection, it's about consciousness, grace, and whether what's 'real' matters less than what we choose to believe and how we choose to live.

But The plot is secondary to the atmosphere and philosophy. Those wanting clarity and forward momentum will find it glacial and opaque.

O Lucky Man!1973

A young man's odyssey through a surreal Britain where he encounters absurdity, cruelty, and unexpected kindness. Like Resurrection, it's about stumbling through the world changed by what you witness.

But It's three hours of loose, episodic plotting with no conventional narrative arc. The tone shifts wildly; cohesion is not the point.

Holy Motors2012

Both explore a protagonist marked as special or different, moving through the world in ways that unsettle observers. Both are about the gap between how others see us and who we are.

A man spends a day in a limousine traveling between appointments where he inhabits completely different lives and identities. Mysterious and playful where Resurrection is grave, but both interrogate identity, performance, and whether we have a 'true self' underneath the roles we play.

But Willfully strange and structurally enigmatic. It resists interpretation and narrative satisfaction—some will call it pretentious rather than profound.

The Death of Maria Malibran1972

Both center female bodies as the site of others' desperate need for transcendence. Both ask uncomfortable questions about who gets to use a woman's power, and at what cost to her.

Werner Schroeter's experimental meditation on a 19th-century opera singer, structured as a fever dream. Like Resurrection, it's about a woman's body as a vessel for others' projections, desires, and spiritual hunger—but told through color, music, and abstraction rather than narrative.

But This is avant-garde cinema. There is no plot. If you need conventional structure, character development, or legible meaning, you will hate it immediately.