"When you do something wrong, something disastrous always happens in return… And for the good things you do, it’s the same" - Norah

Abandoned in the early months of her life by her mother, Norah, aged 17, lives alone with her father.
Norah unconsciously feels responsible for her mother’s leaving, but family taboos have always prevented her from expressing her pain. Instead of confronting the past, Norah escapes into an imaginary world. When rally car driver Nico Marcuse dies in an accident she witnesses on television, she invents a friendship with him. He becomes both a judge and a magician; he helps and protects her. Instead of solving her own problems, Norah gets involved with the problem of others, wanting to help them against the whole world. She wants to be a saint: a perfectly irreproachable individual.
Norah’s perfectly organized life is turned upside-down the day she meets her maternal grand-mother of whom she ignored the existence. Straight arrived from Portugal, she gives her granddaughter a little inheritance and… her mother’s address in Switzerland!
From mistakes to clumsiness, from confrontations to disappointments, Norah’s life becomes a real nightmare! She then understands she has no choice left: she must face her past. In the Swiss mountains, once for all, Norah settles the scores with her mother, with Nico Marcuse and with herself.

I ALWAYS WANTED TO BE SAINT
(j'ai toujours voulu être une sainte)
2003
© Samsa Film / Artémis Productions
Drama
by Geneviève Mersch
Synopsis
official Page
Cast
Norah
Jean-Michel
Grandmother
Elsa
Jérémie
Credits
Script

Cinematography
Sound
Editing
Art Director
Costumes
Music
Producers
Co-producers
Philippe Blasband - Geneviève Mersch -
Anne Fournier
Séverine Barde
Carlo Thoss
Ewin Ryckaert
André Fonsny
Anne Fournier
Principal Trade Center & Serge Tonnar
Claude Waringo - Patrick Quinet
Stéphane Quinet - Arlette Zylberberg
Available Versions
Original French version with English / Spanish subtitles
Festivals and Awards
Montreal World Film Festival: Golden Zenith for Best First Feature -
Palm Springs - Mannheim-Heidelberg Int'l Film
92 min - 35mm - 1:1.85 - Dolby SR
Technical Data
cklick for Catalogue
Média Services / R.T.B.F
Review
Marie Kremer
Thierry Lefevre
Janine Godinas
Barbara Roland
Julien Collard
Graced with a multifaceted, charming lead perf by newcomer Marie Kremer as a compassionate 17-year-old in search of her mother and herself, "I Always Wanted to Be a Saint" is a deft blend of hard-knocks drama and the gentle, comedic angst of adolescence. Item is a worthy addition to fest slates and has strong potential in arthouse markets, where auds will appreciate an original, non-sensational spin on the peculiar challenges of these volatile years.
- Variety