An Encounter with Simone Weil
Director Julia Haslett
Countries United States
Duration 85 min
Synopsis
What response does seeing human suffering demand of us? Filmmaker Julia Haslett seeks an answer in the controversial fr philosopher and activist Simone Weil (1909-1943), whose life and work took on this question in a dramatic way. Adopting Weil as her guide through an engaging and profound moral landscape, Julia goes on a journey to understand Weil’s loss of faith in revolutionary politics and the spiritual awakening that followed. Driving her obsession with Weil is the interwoven story of suffering within Haslett’s own family––her father's suicide when she was 17 and now her older brother's severe depression. When Weil dies from self-starvation at the height of World War II, she is left wondering if death was the logical conclusion to Weil’s philosophy and her attempt to share the pain of others.
What response does seeing human suffering demand of us? Filmmaker Julia Haslett seeks an answer in the controversial fr philosopher and activist Simone Weil (1909-1943), whose life and work took on this question in a dramatic way. Adopting Weil as her guide through an engaging and profound moral landscape, Julia goes on a journey to understand Weil’s loss of faith in revolutionary politics and the spiritual awakening that followed. Driving her obsession with Weil is the interwoven story of suffering within Haslett’s own family––her father's suicide when she was 17 and now her older brother's severe depression. When Weil dies from self-starvation at the height of World War II, she is left wondering if death was the logical conclusion to Weil’s philosophy and her attempt to share the pain of others.