Noëlle (2007 film)

Father Jonathan Keene goes to a small fishing village a week before Christmas to shut down a dying parish.

When he gets there, he finds that the congregation has dropped from 150 to 20 under Simeon's leadership.

While Simeon takes Father Keene around the parish, Keene sees a young woman he had seen at the bus station when he first arrived in the village. He returns her glove he accidentally picked up when they bumped into each other. The woman introduces herself as Marjorie Worthington but quickly excuses herself to return to having a rather animated discussion with her boyfriend.

Later, at rehearsals for the Nativity play, Simeon tells the parishioners what Father Keene is there for and suggests that Keene takes over production. Keene wants Marjorie to play Mary as she is the only woman she has seen in town that is under 60, but she turns the role down saying that she 'isn't Mary'.

A few days later after rehearsals, a woman goes into the Confessional and tells Father Keene that she overheard Marjorie and her boyfriend Seth talking and Marjorie is pregnant with Seth's baby even though he has a wife in New York. When Keene talks to Marjorie she tells him that she knew Seth was married and that she has ended their relationship.

On Christmas Eve, Simeon tells Keene that he wants to marry Marjorie and is quitting the priesthood. Only a couple of people turn up to perform the Nativity and they tell Keene that there's no point in doing it and they're going to go to Mrs Worthington's Christmas party like everybody else.

When at the party, Keene sees Seth flirting to another woman, and gets into a fight with him. He goes outside and talks to Marjorie. He tells her that everywhere he goes he sees a spirit of a little girl. The girl he explains, is the daughter he forced his girlfriend to abort when they were at university, and that he never wanted to be a priest, he just did it out of guilt. Simeon observes the conversation and realises that Keene loves Marjorie.

Later, Marjorie goes into labour after trying to run away. Father Keene visits her in the hospital, and as he looks at Marjorie's newborn baby through the window, Noëlle, the spirit of his daughter, forgives him.

Simeon meanwhile, who went to the church to say goodbye to Father Keene, is elated to see that the church is full.

Four years later, Simeon is directing the church Nativity. Grace, Marjorie's daughter, whom Keene presumably adopted after marrying her mother, runs to Keene and hugs him.

• David Wall stars as Father Jonathan Keene, a "hit man" for the Catholic Church whose job is to shut down parishes that are no longer deemed viable.
• Kerry Wall plays Marjorie Worthington, the town's librarian.
• Sean Patrick Brennan plays Father Simeon Joyce, the pastor of the dying parish that Keene has come to shut down.
• Curt Dewitz plays Seth Harrod, Marjorie's boyfriend.
• Brennan Wall plays Noelle, a spirit that only Father Keene sees.
• Jean Bates plays Eleanor Worthington, Marjorie's grandmother and the host of the village's Christmas party.
• David Hickey plays Thomas Shepley.
• Ciaran O'Reilly plays Finn Shepley.
• Kevin McElroy plays Jewel King.
• J. Scott Henderson plays Swift King.
• Michael Sweet plays Speed King.

Writer-producer-director-actor David Wall drew inspiration for Noëlle when he was living on Cape Cod where an annual Christmas party was held at an "old whaling captain's house" that was "down the street" from Wall's home where people from varying socio-economic-religious backgrounds gathered, "celebrating one thing -- Christmas."

Noëlle was filmed on 35mm film and features the cinematography of Beecher Cotton who "does justice to the stark beauty of the Cape."

Noëlle features some Cape Cod landmarks such as the Cape Cod Hospital, the Sandwich Boardwalk, an East Dennis library, the beaches of Dennis Port, a church in Yarmouth Port, and O'Shea's Olde Inne restaurant on Route 28 in West Dennis.

Noëlle was released in theaters nationwide on 203 screens on December 7, 2007, by Gener8Xion Entertainment. The release strategy involved targeting Gener8Xion's audiences in major markets across the country with the film being screened in the best performing theaters from Gener8Xion's previous theatrical released film One Night with the King.

• Official site
• Noëlle at IMDb
• Spero News DEC 03, 2007 | BY WILLIAM DONOHUE Catholicism tarred by Protestant Film
• Noëlle at BeenToTheMovies.com