Mary Magdalene: Sexuality, sin and the actresses who played the controversial bible figure

From the writing of the New Testament to the filming of The Da Vinci Code, the image of Mary Magdalene has been repeatedly conscripted, contorted and contradicted.

Universal Studios’ upcoming feature MARY MAGDALENE, out in UK cinemas 16th March, starring Academy Award nominees Rooney Mara, Joaquin Phoenix and Chiwetel Ejiofor is a moving and authentic portrait of one of the most enigmatic and misunderstood spiritual figures in history.

The biblical biopic tells the story of Mary (Mara), a young woman in search of a new way of living. Constricted by the hierarchies of the day, Mary defies her traditional family to join a new social movement led by the charismatic Jesus of Nazareth (Phoenix).

She soon finds a place for herself within the movement and at the heart of a journey that will lead to Jerusalem.

Rooney Mara is the latest to play Mary MagdaleneGETTY

Rooney Mara is the latest to play Mary Magdalene

I wanted to play her because she moves me. She was just a sinner like you and me, her humanity and weakness touched me.

Monica Bellucci


Here are just a couple of examples of how this fascinating figure has been portrayed on screen or on stage…

Monica Bellucci in The Passion of the Christ

Directed by Mel Gibson, the controversial film divided critics with its extreme ‘pornography of violence’ and accusations of anti-Semitism.

However its defenders insisted the film does not promote violence, rather it uses it to transmit a message of hope, and the film was awarded three Academy Awards.

Dressed in rags for much of the film, it may seem surprising that Bellucci, a highly glamorous former model, should have agreed to take on the role in one of the most contentious films of recent years. But Bellucci fought tooth and nail for the role.

Monica Bellucci was desperate to play MaryGETTY

Monica Bellucci was desperate to play Mary Magdalene

She said: ”I did all I could to get an audition.

“People would say to me, ‘Nobody will see it, nobody wants to produce or distribute it, it’ll make no money and it will raise controversy. Why on earth do you want to do it?’

“But I wanted to play her because she moves me. She was just a sinner like you and me, her humanity and weakness touched me.

“She finds spirituality through Jesus; we all must try to find our spiritual side.”

Monica Bellucci as Mary Magdalene

Barbara Hershey in Last Temptation of Christ

Martin Scorsese had wanted to make a film version of Jesus’ life since childhood. While directing Barbara Hershey in the 1972 film Boxcar Bertha, she gave him a copy of the Kazantzakis novel. Scorsese optioned the novel in the late 1970s, and he gave it to writer Paul Schrader to adapt.

The 1988 film was similarly controversial at the time of release. In some countries, including Greece, Turkey, Mexico, Chile, and Argentina, the film was banned or censored for several years.

To this day, for many The Last Temptation of Christ is still identified as the movie where Jesus shacks up with Mary Magdalene, rather than a film about faith that ends with Jesus breaking free of his final temptation to live a normal life, and choosing to die on the cross.

Barbara Hershey in Last Temptation of Christ

Barbara Hershey was Scorsese's MaryGETTY

Barbara Hershey was Martin Scorsese’s controversial Mary

Yvonne Elliman in Jesus Christ Superstar

Elliman’s singing career began in 1969 in London, where she performed at various bars and clubs. At the time she did not like what she was singing.

“I hated the music then,” she recalled in a 1973 interview, adding “I did it for the bread. I was into drugs and all that, and thought Grace Slick and the Jefferson Airplane was it.”

While still an unknown, she was discovered by Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber, who asked her to sing Mary Magdalene’s part for an audio recording of Jesus Christ Superstar. After its release as an album, they invited her to join the stage show’s traveling cast, which she did for four years.

Yvonne Elliman made the role her ownGETTY

Yvonne Elliman made the role her own in Jesus Christ, Superstar

In 1971, Elliman moved to New York City for the Broadway production of Jesus Christ, Superstar, where she met her first husband, Bill Oakes, who worked with Robert Stigwood as President of RSO Records.

She was asked to sing backing vocals on Eric Clapton’s version of the Bob Marley song “I Shot the Sheriff” in 1974. She then went on tour as part of Clapton’s band, and soon afterwards got her own recording contract with RSO Records.

She would continue to work with Clapton, performing on his albums from 1974 to 1977, including 461 Ocean Boulevard, There’s One in Every Crowd, E. C. Was Here, No Reason to Cry, and Slowhand.

Yvonne Elliman in Jesus Christ, Superstar

Juliette Binoche in Mary

Following the shooting of a film on the life of Jesus called ‘This Is My Blood’, Marie Palesi (Juliette Binoche), the actress who plays Mary Magdalene takes refuge in Jerusalem in search of the truth behind the story.

One of the central concerns of Mary is the examination of the feminine within the Catholic tradition. Like The Da Vinci Code the film puts forward the theory that Mary Magdalene is much more significant than the Catholic Gospels would suggest.

However while The Da Vinci Code suggests that Mary Magdalene was the lover or wife of Jesus, Ferrara’s film presents the theory that she was in fact one of the disciples and a trusted confidante of Christ.

Juliette Binoche in Mary

MARY MAGDALENE IS OUT IN UK CINEMAS ON MARCH 16