0:00:09 > 0:00:14This is a film about a woman who probably never existed
0:00:14 > 0:00:17but whose story changed history.
0:00:19 > 0:00:22It's a story that's soaked into our culture.
0:00:23 > 0:00:26It's everywhere, in every corner...
0:00:28 > 0:00:31..sweaty, sensuous and naughty.
0:00:32 > 0:00:36It's the story of Mary Magdalene.
0:00:39 > 0:00:41If you've read this - and who hasn't? -
0:00:41 > 0:00:44then you'll know something about her already
0:00:44 > 0:00:46or, at least, you'll think you do
0:00:46 > 0:00:49because, according to this,
0:00:49 > 0:00:53Mary Magdalene and Jesus Christ were lovers,
0:00:53 > 0:00:55they had a baby together
0:00:55 > 0:00:59and their descendants are still among us today,
0:00:59 > 0:01:01hiding their secret origins.
0:01:05 > 0:01:10If you haven't read this, you might have seen this -
0:01:10 > 0:01:14the popular musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice.
0:01:14 > 0:01:17In this, she's a former prostitute
0:01:17 > 0:01:22who falls hopelessly in love with Jesus and who sings that famous song
0:01:22 > 0:01:27to him - I Don't Know How To Love Him.
0:01:27 > 0:01:31# I don't know how to love him... #
0:01:31 > 0:01:34Oh, how artists through the ages
0:01:34 > 0:01:38have loved the idea that Mary Magdalene
0:01:38 > 0:01:39was a temptress.
0:01:41 > 0:01:43# Yes, really changed... #
0:01:43 > 0:01:47But even if you haven't seen or read any of these things,
0:01:47 > 0:01:51the chances are you've still heard of Mary Magdalene
0:01:51 > 0:01:56because she's infiltrated our culture on such a profound level.
0:01:59 > 0:02:03For 2,000 years, we've been fantasising about her.
0:02:05 > 0:02:08She's in our churches and on our walls...
0:02:10 > 0:02:13..in our chapels and in our windows...
0:02:16 > 0:02:17..in our paintings...
0:02:19 > 0:02:20..and in our dreams.
0:02:24 > 0:02:26Why are we so obsessed with her?
0:02:26 > 0:02:30Why does she ring our bell so loudly?
0:02:30 > 0:02:35And if she wasn't any of the things they say she was, who, really,
0:02:35 > 0:02:36was she?
0:03:20 > 0:03:23The Magdalene story begins in the Holy Land.
0:03:23 > 0:03:24Where else?
0:03:26 > 0:03:29She's a creature of the Bible -
0:03:29 > 0:03:32its most alluring and intoxicating presence.
0:03:37 > 0:03:42According to the Gospels, she was a woman from Magdala.
0:03:42 > 0:03:43And this...
0:03:44 > 0:03:45..is Magdala.
0:03:47 > 0:03:52Today, it's just a pokey sprawl on the banks of the Sea of Galilee
0:03:52 > 0:03:57but, in biblical times, this was a thriving fishing port.
0:03:57 > 0:04:00Magdala Nunayya, they called it -
0:04:00 > 0:04:02"Magdala of the fishes".
0:04:05 > 0:04:09They still fish here when the mood takes them.
0:04:09 > 0:04:13But once, Magdala was a biblical hot spot.
0:04:15 > 0:04:19A few miles up the road that way is Nazareth,
0:04:19 > 0:04:20where Jesus grew up.
0:04:22 > 0:04:27A few miles that way is Cana, where he turned water into wine.
0:04:29 > 0:04:34And over there is the Sea of Galilee, where he walked on the waves...
0:04:35 > 0:04:36..or so they say.
0:04:43 > 0:04:47So these are crucial biblical territories
0:04:47 > 0:04:49where important things happened.
0:04:49 > 0:04:54But the first thing to note about Mary Magdalene is that she hardly
0:04:54 > 0:04:56features in any of them.
0:04:56 > 0:04:59Considering how famous she is
0:04:59 > 0:05:03and how many men through the ages have drooled over her,
0:05:03 > 0:05:10what's remarkable is how little we know about her and how much we've imagined.
0:05:13 > 0:05:17In the Bible, she's mentioned just a handful of times...
0:05:18 > 0:05:24..a thoroughly minor character about whom we learn next to nothing.
0:05:28 > 0:05:32Basically, she's mentioned four times.
0:05:32 > 0:05:37And that's it. The first time is in the Gospel of Luke, where
0:05:37 > 0:05:41we're told that she was one of the women who followed Jesus.
0:05:41 > 0:05:43Here, I'll read you the passage.
0:05:44 > 0:05:47The 12 were with him - that's the 12 Apostles.
0:05:47 > 0:05:53And also "certain women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities,"
0:05:53 > 0:05:57among them, "Mary that was called Magdalene,
0:05:57 > 0:06:00"from whom seven devils had been cast out."
0:06:02 > 0:06:07So she was one of the women who'd accompanied Jesus on his journeys
0:06:07 > 0:06:09through these biblical lands
0:06:09 > 0:06:13and he had cast seven demons out of her.
0:06:13 > 0:06:17But what the hell are seven demons?
0:06:17 > 0:06:20Was she possessed by seven devils?
0:06:20 > 0:06:22Had she committed seven types of sin?
0:06:24 > 0:06:28There's been endless speculation, but no answers.
0:06:30 > 0:06:36What is clear from this first spicy mention in the Bible
0:06:36 > 0:06:39is that Mary had a regrettable past.
0:06:40 > 0:06:43She was stained with something sinful...
0:06:45 > 0:06:48..and when women in the Bible are said to be sinful...
0:06:50 > 0:06:55..the accusation usually points in a specific direction.
0:07:04 > 0:07:05Jerusalem...
0:07:06 > 0:07:11..where Christ was flogged, humiliated and crucified...
0:07:13 > 0:07:19..and where Mary Magdalene made the most telling of her tiny appearances
0:07:19 > 0:07:20in the Bible.
0:07:24 > 0:07:26So we all know what happened here,
0:07:26 > 0:07:29in the streets of Jerusalem -
0:07:29 > 0:07:33the story of Christ's torture and crucifixion...
0:07:34 > 0:07:42..how he was mocked by the baying crowd as he carried his own cross up here
0:07:42 > 0:07:45to the place he was crucified,
0:07:45 > 0:07:47the place we call Calvary.
0:07:54 > 0:07:58Calvary, where Christ was nailed to the cross,
0:07:58 > 0:08:02is actually a mistranslation from the Latin.
0:08:04 > 0:08:09The real name of this morbid hilltop is Golgotha -
0:08:09 > 0:08:11the Place Of The Skulls.
0:08:13 > 0:08:15And that's the name I'm going to use.
0:08:21 > 0:08:26It happened right there, where the Church Of The Holy Sepulchre now stands.
0:08:26 > 0:08:28That is Golgotha.
0:08:28 > 0:08:33At three o'clock in the afternoon, Jesus was nailed to the cross,
0:08:33 > 0:08:36right there, and hoisted up before us
0:08:36 > 0:08:39so we could witness his suffering and his death.
0:08:43 > 0:08:46It's the most powerful moment in Christian art...
0:08:48 > 0:08:49..a scene of suffering
0:08:49 > 0:08:54so extreme you wonder how it ever ended up in a church.
0:08:58 > 0:09:01The Crucifixion is one of art's great subjects.
0:09:01 > 0:09:05Every old master of note has had a go at it.
0:09:05 > 0:09:08It's a scene of spectacular torture
0:09:08 > 0:09:14and pain. But it's also the moment when Mary Magdalene makes her second
0:09:14 > 0:09:15appearance in the Bible.
0:09:19 > 0:09:21Again, it's just a passing mention...
0:09:22 > 0:09:25..Mark, chapter 15, verse 27.
0:09:26 > 0:09:32"Jesus gave out a loud cry and breathed his last.
0:09:32 > 0:09:35"And there were women looking on from a distance.
0:09:35 > 0:09:37"Among them was Mary Magdalene."
0:09:41 > 0:09:43So she was there at the Crucifixion -
0:09:43 > 0:09:47just a brief mention, but it was enough.
0:09:47 > 0:09:53Mary Magdalene was a witness to the darkest moment in the Christian story.
0:09:53 > 0:09:57She was there so she had to be imagined.
0:09:59 > 0:10:04Look down to the foot of the cross in any Crucifixion
0:10:04 > 0:10:07and you'll find her -
0:10:07 > 0:10:12the most beautiful of the sobbing women who've come to mourn
0:10:12 > 0:10:13the passing of Christ.
0:10:15 > 0:10:17And if none of them is beautiful,
0:10:17 > 0:10:21look for the one who's screaming the loudest
0:10:21 > 0:10:27because Mary Magdalene, who barely gets a mention in the Bible,
0:10:27 > 0:10:35was elevated in art to the exciting and dramatic role of chief mourner.
0:10:45 > 0:10:50The third mention of Mary in the Bible is the most important of them all.
0:10:50 > 0:10:55Having been there at the Crucifixion and witnessed the death of Christ,
0:10:55 > 0:10:58she's also named, a few verses later,
0:10:58 > 0:11:01as the first witness to his Resurrection.
0:11:04 > 0:11:10On the third day, you'll remember, Jesus came back from the dead.
0:11:11 > 0:11:14The job of saving us was done,
0:11:14 > 0:11:17and it was Mary Magdalene who met him again...
0:11:19 > 0:11:21..and who spread the word of his return.
0:11:25 > 0:11:29In three of the Gospels, she's one of a group of women, all called Mary,
0:11:29 > 0:11:32who find the tomb empty.
0:11:32 > 0:11:34But in the Gospel of St John,
0:11:34 > 0:11:39the most vivid and influential of the Gospels, it's Mary Magdalene,
0:11:39 > 0:11:45and only Mary Magdalene, who first encounters the risen Christ.
0:11:48 > 0:11:52Savoldo shows the moment in an unusual fashion.
0:11:53 > 0:11:55Dawn is breaking...
0:11:56 > 0:11:59..and there's Mary Magdalene turned towards us
0:11:59 > 0:12:01with a strange expression on her face.
0:12:03 > 0:12:05She's heard something
0:12:05 > 0:12:07and a mysterious light has fallen on her...
0:12:08 > 0:12:11..so she turns around
0:12:11 > 0:12:12and there's Jesus,
0:12:12 > 0:12:13looking at her.
0:12:17 > 0:12:23The Savoldo, which is in the National Gallery in London, is different.
0:12:23 > 0:12:28In most paintings of the scene, Mary doesn't recognise Jesus
0:12:28 > 0:12:31because she thinks he's dead.
0:12:31 > 0:12:36And according to St John, in his Gospel, she mistakes him for a gardener.
0:12:39 > 0:12:45That's why, in Rembrandt's wacky version of the scene, Jesus sports
0:12:45 > 0:12:48that unlikely horticultural hat...
0:12:50 > 0:12:56..and why, when Fra Angelico painted it, he gave him a garden implement
0:12:56 > 0:13:00to hold, slung casually on his shoulder.
0:13:03 > 0:13:08So the sobbing Mary mistakes Jesus for a gardener.
0:13:08 > 0:13:10He asks her why she's crying
0:13:10 > 0:13:14and she tells him that Jesus' body has disappeared.
0:13:14 > 0:13:16Does he know where it's been taken?
0:13:17 > 0:13:20"Mary," he says to her, and she looks up.
0:13:20 > 0:13:22And she knows it's him.
0:13:25 > 0:13:30Falling at his feet, the Magdalene tries to touch Jesus,
0:13:30 > 0:13:31but he tells her not to.
0:13:32 > 0:13:35"Noli me tangere," he says -
0:13:35 > 0:13:37"Don't touch me."
0:13:37 > 0:13:39He's not a man any more.
0:13:39 > 0:13:40He's a god.
0:13:43 > 0:13:46It's a strange scene.
0:13:46 > 0:13:52Why, out of all the important figures in the Bible, was Mary Magdalene
0:13:52 > 0:13:55singled out to witness Christ's Resurrection?
0:13:56 > 0:13:58In the Middle Ages,
0:13:58 > 0:14:03when they were especially unkind and misogynistic about these things,
0:14:03 > 0:14:09the explanation that was usually given was that women were gossips
0:14:09 > 0:14:12and that, by showing himself to a woman,
0:14:12 > 0:14:18Christ was ensuring that word of his return would quickly spread.
0:14:20 > 0:14:22But I don't think that's it.
0:14:22 > 0:14:28I think it's because, from the start, Mary Magdalene was one of us -
0:14:28 > 0:14:32a tangibly human presence,
0:14:32 > 0:14:35the girl next door, a sinner,
0:14:35 > 0:14:37like me and you.
0:14:41 > 0:14:46In art, she's never a creature of the clouds.
0:14:46 > 0:14:48There's always something real about her.
0:14:50 > 0:14:55I mean, look at this superb terracotta by Niccolo dell'Arca.
0:14:57 > 0:14:59How real is that?
0:15:03 > 0:15:08So that's it - that's all the mentions of Mary Magdalene in the Bible.
0:15:08 > 0:15:13She's the sinner who had seven demons thrown out of her...
0:15:15 > 0:15:17..she witnessed the Crucifixion...
0:15:19 > 0:15:23..and she was the first person to see Jesus when he rose from the dead.
0:15:26 > 0:15:28So those are the facts.
0:15:29 > 0:15:35And from now on, everything else is fantasy or fabrication or
0:15:35 > 0:15:39it's a mix-up with all the other Marys in the Bible,
0:15:39 > 0:15:41because there were a lot of them.
0:15:41 > 0:15:46And before we go any further in this film, we need to clear that up.
0:15:46 > 0:15:47So here is...
0:15:49 > 0:15:50..my handy guide...
0:15:52 > 0:15:54..to all the relevant Marys in the Bible.
0:15:58 > 0:16:01First, there's our Mary, Mary Magdalene,
0:16:01 > 0:16:05who followed Christ and witnessed his Crucifixion.
0:16:08 > 0:16:14In Rogier van der Weyden's great Descent From The Cross, she's the
0:16:14 > 0:16:15sobbing Mary on the right...
0:16:17 > 0:16:20..the one who's wearing a Jesus and Mary chain.
0:16:23 > 0:16:28But outranking her in religious status is Mary, the mother of Jesus -
0:16:28 > 0:16:29the Virgin Mary.
0:16:33 > 0:16:35She's everywhere in art.
0:16:35 > 0:16:39In the van der Weyden, she's slumped at the front
0:16:39 > 0:16:41at the sight of her dead son.
0:16:45 > 0:16:48Now, according to some, and this is very confusing,
0:16:48 > 0:16:52the Virgin Mary's sister was also called Mary,
0:16:52 > 0:16:55and she's Mary Salome.
0:16:58 > 0:17:01She's in the picture, too,
0:17:01 > 0:17:04supporting her sister and weeping for her.
0:17:07 > 0:17:12Then there's a third Mary, Mary Cleophas -
0:17:12 > 0:17:15another female disciple of Christ who was there, they say,
0:17:15 > 0:17:18at the Crucifixion.
0:17:18 > 0:17:24Now, confusingly, she too was another sister of the Virgin Mary
0:17:24 > 0:17:29though why anyone would name three of their daughters Mary is beyond me.
0:17:31 > 0:17:36What's certain is that her tears are the most miraculous
0:17:36 > 0:17:40in a masterpiece that's wet with divine sorrow.
0:17:44 > 0:17:47So these three here form a family group
0:17:47 > 0:17:49and they're often shown together.
0:17:51 > 0:17:52But so too...
0:17:55 > 0:17:57..are these three,
0:17:57 > 0:18:00and they form another group, commonly known...
0:18:01 > 0:18:03..as The Three Marys.
0:18:03 > 0:18:06And they pop up in a lot of art.
0:18:10 > 0:18:13They were especially popular in the Middle Ages.
0:18:14 > 0:18:20And if you want to find the Magdalene among them, look down on the ground.
0:18:27 > 0:18:32So the Magdalene was lost in a crowd of biblical Marys
0:18:32 > 0:18:34and needed to stand out.
0:18:35 > 0:18:38And that's where the Pharisees come in.
0:18:43 > 0:18:46The Pharisees were the bad guys in the story of Jesus.
0:18:46 > 0:18:51They were an Orthodox Jewish sect who were suspicious of Jesus
0:18:51 > 0:18:53and who made things difficult for him.
0:18:57 > 0:19:00Here are some Pharisees in a painting by Poussin.
0:19:01 > 0:19:03That's Simon the Pharisee.
0:19:04 > 0:19:06This is his home,
0:19:06 > 0:19:10and he's throwing a big feast to which he's invited Jesus.
0:19:13 > 0:19:16By inviting him for dinner here in Capernaum,
0:19:16 > 0:19:21Simon was hoping to find out more about this rebellious fellow from
0:19:21 > 0:19:26Nazareth, who was travelling around the Holy Land with his disciples,
0:19:26 > 0:19:28spreading his new word.
0:19:32 > 0:19:33The feast was a test.
0:19:35 > 0:19:37Who was this Jesus of Nazareth?
0:19:37 > 0:19:39And what was he up to?
0:19:43 > 0:19:46Now, in those days, when you invited a guest for dinner,
0:19:46 > 0:19:50one of the first things you did was to wash their feet.
0:19:50 > 0:19:54They'd been travelling through the dusty desert, wearing sandals,
0:19:54 > 0:19:57probably, so their feet were dirty.
0:20:01 > 0:20:06In the Poussin, Simon himself is getting his feet washed by a servant.
0:20:08 > 0:20:11But look who's washing Jesus' feet.
0:20:11 > 0:20:14That's not a servant.
0:20:14 > 0:20:16That's a woman with regrets.
0:20:19 > 0:20:23All the Bible tells us about her is that she was a sinner,
0:20:23 > 0:20:28an unnamed woman who came to the house of Simon the Pharisee
0:20:28 > 0:20:31and who saw that Jesus' feet were dirty.
0:20:31 > 0:20:35So she washed them with her tears,
0:20:35 > 0:20:38dried them with her hair
0:20:38 > 0:20:42and then kissed them and anointed them with oils.
0:20:45 > 0:20:50It's a scene that artists through the ages loved to depict -
0:20:50 > 0:20:56a desperate woman, a sinner, grovelling at the feet of Jesus...
0:20:57 > 0:20:59..kissing and cleaning them,
0:20:59 > 0:21:01begging for forgiveness.
0:21:04 > 0:21:08No-one says it's Mary Magdalene - she could have been anybody.
0:21:08 > 0:21:12But quicker than you can say Whore of Babylon,
0:21:12 > 0:21:17the early Christian mind began putting two and two together,
0:21:17 > 0:21:21and the unnamed sinner in the house of Simon the Pharisee began to be
0:21:21 > 0:21:24recognised as Mary Magdalene.
0:21:28 > 0:21:32And when Gregory the Great, the Pope in Rome, made it official...
0:21:34 > 0:21:37..Mary the sinner was unleashed on art.
0:21:53 > 0:21:56I said there were a lot of Marys in the Bible,
0:21:56 > 0:21:59but there were even more outside the Bible
0:21:59 > 0:22:05in the various tales of repentance and heroism that began to be passed
0:22:05 > 0:22:06from Christian to Christian.
0:22:10 > 0:22:16One such tale, a very fruity one, was the story of Mary of Egypt -
0:22:16 > 0:22:20the repentant harlot who lived in the desert.
0:22:23 > 0:22:27Mary of Egypt was what they later called a nymphomaniac -
0:22:27 > 0:22:29she loved sex,
0:22:29 > 0:22:31couldn't get enough of it.
0:22:31 > 0:22:35And although she was a harlot, she often did it for free,
0:22:35 > 0:22:38just for the fun of it,
0:22:38 > 0:22:39or so they say.
0:22:43 > 0:22:50One day, Mary of Egypt decided to go to Jerusalem to tease the pilgrims.
0:22:51 > 0:22:55But when she got to the Church Of The Holy Sepulchre...
0:22:56 > 0:23:00..an invisible force refused to let her enter.
0:23:02 > 0:23:05She couldn't get in,
0:23:05 > 0:23:09and she realised that she needed to change her ways.
0:23:11 > 0:23:15So she returned to the desert and became a hermit.
0:23:15 > 0:23:20And for 20 years, she survived on three loaves of bread
0:23:20 > 0:23:22and whatever she could find in the wilderness.
0:23:26 > 0:23:31One day, another hermit, called Zosimas, came across her in a cave.
0:23:32 > 0:23:35She was naked except for her hair,
0:23:35 > 0:23:39which had grown so long that it covered her shameful nakedness.
0:23:44 > 0:23:47Zosimas gave her his cloak to put on
0:23:47 > 0:23:51and, when he returned a year later, she was dead -
0:23:51 > 0:23:55a repentant sinner whose repentance was complete.
0:23:59 > 0:24:04In Assisi, in the chapel devoted to Mary Magdalene, painted by Giotto...
0:24:05 > 0:24:08..you can see all this being acted out on the walls...
0:24:10 > 0:24:13..because, yes, you guessed it -
0:24:13 > 0:24:18Mary of Egypt was another identity that was quickly added to the
0:24:18 > 0:24:21growing myth of Mary Magdalene.
0:24:24 > 0:24:29This idea that Mary Magdalene was a harlot, a prostitute,
0:24:29 > 0:24:33that her sins were the sins of the flesh, isn't in the Bible.
0:24:33 > 0:24:37There's no evidence for it of any kind.
0:24:37 > 0:24:41But it soon became the big idea about Mary Magdalene,
0:24:41 > 0:24:44the idea everyone wanted to believe.
0:24:47 > 0:24:52Thus the life of Mary of Egypt was stolen from her
0:24:52 > 0:24:54and given to Mary Magdalene.
0:24:56 > 0:25:03From now on, any artist seeking to portray the Magdalene assumed,
0:25:03 > 0:25:09as Jusepe de Ribera assumes here, that she was a repentant harlot...
0:25:10 > 0:25:13..who needed to pay for her sins.
0:25:22 > 0:25:26Having been turned into a naughty sinner,
0:25:26 > 0:25:29Mary Magdalene needed a new look.
0:25:31 > 0:25:35So art got busy inventing one for her.
0:25:39 > 0:25:43This stuff here it is called spikenard.
0:25:43 > 0:25:48It's a fragrant oil made from Himalayan plants
0:25:48 > 0:25:52and it was popular in ancient times as a perfume...
0:25:54 > 0:25:55..and an ointment.
0:26:02 > 0:26:05Spikenard was the oil that the unnamed sinner
0:26:05 > 0:26:08in the house of Simon the Pharisee
0:26:08 > 0:26:12rubbed so tenderly into the feet of Jesus
0:26:12 > 0:26:17when she washed them with her tears and dried them with her hair.
0:26:20 > 0:26:22Prostitutes used it, too.
0:26:23 > 0:26:29Its delicious aromas would intoxicate their clients
0:26:29 > 0:26:30and fill them with desire.
0:26:34 > 0:26:41For all those reasons, spikenard, in a vase or a jar or a bowl,
0:26:41 > 0:26:44became the symbol of Mary Magdalene
0:26:44 > 0:26:47and could always be found by her side.
0:26:50 > 0:26:53So if you see an unknown woman in art
0:26:53 > 0:26:57and there's a pot of ointment near her,
0:26:57 > 0:26:58that's Mary Magdalene.
0:27:00 > 0:27:02Look out also for her hair.
0:27:04 > 0:27:08If it's loose and falls down her back like a river,
0:27:08 > 0:27:12as it does in this Guido Mazzoni sculpture...
0:27:13 > 0:27:15..that's the Magdalene as well.
0:27:18 > 0:27:22Another thing to look out for is the colour of her dress.
0:27:22 > 0:27:26If it's bright red, like this, then it's probably her.
0:27:30 > 0:27:35Since ancient times, red has been the colour of love,
0:27:35 > 0:27:36a dangerous colour.
0:27:37 > 0:27:42That's why the expression "a scarlet woman" entered our language...
0:27:43 > 0:27:45..because of Mary Magdalene.
0:27:48 > 0:27:53Out of almost nothing, out of a handful of mentions in the Bible
0:27:53 > 0:27:56and some stolen bits of other Marys...
0:27:57 > 0:28:02..art constructed the giant myth of Mary Magdalene.
0:28:10 > 0:28:12And it didn't stop there.
0:28:12 > 0:28:17So far, everything I've told you has been set in Galilee or Jerusalem.
0:28:17 > 0:28:20But the Holy Land is tiny,
0:28:20 > 0:28:25too tiny to contain the enlarging myth of Mary Magdalene.
0:28:25 > 0:28:31The more they fantasised about her, the less recognisable she became,
0:28:31 > 0:28:36and the time soon arrived for the myth of Mary Magdalene to travel.
0:28:53 > 0:28:58You must have wondered how Mary Magdalene ended up in The Da Vinci Code.
0:29:00 > 0:29:05After all, that terrible book is set mostly in France.
0:29:06 > 0:29:10But Mary Magdalene's story is set in the Holy Land.
0:29:17 > 0:29:20OK. It's time for a bit of geography.
0:29:22 > 0:29:24So...over here...
0:29:26 > 0:29:28..imagine that's the Holy Land,
0:29:28 > 0:29:32where Mary Magdalene's story begins in the Bible -
0:29:32 > 0:29:34round about here, in Galilee...
0:29:36 > 0:29:38..and this way,
0:29:38 > 0:29:39all the way round...
0:29:43 > 0:29:44..this is what...
0:29:45 > 0:29:52..the Romans used to call Mare Nostrum, which means Our Sea.
0:29:53 > 0:29:55But today...
0:29:56 > 0:29:59..we call it the Mediterranean.
0:30:04 > 0:30:06And also on the Mediterranean...
0:30:07 > 0:30:08..up here...
0:30:11 > 0:30:12..this is France.
0:30:13 > 0:30:15And just about there...
0:30:17 > 0:30:20..is this very beach we're standing on in Provence.
0:30:20 > 0:30:26And this is the beach on which Mary Magdalene actually landed when she
0:30:26 > 0:30:30fled the Holy Land and cast herself...
0:30:32 > 0:30:33..at the mercy...
0:30:36 > 0:30:37..of the Mediterranean.
0:30:43 > 0:30:45The facts are pretty unclear
0:30:45 > 0:30:48because there aren't any.
0:30:48 > 0:30:49It was all made up.
0:30:50 > 0:30:57But the story goes that, when the Jews began persecuting the Christians,
0:30:57 > 0:31:03Mary Magdalene and her fellow Marys were put on boats with no oars,
0:31:03 > 0:31:05no sails,
0:31:05 > 0:31:10and they drifted across the Mare Nostrum until they reached Provence.
0:31:14 > 0:31:18So she landed here on the beach at Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer -
0:31:18 > 0:31:20Saint Mary of the Sea.
0:31:20 > 0:31:23And having been miraculously saved,
0:31:23 > 0:31:27she set about converting the French to Christianity.
0:31:30 > 0:31:34Provence was to play a gigantic role,
0:31:34 > 0:31:37not just in the story of Mary Magdalene,
0:31:37 > 0:31:40but in the story of art as well.
0:31:42 > 0:31:48There's a famous painting of this very beach by Van Gogh
0:31:48 > 0:31:50showing some boats pulled up on the sand.
0:31:52 > 0:31:57At first sight, it looks like an innocent boat picture.
0:31:58 > 0:32:01But at Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer,
0:32:01 > 0:32:04there's no such thing as an innocent boat picture...
0:32:05 > 0:32:06..as we shall see.
0:32:16 > 0:32:18As the saint who'd converted Provence,
0:32:18 > 0:32:22Mary Magdalene was particularly popular here -
0:32:22 > 0:32:28a visiting superstar from the Bible who'd made the South of France her
0:32:28 > 0:32:33home and whom the locals were keeping very, very busy.
0:32:38 > 0:32:41Because she'd been a prostitute,
0:32:41 > 0:32:45they made her the patron saint of prostitutes.
0:32:46 > 0:32:50Because she'd met Jesus in the garden,
0:32:50 > 0:32:53she became the patron saint of gardeners, too.
0:32:55 > 0:32:59And because she'd dried Christ's feet with her hair,
0:32:59 > 0:33:02she looked after hairdressers as well.
0:33:04 > 0:33:06Most importantly of all,
0:33:06 > 0:33:12because she'd arrived in Provence and brought Christianity with her,
0:33:12 > 0:33:16they made her the patron saint of Provence.
0:33:17 > 0:33:20And this was her church -
0:33:20 > 0:33:22the Basilica Of Mary Magdalene.
0:33:32 > 0:33:36And there she is, the woman herself
0:33:36 > 0:33:38or, at least, her skull -
0:33:38 > 0:33:45carefully preserved in a golden reliquary that shows off her beautiful hair,
0:33:45 > 0:33:48the hair that wiped Christ's feet.
0:33:53 > 0:34:00This big church in the small Provencal town of Saint-Maximin-la-Baume was
0:34:00 > 0:34:05where her body was miraculously discovered in 1279.
0:34:06 > 0:34:09Some monks were digging up the crypt
0:34:09 > 0:34:12when they found an ancient sarcophagus.
0:34:13 > 0:34:18Inside was her perfectly preserved corpse.
0:34:18 > 0:34:23And drifting up from the bones was the sweet smell of roses.
0:34:28 > 0:34:31Now, of course, all this had been made up. Why?
0:34:31 > 0:34:33Because of the relics.
0:34:33 > 0:34:38In medieval Europe, relics were like gold dust.
0:34:38 > 0:34:42If you had some important ones, like the body of Mary Magdalene,
0:34:42 > 0:34:47people would travel hundreds of miles to see them
0:34:47 > 0:34:48and to touch them.
0:34:51 > 0:34:54Relics had magic powers.
0:34:55 > 0:34:59They could cure you of terminal illness or bring you babies.
0:35:01 > 0:35:06If you touched a holy body, even a bit of it - a toe, a hand...
0:35:08 > 0:35:12..the saintliness flowed through you and you'd go to heaven...
0:35:13 > 0:35:14..or so they said.
0:35:17 > 0:35:22As news spread of the great find, pilgrims began flocking here
0:35:22 > 0:35:24in spectacular numbers.
0:35:24 > 0:35:27And where there are pilgrims, there's money -
0:35:27 > 0:35:31lots of it. And money has to be controlled.
0:35:31 > 0:35:36So the church was handed over to the care of that especially fierce
0:35:36 > 0:35:39religious order, the Dominicans,
0:35:39 > 0:35:43and Mary Magdalene became their patron as well.
0:35:48 > 0:35:50Ah, yes, the Dominicans -
0:35:50 > 0:35:54punishers-in-chief of the medieval church.
0:35:56 > 0:36:04As the patron saint of the Dominicans, Mary Magdalene makes a beautiful appearance
0:36:04 > 0:36:09in the Dominican Convent of San Marco in Florence
0:36:09 > 0:36:16in some deceptively exquisite Renaissance frescoes by the Dominican friar
0:36:16 > 0:36:17Fra Angelico.
0:36:20 > 0:36:23And all around her, the Dominicans,
0:36:23 > 0:36:27the great flagellators of the monkish orders,
0:36:27 > 0:36:31suffer mightily for their sins
0:36:31 > 0:36:35and make sure the rest of us suffer mightily as well.
0:36:42 > 0:36:48Darkness and punishment were now creeping into the story of Mary Magdalene.
0:36:50 > 0:36:53Having invented her sinful past,
0:36:53 > 0:36:58art was now determined to make her pay for it.
0:37:05 > 0:37:10Mary Magdalene had touched Christ - she'd kissed his feet,
0:37:10 > 0:37:12rubbed spikenard into them
0:37:12 > 0:37:16and smelt them. And as a former prostitute,
0:37:16 > 0:37:21her erotic past could never be scrubbed completely clean.
0:37:21 > 0:37:27But as always, with sin, it's both deeply regrettable
0:37:27 > 0:37:29and deeply attractive.
0:37:34 > 0:37:40In the battered porches of medieval France, she's always easy to spot...
0:37:41 > 0:37:45..a rare horizontal in a vertical world...
0:37:46 > 0:37:49..crawling about on the ground,
0:37:49 > 0:37:52washing Jesus' feet with her tears.
0:37:55 > 0:37:57She was everywhere.
0:37:57 > 0:38:01But here in Provence, they had one thing that no-one else had.
0:38:01 > 0:38:05It's up there, at the end of this exhausting climb -
0:38:05 > 0:38:08the Cave of Mary Magdalene.
0:38:13 > 0:38:18When her work in Provence was complete and the pagans had been converted...
0:38:20 > 0:38:23..the Magdalene was said to have retired here...
0:38:25 > 0:38:29..high in the hills above Aix.
0:38:29 > 0:38:32Just one duty remained for her to fulfil.
0:38:34 > 0:38:38The scarlet woman needed to pay for the sins of her youth.
0:38:47 > 0:38:51Originally, this was a grotto devoted to the Virgin Mary -
0:38:51 > 0:38:54Mary, the mother of Jesus.
0:38:54 > 0:38:59But as the Provencal legend of Mary Magdalene grew and grew,
0:38:59 > 0:39:05the cave switched identities and became the Cave of Mary Magdalene.
0:39:10 > 0:39:15This is where she spent the final 30 years of her life,
0:39:15 > 0:39:16paying her penance.
0:39:18 > 0:39:20She didn't eat, she didn't drink.
0:39:21 > 0:39:24All she did was repent.
0:39:27 > 0:39:34Mary Magdalene had already played a spectacular number of roles in art.
0:39:34 > 0:39:39What she hadn't done yet is suffer properly for her sins -
0:39:39 > 0:39:41really suffer.
0:39:41 > 0:39:44And that's what happened here, in this cave.
0:39:49 > 0:39:53To show the Magdalene atoning for her past,
0:39:53 > 0:39:58for all those young men she'd led astray with her dangerous beauty...
0:39:59 > 0:40:02..art invented a new genre...
0:40:04 > 0:40:05..the penitent Magdalene.
0:40:11 > 0:40:16Pretty much every notable artist of the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries
0:40:16 > 0:40:19produced a penitent Magdalene.
0:40:19 > 0:40:21They were phenomenally popular.
0:40:25 > 0:40:30She was usually shown at night, home alone,
0:40:30 > 0:40:33remembering her naughty past...
0:40:33 > 0:40:35and regretting it.
0:40:38 > 0:40:41It all got very sweaty and strange.
0:40:41 > 0:40:43You remember Mary of Egypt?
0:40:43 > 0:40:47The harlot who lived in the desert, wore no clothes,
0:40:47 > 0:40:51and whose identity was subsumed in the identity of Mary Magdalene?
0:40:51 > 0:40:57Well, it was in this cave that the Mary of Egypt side of Mary Magdalene
0:40:57 > 0:41:00found its weirdest expression.
0:41:04 > 0:41:09This peculiar creature is the hairy Magdalene,
0:41:09 > 0:41:15carved by Tilman Riemenschneider at the end of the 15th century.
0:41:17 > 0:41:20Naked in the wilderness,
0:41:20 > 0:41:25she's grown a thick pelt of neck-to-ankle body hair
0:41:25 > 0:41:27to cover her modesty.
0:41:29 > 0:41:32Riemenschneider was a German,
0:41:32 > 0:41:37whose attitude to female nudity was furtive and uncomfortable.
0:41:37 > 0:41:41But when the Italians started to paint penitent Magdalenes,
0:41:41 > 0:41:43they had no such problem.
0:41:46 > 0:41:49See, for instance, Titian's Magdalene.
0:41:50 > 0:41:53Big-haired and beautiful,
0:41:53 > 0:41:55in a plump, Venetian way.
0:41:56 > 0:42:01She tries to cover her modesty with her gorgeous hair,
0:42:01 > 0:42:04but it's all a bit half-hearted, isn't it?
0:42:07 > 0:42:12So she's naked in this cave for 30 years, no food, no drink,
0:42:12 > 0:42:15how did she survive?
0:42:15 > 0:42:17With divine help, of course.
0:42:19 > 0:42:23Seven times a day, the legends say,
0:42:23 > 0:42:26angels would come down to her from heaven
0:42:26 > 0:42:29and feed her on celestial music.
0:42:31 > 0:42:37For 30 years, Mary Magdalene survived on ecstasy.
0:42:39 > 0:42:44And in art, religious ecstasy and sexual ecstasy
0:42:44 > 0:42:46are always difficult to tell apart.
0:42:50 > 0:42:54When Artemisia Gentileschi came to paint the scene,
0:42:54 > 0:42:59she produced something that goes off the scale on the steamy front.
0:43:01 > 0:43:06Mary came to the cave to repent for her sins,
0:43:06 > 0:43:10but by the time Artemisia got her hands on her,
0:43:10 > 0:43:12she seemed to be enjoying them again.
0:43:14 > 0:43:18And when you start enjoying the sin of fornication,
0:43:18 > 0:43:21we all know what happens next.
0:43:29 > 0:43:34There's a painting by Caravaggio of the Magdalene in ecstasy.
0:43:34 > 0:43:38It was lost for many years, but it's recently turned up.
0:43:38 > 0:43:39There she is,
0:43:39 > 0:43:45open mouthed, transported in a dark pleasure.
0:43:48 > 0:43:52Caravaggio was especially fond of Mary Magdalene.
0:43:52 > 0:43:55He painted her a number of times.
0:43:55 > 0:43:58And one image in particular haunts me.
0:44:02 > 0:44:07It's a penitent Magdalene, but a particularly awkward one.
0:44:07 > 0:44:10What a strange pose.
0:44:11 > 0:44:16There's her spikenard, and the pearls she no longer needs.
0:44:17 > 0:44:20But why would anyone sit like that?
0:44:23 > 0:44:27I'm going to explain it to you, but first, a little quiz.
0:44:27 > 0:44:32Here we have two low chairs.
0:44:32 > 0:44:35Both have a specific purpose.
0:44:35 > 0:44:37Do you know what it is?
0:44:39 > 0:44:41Well, this one here...
0:44:42 > 0:44:45..is what they call a prayer chair.
0:44:45 > 0:44:47A prie-dieu.
0:44:47 > 0:44:50You use it when you want to pray.
0:44:50 > 0:44:53And the usual explanation for Caravaggio's Magdalene
0:44:53 > 0:44:56is that she's sitting in one of these.
0:44:59 > 0:45:03The trouble is, these aren't meant for sitting.
0:45:03 > 0:45:05They're meant for kneeling.
0:45:08 > 0:45:10Like so.
0:45:10 > 0:45:13And that's not what the Magdalene is doing.
0:45:15 > 0:45:20So I think she's actually sitting on one of these.
0:45:20 > 0:45:23A birthing chair.
0:45:23 > 0:45:24This is a modern one,
0:45:24 > 0:45:27but they've been used for thousands of years,
0:45:27 > 0:45:30an especially low chair,
0:45:30 > 0:45:36on which a woman sits when she's giving birth to a baby.
0:45:39 > 0:45:43Look at the way Caravaggio's Magdalene holds her hands.
0:45:44 > 0:45:46The tenderness on her face.
0:45:48 > 0:45:53It isn't just Dan Brown who insinuated that she was pregnant
0:45:53 > 0:45:55when she came to France,
0:45:55 > 0:45:57lots of artists have implied it.
0:46:01 > 0:46:06Rogier van der Weyden, the master of the tear,
0:46:06 > 0:46:09implied it with exceptional subtlety
0:46:09 > 0:46:13in his beautiful Braque Triptych in the Louvre.
0:46:14 > 0:46:18See how the laces of the Magdalene's corset are loosened
0:46:18 > 0:46:19at the tummy.
0:46:21 > 0:46:27In Flemish art, loosened laces are the sign of pregnancy.
0:46:30 > 0:46:33There are various ways to read all this.
0:46:33 > 0:46:35There's the Dan Brown way,
0:46:35 > 0:46:42the sensational way, that she really was pregnant with Jesus' baby,
0:46:42 > 0:46:45and that their descendants are still among us today,
0:46:45 > 0:46:47plotting their return.
0:46:50 > 0:46:52Or there's something more subtle.
0:46:52 > 0:46:54The van der Weyden way,
0:46:54 > 0:46:57in which Mary Magdalene's love of Jesus
0:46:57 > 0:47:01is understood as a spiritual state.
0:47:03 > 0:47:07What she's carrying is the Word of God.
0:47:07 > 0:47:10That's what she came to France with.
0:47:11 > 0:47:15She's the bride of Christ, but in the spiritual sense.
0:47:17 > 0:47:22Inside Mary Magdalene is the Christian future.
0:47:30 > 0:47:32THUNDER RUMBLES
0:47:34 > 0:47:37You recognise that view, don't you?
0:47:37 > 0:47:41It's one of the most famous views, not just in Provence,
0:47:41 > 0:47:43but in the whole of art.
0:47:45 > 0:47:49It is, of course, the Mont Sainte-Victoire,
0:47:49 > 0:47:51Cezanne's favourite mountain.
0:47:52 > 0:47:56Heaven knows how many times he painted it.
0:47:56 > 0:48:01He was a local boy, a Provencal through and through.
0:48:01 > 0:48:04And the great mountain was always on his horizon.
0:48:08 > 0:48:12What you may not know, is that our cave, the Cave of Mary Magdalene,
0:48:12 > 0:48:16is also over there on the other side of the mountain.
0:48:16 > 0:48:20And Saint-Maximin-la-Baume is there as well
0:48:20 > 0:48:22With Mary Magdalene's skull.
0:48:25 > 0:48:30The presence of the Magdalene is something you feel everywhere
0:48:30 > 0:48:32in Provence.
0:48:32 > 0:48:35She's soaked into the region's history.
0:48:36 > 0:48:39She's soaked into Cezanne.
0:48:51 > 0:48:54Although he's thought of as the great pioneer of modern art,
0:48:54 > 0:48:55which he was,
0:48:55 > 0:48:58Cezanne had another side to him.
0:48:58 > 0:49:03He was very religious in a blunt and Provencal way.
0:49:04 > 0:49:09His views on art were progressive,
0:49:09 > 0:49:12but his views on women were not.
0:49:15 > 0:49:22This spectacularly awkward painting is Cezanne's penitent Magdalene.
0:49:25 > 0:49:31He painted her in her cave, kneeling, praying for forgiveness.
0:49:31 > 0:49:35There's a misshapen skull on her table,
0:49:35 > 0:49:40and Mary herself is bulky and unglamorous.
0:49:40 > 0:49:45So unglamorous she looks more like a man than a woman.
0:49:46 > 0:49:50When you first see it, it's a very unappealing picture,
0:49:50 > 0:49:53clumsy and dark.
0:49:53 > 0:49:57But one of the great things about film cameras is that they allow you
0:49:57 > 0:50:00to get really close to paintings.
0:50:00 > 0:50:05When you get really close to Cezanne's Magdalene,
0:50:05 > 0:50:09the clumsiness fades down,
0:50:09 > 0:50:11and the pathos fades up.
0:50:16 > 0:50:19Those white blobs above her head, incidentally,
0:50:19 > 0:50:23are the pearls that fell from the roof of her cave.
0:50:23 > 0:50:27Pearls, they say, made out of the Magdalene's tears.
0:50:31 > 0:50:35Tears are the scarlet woman's great gift to art.
0:50:36 > 0:50:42And in Provence, the Magdalene and her tears are never far away.
0:50:53 > 0:50:58So, in this, Mary Magdalene comes to France pregnant.
0:50:58 > 0:51:03She has Jesus' baby, and establishes a dynasty
0:51:03 > 0:51:07that marries into the French royal family.
0:51:07 > 0:51:11And they're still out there today, somewhere.
0:51:11 > 0:51:14It's complete nonsense.
0:51:14 > 0:51:16Utter fantasy.
0:51:16 > 0:51:21But Mary Magdalene's story is 99% fantasy.
0:51:21 > 0:51:23Most of it has been made up.
0:51:23 > 0:51:28What's really remarkable though, is how influential it's been.
0:51:31 > 0:51:36That's why I've brought you to this beach again.
0:51:36 > 0:51:40And this is where Van Gogh comes in.
0:51:40 > 0:51:43We're just up the road from Arles,
0:51:43 > 0:51:46deep in Van Gogh country.
0:51:49 > 0:51:51We all know what Van Gogh did in Provence.
0:51:51 > 0:51:55He painted some of the most celebrated masterpieces
0:51:55 > 0:51:57of postimpressionist art.
0:51:57 > 0:52:00And on this beach, at Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer,
0:52:00 > 0:52:04he painted his famous boats pulled up on the sand.
0:52:07 > 0:52:11It's the same beach on which Mary Magdalene was said
0:52:11 > 0:52:14to have landed with her fellow Marys.
0:52:15 > 0:52:19Three boatloads of ancient Christians,
0:52:19 > 0:52:24washed up without rudders or sails at Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer.
0:52:27 > 0:52:29And if you look carefully,
0:52:29 > 0:52:35you'll see that the battered box also washed up on the beach
0:52:35 > 0:52:37is signed "Vincent."
0:52:40 > 0:52:42One of the big mysteries of Van Gogh
0:52:42 > 0:52:43that's always puzzled people,
0:52:43 > 0:52:47is why he came to this bit of Provence in the first place.
0:52:47 > 0:52:51I mean, he had the whole of the South of France to choose from.
0:52:51 > 0:52:56So why pick somewhere as pokey and backward as this?
0:52:56 > 0:53:00TRAIN WHISTLES
0:53:00 > 0:53:02Well, I have a theory about that.
0:53:02 > 0:53:06It involves Mary Magdalene and this book here.
0:53:06 > 0:53:08Mireio by Frederic Mistral,
0:53:08 > 0:53:11the greatest Provencal poet.
0:53:11 > 0:53:14It's set at Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer,
0:53:14 > 0:53:15right here,
0:53:15 > 0:53:17and a few miles up the road in Arles,
0:53:17 > 0:53:19where Van Gogh cut off his ear,
0:53:19 > 0:53:20so notoriously.
0:53:20 > 0:53:26And it tells the story of a beautiful local girl called Mireio,
0:53:26 > 0:53:30and a soulful young man, who falls in love with her,
0:53:30 > 0:53:32named Vincent.
0:53:33 > 0:53:37Vincent is a humble basket weaver.
0:53:37 > 0:53:41An itinerant craftsman who fixes chairs.
0:53:42 > 0:53:47Like the one Van Gogh painted as a stand in for himself
0:53:47 > 0:53:49in the yellow house in Arles.
0:53:50 > 0:53:55Mireio, meanwhile, was from the other side of the tracks,
0:53:55 > 0:53:58the daughter of a local landowner -
0:53:58 > 0:54:02rich, spirited, and lovely.
0:54:03 > 0:54:08They meet in an orchard, Vincent loves Mireio immediately,
0:54:08 > 0:54:10and she loves him.
0:54:10 > 0:54:14But her father disapproves, so they make a pact.
0:54:14 > 0:54:16If anything is to happen to either of them,
0:54:16 > 0:54:21they should meet over there at the Church of Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer,
0:54:21 > 0:54:26where Mary Magdalene and her fellow Marys will look after them,
0:54:26 > 0:54:28and save them.
0:54:32 > 0:54:38Mireio was turned into an opera by Charles Gounod.
0:54:38 > 0:54:42And it was playing in Brussels when Van Gogh lived there,
0:54:42 > 0:54:45studying to be a preacher.
0:54:45 > 0:54:46OPERA MUSIC PLAYS
0:54:56 > 0:55:01In the opera, there's an important moment set in the arena in Arles,
0:55:01 > 0:55:05where Vincent meets Mireio at the bullfights,
0:55:05 > 0:55:09and they grab a secret moment to express their love.
0:55:15 > 0:55:18Interestingly, just before he came to Arles,
0:55:18 > 0:55:24Van Gogh started to sign his work "Vincent".
0:55:24 > 0:55:29It's an unusual thing to do, to use your Christian name so often,
0:55:29 > 0:55:31so prominently.
0:55:35 > 0:55:40He said it was because people found Van Gogh difficult to pronounce.
0:55:40 > 0:55:44But there's something insistent about that signature,
0:55:44 > 0:55:47something declamatory,
0:55:47 > 0:55:48and loud.
0:55:54 > 0:56:00While we're on the subject of names, Mireio is Provencal for Mireille,
0:56:00 > 0:56:03and both are derived from Miriam,
0:56:03 > 0:56:08a biblical name that's also used sometimes for Mary Magdalene.
0:56:12 > 0:56:17Mireio, Mireille, Miriam, Mary -
0:56:17 > 0:56:21she switched identities more often than Jason Bourne.
0:56:22 > 0:56:25But whatever she called herself,
0:56:25 > 0:56:28artists couldn't stop dreaming about her.
0:56:34 > 0:56:35So what am I saying?
0:56:35 > 0:56:40What I'm saying is that this poem and the opera made from it
0:56:40 > 0:56:44played a decisive role in Van Gogh's life.
0:56:46 > 0:56:50I'm saying that Van Gogh came to Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer
0:56:50 > 0:56:52because of it.
0:56:52 > 0:56:55And that's why he painted the beach, and the boats.
0:56:56 > 0:57:00I'm saying he painted the bullring in Arles
0:57:00 > 0:57:04because that's where Vincent met Mireio.
0:57:04 > 0:57:07And that this could be him and her, right there.
0:57:10 > 0:57:15I'm saying that Van Gogh began calling himself Vincent,
0:57:15 > 0:57:18not for reasons of pronunciation,
0:57:18 > 0:57:21but because he identified so fiercely
0:57:21 > 0:57:24with the humble basket weaver.
0:57:27 > 0:57:30I think he came here looking for love.
0:57:30 > 0:57:32Mistral's poem haunted him.
0:57:32 > 0:57:36It singled him out, and filled him with yearning.
0:57:36 > 0:57:40I think he came to Arles because that's where Mireio is set.
0:57:40 > 0:57:44And I think he came here to Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer
0:57:44 > 0:57:48because this is where Vincent and Mireio ended up,
0:57:48 > 0:57:52in this church, in front of Mary Magdalene.
0:57:56 > 0:57:59And that's the thing about the story of Mary Magdalene.
0:57:59 > 0:58:02It twists here and there,
0:58:02 > 0:58:05but it keeps coming back to love.
0:58:12 > 0:58:13So there we have it.
0:58:13 > 0:58:18How a few grains of truth were turned into the mountain of fantasy
0:58:18 > 0:58:20that is Mary Magdalene.
0:58:22 > 0:58:24She's a work of fiction.
0:58:24 > 0:58:30One of the great female leads created by the artistic mind.
0:58:30 > 0:58:36But where most fictional characters are the work of a single author,
0:58:36 > 0:58:39Mary Magdalene is a communal achievement.
0:58:39 > 0:58:43MUSIC: Charmer Gip Die Varwe Mir by Carl Orff