Manika, the Girl Who Lived Twice (1989)
In this unusual feature, Manika is a girl born in a Catholic family in a south Indian fishing village is convinced that she has recently had a former life as a Brahman wife in Nepal. Her parish priest, Father Daniel is under orders to convince her otherwise, as reincarnation does not accord with official Catholic doctrine. Instead, he agrees to journey with her to the site of her dreams of a previous life. Once there, they discover that all is just as she had dreamed it, and her former husband has remarried despite promising not to. Her arrival on the scene does not disturb the man, but it really upsets his new wife, who departs with her baby. Manika decides that it helps no one for her to remain there in Nepal, and returns to her home in the south. However, all this has caused a genuine crisis of faith for the priest who, witnessing all this, has had to grapple with some irreconcilable issues.
Director: François Villiers
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Julian Sands as Father Daniel Mahoney |
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Ayesha Dharker as Manika Kallatil |
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Stéphane Audran as Sister Amanda |
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Jean-Philippe Écoffey as Father René |
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Suresh Oberoi as Ranjit |
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Saeed Jaffrey as |
| Directing | François Villiers | Director |
| Writing | François Villiers | Writer |
| Writing | Jean-Pierre Gibrat | Writer |
| Writing | Brian Phelan | Writer |
| Production | Raoul Katz | Executive Producer |
| Production | Patrick Millet | Production Coordinator |
| Sound | Paul Lainé | Sound |
| Sound | Naresh Sohal | Original Music Composer |
| Art | Ram Yedekar | Decorator |
| Editing | Hélène Plemiannikov | Editor |
| Camera | Alain Levent | Director of Photography |
