Our Lady of Happy Endings

In the snow-drenched Canadian winter of 1995, poet Mimi Clement succumbs to writer’s block. She will do anything to summon enough faith to get her through another cold, drab day, even if she has to pray for it. Her brother Damon tells her she needs a man, not faith, but he kindly drives her to the airport to begin a pilgrimage.

High in the mountains of western México, Mimi finds Nuestra Señora del Buen Suceso - Our Lady of Happy Endings. This virgin wears a rosary of skulls carved by an admirer: “memento mori.” Mimi takes it as a sign.

For nine days Mimi says her remembered rosary prayers, as she struggles not to forget death. Ignore the sensuous temptations of paradise: memento mori! Tune out the screams of fighting cocks and the rumours of macho abuses: memento mori! Turn a blind eye to the discovery of a lost El Greco masterpiece. Memento mori!

There is no better place to look for faith than in the close-up of a new reality.