Zürichsee Zeitung

The role of Mother Teresa led her into India’s slums

Actress from Oberrieden as Teresa – The film “Mother Teresa & Me” opens in cinemas today. Jacqueline Fritschi-Cornaz also wants to show the icon’s doubts and contradictions.

The role of Mother Teresa led her to the very people Mother Teresa lived for. “That was ultimately the most moving part,” says Jacqueline Fritschi‑Cornaz, an actress from Oberrieden. She plays the title role in the film “Mother Teresa & Me,” which opens in Swiss cinemas today. Shooting took place in India, the United Kingdom and Switzerland.

What interested her was not to portray the icon only as a saint, but also as a human being with fractures. “I’m fascinated by the question of how someone with such a powerful inner calling deals with darkness, exhaustion and doubt,” she says. “That makes her relatable.”

Swiss‑Indian Fritschi‑Cornaz has been involved in India for years. Together with her husband, she founded the Zariya Foundation, which supports education and health projects. “On our visits I experienced how much small gestures matter,” she says.

“Mother Teresa probably did, at times, almost lose her mind because of all the doubts she repressed.” – Jacqueline Fritschi‑Cornaz

The film also shows that Mother Teresa came up against limits. Letters published after her death describe phases of deep crises of faith and meaning – even a feeling of God’s absence. “This inner struggle moved me,” says Fritschi‑Cornaz. “And it makes her decision to keep being there for others even greater.”

The film tells its story on two time levels: a contemporary narrative about Kavita (played by Banita Sandhu), a young woman in London who becomes unexpectedly pregnant, and the life stages of Mother Teresa beginning in 1940s Calcutta. Kamal Musale directed the film. “The stories interweave without becoming a rigid biography,” says Fritschi‑Cornaz. “It’s about compassion in action.”

As for the shoot, conditions were challenging. “Filming in the slums of Calcutta is loud, hot and unpredictable,” she recalls. “At the same time, we captured scenes there that no studio could have given us.” The team worked closely with local organisations; authenticity was crucial.

Criticism of Mother Teresa and her homes is not left out. There have been recurring allegations about medical standards, proselytising or donation practices. “We didn’t want to gloss over anything,” says Fritschi‑Cornaz. “But we also show what she concretely did for the abandoned.” The figure is allowed to remain ambivalent.

Recovering an “uncomfortable side” of the icon is important, Fritschi‑Cornaz believes. “Holiness doesn’t mean perfection, but a willingness to be touched and to act.” In one scene, Teresa wrestles in prayer – “not a smooth image, but a human being.” Perhaps, Fritschi‑Cornaz says softly and without pathos, Teresa “at times almost lost her mind because of all the suppressed doubts.”

The role also left its mark on her personally. “I’ve learned to meet myself and others with more grace,” she says. “Compassion starts small: listening, holding a door, not leaving someone lying there.” It may sound banal, “but that’s what a society lives on.”

The reactions from early screenings encouraged her. Many viewers wrote after the film that they left the cinema “with a task.” “If that happens, then everything was worth it.”

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Captions:

• The Oberrieden actress Jacqueline Fritschi‑Cornaz has, for years, built close ties during her visits to India with the people she portrays.
• Jacqueline Fritschi‑Cornaz as Mother Teresa.

Info box: Cinema release: Thursday, 27 October 2022. “Mother Teresa & Me,” a drama by Kamal Musale, starring Banita Sandhu, Jacqueline Fritschi‑Cornaz, Deepti Naval, et al.; 122 minutes.

Source note: Zürichsee‑Zeitung, Thursday, 27 October 2022, Region, p. 5.