The Third Miracle

1999 American film

Ed Harris
Anne Heche
Armin Mueller-Stahl
Charles Haid
Michael Rispoli
Barbara Sukowa

CinematographyJerzy ZielińskiEdited byDavid SiegelMusic byJan A.P. Kaczmarek

Production
companies

American Zoetrope
Franchise Pictures

Distributed bySony Pictures Classics

Release dates

September 13, 1999 (1999-09-13) (TIFF)
December 29, 1999 (1999-12-29) (United States)

Running time

119 minutesCountryUnited StatesLanguageEnglishBox office$591,142^[1]

The Third Miracle is a 1999 drama film directed by Agnieszka Holland and starring Ed Harris and Anne Heche. The film was shot in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada and Banská Štiavnica, Slovakia.^[2]

Plot

In Bystrica, Slovakia in 1944, near the end of World War II, an Allied bombing raid causes a tiny girl to pray for deliverance.

In Chicago, in 1979, Father Frank Shore (Ed Harris) is a priest, now a Postulator, who investigates claims of miracles for the Vatican performed by a devout woman whose death caused a statue of the Virgin Mary to bleed upon and cure a girl with terminal lupus. Now the woman has been nominated for sainthood.

Having never encountered a genuine miracle, he is known as the "Miracle Killer" for his track record for debunking false claims of miracles. Father Frank is suffering a crisis of faith when he is sent to investigate the miracles of a woman, the late Helen O'Regan who has been nominated for sainthood, and winds up becoming the greatest advocate for her canonization.^[3]

Father Frank uncovers a series of extraordinary events but the most extraordinary thing of all may be the "saint's" very earthly daughter, Roxane (Anne Heche). Roxane is a non-believer who cannot forgive her otherwise selfless mother for abandoning her at the age of 16.^[4]

Cast

Ed Harris as Father Frank Shore
Anne Heche as Roxanne
Armin Mueller-Stahl as Werner
Michael Rispoli as John Leone
Charles Haid as Bishop Cahill
Barbara Sukowa as Helen

Soundtrack

The soundtrack to The Third Miracle was released on December 14, 1999.

No.	Title	Artist	Length
1.	"Interrupted Dream: Opening Titles"	Jan A.P. Kaczmarek	1:33
2.	"Bystricia At War"	Jan A.P. Kaczmarek	2:51
3.	"First Prayer"	Jan A.P. Kaczmarek	2:18
4.	"Frank and Roxanne"	Jan A.P. Kaczmarek	3:33
5.	"Before Your Eyes"	Jan A.P. Kaczmarek	2:53
6.	"Prayer At The Lake"	Jan A.P. Kaczmarek	1:27
7.	"Falcone"	Jan A.P. Kaczmarek	1:49
8.	"Domine Jesu"	Jan A.P. Kaczmarek	1:11
9.	"Call From Bystricia"	Jan A.P. Kaczmarek	2:12
10.	"Helen O'Reagan"	Jan A.P. Kaczmarek	2:49
11.	"They Call You A Miracle Killer"	Jan A.P. Kaczmarek	0:43
12.	"Meeting In The Hospital"	Jan A.P. Kaczmarek	2:59
13.	"Ordinary Woman"	Jan A.P. Kaczmarek	2:18
14.	"Maria In The Hospital"	Jan A.P. Kaczmarek	2:34
15.	"I Wanted It To Be True"	Jan A.P. Kaczmarek	2:15
16.	"The Confession"	Jan A.P. Kaczmarek	1:57
17.	"Unfinished Love Story"	Jan A.P. Kaczmarek	2:55
18.	"Farewell"	Jan A.P. Kaczmarek	1:09
19.	"Memories From The Lake"	Jan A.P. Kaczmarek	2:22
20.	"The Bleeding Statue"	Jan A.P. Kaczmarek	4:49
21.	"The Third Miracle"	Jan A.P. Kaczmarek	3:20
Total length:			49:57^[5]

Reception

Critical response

The Third Miracle has an approval rating of 68% on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, based on 34 reviews, and an average rating of 6.1/10.^[6] Metacritic assigned the film a weighted average score of 55 out of 100, based on 23 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".^[7]

References

^ "The Third Miracle (1999) - Box Office Mojo". www.boxofficemojo.com. Retrieved 19 April 2018.
^ "Filming locations". IMDb. Retrieved 25 October 2023.
^ Holden, Stephen (2010). "Movies: About The Third Miracle". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. Archived from the original on October 19, 2010. Retrieved May 25, 2010.
^ "The Third Miracle (1999)". Retrieved 19 April 2018 – via www.imdb.com.
^ The Third Miracle Soundtrack AllMusic. Retrieved March 2, 2014
^ https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/third_miracle
^ https://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-third-miracle?ftag=MCD-06-10aaa1c