Resurrection is a 1980 American fantasy drama film directed by Daniel Petrie and starring Ellen Burstyn with Sam Shepard, Richard Farnsworth, Roberts Blossom, Jeffrey DeMunn, and Eva Le Gallienne.
Edna Mae McCauley (Burstyn), comes back from temporary clinical death after a car accident and discovers that she has healing powers.
Edna soon becomes famous through her healings, attracting the devotion of those who need healing, the interest of a group of scientists, and the fear of her father John (Blossom) and lover Cal (Shepard).
Ellen Burstyn and Eva Le Gallienne received Academy Award nominations for Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress respectively.
The film was remade in 1999 and novelized by George Gipe.
Resurrection contains examples of the following tropes:
- Came Back Strong: Edna acquired healing powers after being clinically dead and then coming back.
- Equivalent Exchange: Edna's healings involve empathising with the other person to the point of taking on their disease...temporarily.
- Florence Nightingale Effect: Cal falls for Edna and she for him after she heals him.
- Foreshadowing: Joe's carelessness, displayed in the opening scene, is what brings about the accident.
- Healing Factor: Edna learns to heal herself.
- What Does She See in Him?: Cal is a moody and demanding jerkass with no particularly likeable characteristics, yet Edna still cares for him.
