Redeeming Love

The most striking thing here is the gap between its intended audience and the critics. On Rotten Tomatoes the critical score sat at 12 per cent while the audience score, on more than five hundred votes, reached 95. The source is Francine Rivers's novel of the same name, itself loosely drawn from the story of the prophet Hosea, commanded by God to marry a serial adulteress. The film moves this to the California gold rush and uses the contrast between glitter and gold as a running symbol. The controversy came from there. Despite being aimed at a Christian audience it contains explicit sexual content and partial nudity, and several Christian film outlets declined to recommend it. It was nonetheless rated PG-13 rather than R, which became a separate objection. D. J. Caruso directed, with Abigail Cowen, Tom Lewis, Eric Dane and Famke Janssen. Who it is for: viewers who like religiously themed romantic drama, redemption stories, and Rivers's novel. Who it is not for: anyone expecting the protagonist to act on her own will. She is largely defined by what is done to her, and the film's use of sex was judged both gratuitous and inconsistent.