European students of mine had been reporting their positive reviews, noting with delight that this Hollywood portrayal of Mary Magdalene was uncanny in its resonance with my own description in my book The Meaning of Mary Magdalene. The filmmakers—writers Helen Edmundson and Philippa Goslett, and director Garth Davis—did indeed portray Mary Magdalene in a pure and imaginative way, re-centering her as an apostle without the usual sexual or erotic innuendos.