Northwest Film Forum

An unyielding feeling of responsibility for the suffering of others links filmmaker Julia Haslett to her idol, Simone Weil, a philosopher and “great spirit” who died 70 years too early for Haslett to ever know her. Encounter chronicles and embodies Haslett’s attempt to connect with the French mystic by any means possible, from interviewing Weil’s friends and relatives to hiring an actress to play Weil in an exclusive “interview.” The film hovers between biography and self-reflection, breaking traditional boundaries of documentary filmmaking in its compassionate exploration of the woman who “died of love.”