Redeeming Love (2022 film)

Redeeming Love is a 2022 American Christian Western romance film directed by D. J. Caruso, who co-wrote the screenplay with Francine Rivers. The film is based on Rivers' 1991 novel of the same name and is set in the American Old West during the California Gold Rush. It stars Abigail Cowen, Tom Lewis and Logan Marshall-Green.
The film was co-produced by Pinnacle Peak Pictures, Mission Pictures International, and Nthibah Pictures, and was filmed in Cape Town, South Africa. It was theatrically released by Universal Pictures on January 21, 2022, and was panned by critics.
==Plot==
Sarah "Angel", who was sold into prostitution at the age of eight, survives through hatred and self-loathing in 1850s California. When God orders Michael Hosea to marry her, she obeys him, but this command proves to be more of a challenge to him than he anticipated.
Before being sold into prostitution, Sarah knows only rejection from men. As a child, she overhears her father, Alex Stanford, say that she should never have been born. Sarah learns that her father is married and her mother, Mae, is both his mistress and the victim of an abusive relationship. Sarah watches her mother grieve and eventually die, rejected by the man she loves. Now eighteen and going by the name Angel, she believes that she knows everything about men and how to give them what they want. One night, one of her customers is her father, and she knowingly has sex with him to punish him for how he treated her mother. He does not recognize her, but when he finds out the next morning, he commits suicide.
When Michael enters her room and tells her he wants to marry her, she is thrown off guard, but remains aloof toward him. After she is nearly beaten to death, she agrees to marry Michael and leave with him as he nurses her back to health. Michael continues to surprise her as he claims to love her as his wife, and refuses to have sex with her. Michael is different from any man Angel has ever known, which leaves her confused and afraid to trust him. She runs away at her first opportunity, but Michael finds her and convinces her to come home.
The next time Angel runs away, she gets a ride with Michael's brother-in-law, Paul, who hates her because of her past. When he demands payment for the ride, she pays by allowing Paul to have sex with her. Back in the city, Angel is forced back into prostitution, but finds it more difficult now to remain distant. When an angry Michael arrives at the brothel and takes her home again, the relief on her face when she sees him gives him hope and allows him to forgive her. For the first time, Angel is truly honest with Michael about her past, and their relationship begins to grow based on honesty and affection.
Angel does not run away from Michael again for a long time. But when she is terrified to find herself falling in love with him, she remembers what love did to her mother, and forces herself to leave. This time, however, she stays away from her old life, and is able to make an honest living for the first time in her life. When Michael finds her yet again, she confesses that she ran away because she was scared to love him, and he assures her that she can trust him. She agrees to go home with him again.
The final time Angel runs away, it is not because she does not love Michael, or because she is scared of her love, but out of a desire to sacrifice for him. She knows that what Michael wants most in the world is children and she is unable to bear children herself. She believes that by leaving, Michael will find someone else to marry and be happier without her. When she leaves this time, she intends to stay away forever, but Michael does not go after her, deciding that she needs to come back on her own. Angel is gone for three years, and has started a successful mission to help other young prostitutes, when Paul finally comes to find her. Paul realizes that he has been wrong all this time and tells Angel that Michael still loves her.
Angel returns home to Michael, offering her love and her life. He is overjoyed when she gives him the only gift she has left to give, that being her real name, Sarah. God shows his faithfulness to Michael and Sarah throughout their lives, miraculously blessing them with children and success in all their endeavors, and they are happily married for the rest of their lives.Redeeming Love Movie | Official Site
==Cast==
* Abigail Cowen as Angel
* Tom Lewis as Michael Hosea
* Logan Marshall-Green as Paulhttps://www.instagram.com/p/CDKjJk7lx3K/
* Famke Janssen as Duchess
* Nina Dobrev as Mae
* Eric Dane as Duke
* Livi Birch as Sarah Stafford
* Brandon Auret as Magowan
* Ke-Xi Wu as Mai Ling
* Jamie-Lee O'Donnell as Luckyhttps://www.instagram.com/p/CITa6wbFAua/
* Tanya van Graan as Sallyhttps://www.instagram.com/p/CDffB0lFvSq/
* Clyde Berning as Rab
* Josh Taylor as Alex Stafford
* Willie Watson as John Altman
* Lauren McGregor as Elizabeth Altman
* Daniah De Villiers as Miriam Altmanhttps://www.instagram.com/p/CG704JrFuwi/
* Tayah Ronen Abels as Ruth Altman
==Production==
Filming concluded in Cape Town, South Africa in March 2020. The film itself was announced in April 2020, with D.J. Caruso directing and Roma Downey and Francine Rivers executive producing. Rivers also wrote the script, along with Caruso. Redeeming Love marks the second collaboration between producers Cindy Bond and Simon Swart, the first being 2018's I Can Only Imagine. Wayne Fitzjohn, Michael Scott, and Brittany Yost also produce.
==Reception==
===Box office===
The film was released in 1,903 theaters by Universal Pictures on January 21, 2022. In United States and Canada, the film was projected to gross less than $5 million in its first three days. It went on to earn $3.5 million in its opening weekend, finishing fourth at the box office. It made $1.77 million in its second weekend, and $1 million in its third. The film dropped out of the box office top ten in its fourth weekend, finishing eleventh with $354,835.
===Critical response===
 Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale, while those at PostTrak gave it a 85% positive score, with 72% saying they would definitely recommend it.
==References==
==External links==
* Official website
* 
Category:2022 films
Category:2022 romance films
Category:2020s historical films
Category:2020s Western (genre) films
Category:American films
Category:American historical romance films
Category:American Western (genre) films
Category:Book of Hosea
Category:Films about the California Gold Rush
Category:Films about prostitution in the United States
Category:Films based on adaptations
Category:Films based on American novels
Category:Films based on the Hebrew Bible
Category:Films based on romance novels
Category:Films based on Western (genre) novels
Category:Films directed by D. J. Caruso
Category:Films produced by David A. R. White
Category:Films scored by Brian Tyler
Category:Films set in 1850
Category:Films set in California
Category:Films shot in South Africa
Category:Pure Flix Entertainment films
Category:Universal Pictures films
Category:2022 American films
Category:2022 in film