Mary the mother of Jesus (Maia Morgenstern) and Mary Magdalene (Monica Bellucci) console each other in their grief. Traumatized, they have just witnessed the brutal whipping of Jesus. The crucifixion lies ahead. It is thus a powerful portrait of shared suffering, the very robes of the two women seemingly interwoven in the closeness of their embrace. Light naturally highlights the face of Mary Magdalene and the strong hands of Jesus? mother tightly holding her. The sense of helplessness and horror for the two women must have been overwhelming. Jesus? mother perhaps sensed a divine purpose in the suffering, yet it was being inflicted upon her own son. Drawing strength from each other, these two women who loved Jesus so much purposed to be with him until the end.