The Nun

"The crux is, for Susanne, devout as she is, she feels that she has never received the calling from God. Her eventual vow-taking ceremony is conspicuously omitted on the screen, and reckoning by the reactions of her mother (Lénier) and Mother Superior Mme de Moni (Presle, ever so graceful and compassionate), something is certainly amiss there. Later Susanne claims that she has no recollection of the ceremony, perhaps she was in a fugue, witnessed by many, that fact could have been graciously taken as a testimony of revoking her vows had the church assumed a more liberal attitude towards its devotees. So one can see that it is religious orthodoxy, not Catholic church itself is the fair game here."

read my full review on my blog: cinema omnivore, thanks

When "The Nun" was released in the US in 1971, the movie generated a lot of positive reviews. Anna Karina's performance was unanimously hailed as a great one. Judith Crist of New York Magazine called it "unforgettable." Archer Winsten of the New York Post described it as "superb". Gene Shalit dubbed Anna as "exceptional" while Kathleen Carroll of the New York Daily News thus enthused: "Anna Karina gives a performance of unusual depth". Indeed, Anna's interpretation is one of her best in a career of over 70 movies. It ranks with her performances in "Vivre sa Vie", "Pierrot le Fou", "Rendezvous a Bray", "L'Alliance" and "L'Etranger". She was reunited with Rivette in the musical "Haut Bas Fragile". She is slated to direct her second movie this year in Montreal, a road movie with the composer Philippe Katerine.

This is exactly the kind of thing I would watch on Encore movie channel as a 13 year old in the 90s and think because it was a highly specific film hidden in the dark hour of 2 AM that it must be underground or convey secret things about life.

And I guess it does if these are secret, irrelevant, forgotten things, like the dream of a previous era that one can never know to be true or false.

But for sure, the films I saw like this I won't forget. They are like whole history lessons delivered in double--the time period of the story, and the culture period of the production.

The acting, and the beautiful set pieces and locations, and the nonmusical, drony bell music add to this impression of jarringly subtle value, meanwhile the story has that quality of classic French novels which I can somehow feel emanating from old Penguin paperbacks... the height of drama in an atmosphere of emptiness, the pathetic outnumbered by the purely unsympathetic, scene after scene; and all of it mired in seriousness and God.

Drink a few beers and go for it!

one of films who reflects inspired vision about Diderot's novel and high performances. one of the most impressive roles for Ana Karina and touching science for explore the detail for Liselotte Pulver. a film as puzzle of delicate nuances. subtle, cruel, delicate, precise, touching. and surprising for the atmosphere and for the image. reflecting the spirit of a period, it becomes a gem. for the grace and for the cruelty. for the vulnerability of each character and for the force of the lead character. for the beauty of image. and for the art of Jacques Rivette to use a theme in the most convincing manner. a film about freedom. and the fight for it.

As the ruthless Diana Monti in Georges Franju's 'Judex' (1963), Francine Berge (soon to be seen in Philippe Garrel's forthcoming 'La Lune Cravee') had attempted to abduct virginal young heroine Jacqueline Favreaux (played by Edith Scob) while disguised as a nun. Three years later it's now Anna Karina she has in her clutches as the cruel Sister Sainte-Christine.

As it reels from one abuse scandal to the next the last thing the Catholic Church needs right now is the timely revival of this harrowing reminder of the sheer relentless boredom and awfulness of convent life over two centuries earlier into which young women were often cast for financial rather than spiritual reasons. Especially as we now know the church was still pursuing it's abuse of the vulnerable even as it waged a furious campaign to suppress this film on it's initial appearance back in the sixties.

An incongruously sumptuous-looking production in widescreen & colour from one of the most austere directors of the Nouvelle Vague, the film is of course vastly enhanced by the melancholy beauty of Anna Karina in the title role and by the ever delightful Lilo Pulver as the sapphist Mother Superior of a rollicking and worldly convent that closely resembles Castle Anthrax in 'Monty Python and the Holy Grail'.