Black Narcissus

I loved the authenticity of this film!

Honestly ive seen loads of nuns over my years and they all had loads of makeup on and perfectly fashioned eyebrows with shaved heads......

I cannot help but compare this with the 1947 movie of the same name. This may not be fair but I cannot separate the two. In a lot of ways, this remake is a lot more coherent than the original. At least I found it easier to follow which may be a detriment. Easier turns into simpler and overall, flatter than the original. It misses opportunities to be weird, ambiguous, humorous that the 1947 version did not. My advice, watch the original...obviously. If for no other reason than to see a large man bouncing on a small burro up and down the Himalayas. Then compare it to the simple horse in 2020/ Just one example of greatness vs average.

The story was interesting enough, and much better than the usual fare in the "nuns + supernatural" genre. The acting was excellent, as well as the script, though a little slow: basically it's a three hour suspense/drama movie, not a series.

The elephant in the room (or behind the palace) was the fake scenery. This could have been a minor flaw in the execution, except that the fake view was heavily featured throughout, with the apparent intent to be awe-inspiring. But it just seemed to be an actual vista inserted onto a green screen behind the palace set, and/or via CGI. And then when certain effects were added to the skyline to further the plot, they looked hopelessly amateurish and even more fake.

I can't agree with the grumbling viewers here who obviously are not used to thoughtful slow paced dramas. Black Narcissus the new T V version stays fairly close to the Powell and Pressburger classic 1948 film that made a star of Deborah Kerr, although I did see it a long time ago. Gemma Arterton, who I have no trouble watching for three hours, takes the Kerr lead, all very strict and committed on the outside but throbbing with burning passion inside her breast. Her object of desire is the handy man Mr Dean, looking and acting not dissimilar to David Farrar in the film, who clearly feels the chemistry and would like to return it. This can only be achieved on screen by long drawn out moments that build to a finality of some sort, be it happy or sad, but I'm not revealing it here. This pairing is complicated by Sister Ruth who has an overwhelming crush on Mr Dean but finds her love unrequited when she first tells him. This leads to the inevitable triangle, but will any of them achieve any happiness? The nuns are played by some well known actresses including the great Rosie Cavaliero and Gina McKee. Yes, it's slow but my wife an I were hooked for the 3 night showings. Jim Broadbent crops up to see if Sister Clodagh (Arterton) is successful or not at the teaching mission, rather like an area manager checking the staff at Tesco. I loved the special effects, excellent for a TV film, unlike some grumblests on here. I suspect some critics with low attention spans are only used to the fast edit movies of these days and have no appreciation of old fashioned melodramas like this. More please.

This was three 1.5 hr episodes. Episode 2 was useless. Even with only the first and third episode, I never really saw a story. Why was there a haunting? Did the German monks have the same haunting? Does it only affect women? I'll leave the source of the name a secret. But, it was very lame and is not related to the baseline(?) haunting story.