The Nun's Story (1958)

Those who know me know that I like Catholic movies, but most of those tend to center around the priesthood, which is a decidedly more vibrant institution then the sisterhood. This was very clearly demonstrated in the recent movie Doubt, with contrasting scenes of priests enjoying liquor and jovial conversation, while nuns ate their dinner in silence. The Nun’s Story likewise demonstrates that contrast, in ambition and theme not that different from the later Otto Priminger film The Cardinal, this is however a far inferior entertainment. Here Audry Hepburn is a Belgian girl from a well off family who joins a nunnery in the late 1920's following an unspecified parting of ways with her boyfriend (my opinion of said boyfriend: breaking up with Audry Hepburn = profound stupidity). As if the image of Audry Hepburn in a habit isn’t tragic enough, the film is long and boring, punctuated with only one somewhat interesting character (Peter Finch as an atheistic doctor at a Catholic hospital in Africa) and a couple of scenes of semi intense nun battery.

This is a film I’d even describe as a sort of horror story. The first forty-something minutes giving us a very detailed (and slow) rendering of the process of becoming a nun. The austerity, the de-individualization, the constant critical emphases on even the most benign imperfections, such as ever looking at yourself in a mirror, or having a glass of water between meals. I defiantly appreciate that the film doesn’t minimize the difficulty of a Nuns life, but many of the scenes and events here-in that I think were meant to seem spiritual, rather seemed kind of abusive. The fact that the film ended the way it did, I think was gutsy and can even be read as a vindication of some of the criticisms one could direct towards nunnly life from watching this film. Still the movie was not entertaining enough to sustain much attention over its 2 ½ hour running time, and though competently made by Fred Zinneman I can not recommend it. 2 out of 5.