La religieuse

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!

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'.

Playing a role that few people thought would ever fit her and shadowed by vultures predicting disaster, Liselotte Pulver delivered the surprise coup of many a cinematic season in the icily directed 'La Religieuse'.

Ms. Pulver, the beloved eternal comedienne of the German cinema, has taken on that most daunting role: the lesbian Mother Superior, the ultimate debauched nun in the ultimate 'Why was the Revolution necessary?' tale, Denis Diderot's grand tale 'La Religieuse'. Working against type and expectation under the direction of Jaques Rivette, Ms. Pulver has created the most complex and compelling portrait of her long career, and she has done this in ways that deviate radically from her former screen roles.

Ms. Pulver's Mother Superior, emerges in this adaptation with her monumental weakness intact. But something new and affecting is simmering within the character, a damning glimpse of self-awareness. You get the sense that if her frantic movement stops for a second, she'll deflate into a small and bitter creature.

In films like 'Die Züricher Verlobung' and 'Das Wirtshaus I'm Spessart' Ms. Pulver's persona has always been that of a delectable waif, a vulnerable creature with a heart of gold. Here she was cast against type and rumors went that she did not get along with Mr. Rivette. And then, halfway through the film, there she was, and for the first time in her long career she didn't look remotely like an ingénue.

Ms. Pulver's portrait is so intimate and persuasive that you aren't allowed to step back and think, 'What a monster she is.' That's because, thanks to this actress's willingness to turn herself and her character inside out, you've been inside her mind. What a sad and fascinating place it is.

"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

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.