Nasty Habits

It may not be perfect not for a long shot but, it is based on a Muriel Spark novel as a sort of parody for Watergate but instead of The White House in Washington Dc, we have an Abbey in Philadelphia. The pleasures that the film offers are mostly centered on a cast of extraordinary actresses from different parts of the world and from different schools of acting. Glenda Jackson plays the Nixonian Abbess and Glenda Jackson now in 2018 is making a phenomenal return to acting after 25 years of total commitment to her Country as a vociferous Member of Parliament. Last years he gave us a stage rendition of King Lear that by all accounts it was magnificent and at the moment she's on Broadway at 81 years of age in Edward Albee's Three Tall Women. I found her performance in Nasty Habits devoid of tricks or frills, spot on and a lot of fun to watch. Asif all this wasn't enough, Geraldine Page, Melina Mercouri, Sandy Dennis even Edith Evans. They alone make this movie compulsive viewing.

This is a wonderfully dry parody of the Watergate scandal set in a Philadelphia Abbey. It's election time, and to insure her victory as head abbess, Glenda Jackson and her cohorts scheme a break-in of her competition's sewing box. Yes, sewing box, where the young nun's love letters from her illicit lover are stored. Oh, the scandal! The plot thickens as the events leading up to the scandal are revealed (wiretappings and bribery, what else?), and even the Vatican (re: congress) would like to wash their hands of these power-hungry renegades. The layers of comedy might throw some viewers off, as this kind of humor is very rare these days. It's simultaneously whimsical and wicked, and all of the performers handle it with the most delicate touch (despite the premise, this is not 'nuns on parade'!). And like the magnificent DICK (1999), younger audiences who have little or no knowledge of Watergate will be in a fog. But the cast alone insures great pleasure just to watch them at their best. Glenda Jackson is superb as a very mannered version of Richard Nixon, and the supporting cast (some of the best actresses of that generation) are likewise mannered equivalents of 'all the president's men'. Well, somewhat mannered. Geraldine Page seems like a chain-smoking George Raft, and Sandy Dennis is Bugs Bunny incarnate. They're brilliant performances, all!

"Nasty Habits" is yet another film which operates under the idea that seeing a nun (or a priest, or a "person of God" in general) do something "nasty" (despite the title, don't get your hopes up in this case, the film is far too tame to have any exploitation value; there are no laughs, either) or even mildly devilish will be such a shock to the viewers that it's enough to build a movie around. Well, it's not. This is an one-joke comedy where even the one joke is not funny. A top-notch cast creates expectations which are never fulfilled; not even Susan Penhaligon's charm can save it. * out of 4.

A cutthroat election for Abbess within the walls of a Philadelphia convent. Watergate satire in nun's habits from screenwriter Robert Enders (working from Muriel Spark's novel "The Abbess of Crewe") and director Michael Lindsay-Hogg received a few critical raves upon its release, yet the film was overlooked by the public upon its theatrical run (it plays better on the small screen, anyway). Glenda Jackson as Sister Alexandra (Richard Nixon) and Sandy Dennis as Sister Winifred (John Dean) have the brightest moments, but Melina Mercouri as Sister Gertrude (Henry Kissinger) has always been an acquired taste. Some big laughs, though the movie, a British-US co-production, isn't very well-made or edited and is shot in gloppy Technicolor. ** from ****