Ajouter une intrigue dans votre langueSet in the early 1960s and during the era of Vatican II, a young woman in training to become a nun struggles with issues of faith, the changing church and sexuality.Set in the early 1960s and during the era of Vatican II, a young woman in training to become a nun struggles with issues of faith, the changing church and sexuality.Set in the early 1960s and during the era of Vatican II, a young woman in training to become a nun struggles with issues of faith, the changing church and sexuality.
- Prix
- 5 victoires et 14 nominations au total
- Sister Genevieve
- (as Lisa Stewart Seals)
- Cathleen Age 7
- (as Eliza Mason)
Avis en vedette
This is one of the better, maybe the best, of the movies I have seen this year. Maybe part of that is being a lifelong Catholic and remembering Vatican II and the changes this spawned in the Church. I was a boy about the same age the girls are depicted here in the early 1960s.
The movie deals with two distinct but interrelated stories. The most significant is the impact Vatican II changes had on cloistered Nuns. Melissa Leo, in a best-actress quality performance, is the Reverend Mother. She has not been outside the grounds for 40 years and she oversees the whole operation, only answering to the Archbishop. She is exact and she is stern, if she thinks a young girl does not have the right stuff she will send them home without review. When she gets instructions from the Archdiocese for changes she is stricken and saddened.
The other story is about a teenage girl from a dysfunctional and mostly Atheistic family. For reasons only she knows she was drawn to this "marriage with Jesus." She is played extremely authentically by Margaret Qualley (daughter of Andie MacDowell) as Cathleen, eventually Sister Cathleen.
The BD has a very informative "extra" showing the writer/director and 5 of the key cast being asked questions and their providing answers to the research and the making of the movie.
Superb movie, a bit underrated in my opinion.
The film is about a group of young girls who pledge themselves to become nuns. The film takes place somewhere in the early 70's, so there were many taboo elements including discovering sexuality that were just frowned upon at the time, especially at a Catholic school. The mother superior in the film is stern and cold but times are changing and the students discover the tolls that their pledged lifestyle takes on them and find out who they really are.
Margaret Qualley and Melissa Leo are just stellar in this film. Leo is always consistently good and she is just born to play the roles such as the Reverend mother in this film. The set and costume design is sleek and seems authentic for the time period and religious backdrop. Its a film that questions religion and how much of ourselves we can give to God. I find it interesting that the filmmaker had such a creative effort and if there were any personal influences in making the picture.
There is a crisis of faith and exploring human sexuality, which directly interferes with the practices of the sisterhood in the film. Its a good watch, although I think the film could have been shorter. It doesn't always work and probably will fizzle out as the year goes on but for real film lovers like myself its something to check out and form an opinion for.
7/10
As the movie progresses, I started to believe that her mother was right. Young women who want to love and serve Jesus are systematically brutalized and humiliated by the Reverend Mother (Melissa Leo). In fact, the Reverend Mother appears consumed by her desire not to allow the young women to think. She also makes it difficult for them to bond with each other. She demands total and absolute obedience from all the women--postulants, novitiates, and nuns.
Then, Vatican II ends, and the Catholic church wants to modernize and change. Whether this is good news or bad news for the nuns is an open question in the context of this movie.
You'll have to see the movie to learn what happens to Sister Cathleen and the other novitiates. We saw this film at Rochester's excellent Little Theatre, but it will work on the small screen. As I write this review, the movie has a anemic 6.7 IMDb rating. I think it's better than that.
Although the film doesn't have drill sergeants, it has a super-committed Mother Superior (Melissa Leo). She will punish swiftly with, for instance, the girls kneeling to walk while saying Hail Mary's or disciplining themselves with knotted ropes. But the real torture is the interior questioning of the young women about even the existence of God.
Nevertheless they are moving to become "brides of Christ," which when they dress in bridal gowns for the actual marriage borders on satire, hokum, or downright pathos. As more than one postulant avers, "Where is He?" daily, the girls are giving themselves to God while not feeling the divine presence.
Perhaps the biggest problem is the emergence in the early '60's of Vatican II, that progressive body of prelates that liberalized the Church and demoted the nuns. So much for that disrespect as 90,000 pure souls took the last train outta there.
The central postulant, Cathleen (Margaret Qualley), has a tough time with her vocation, much less her attraction to another hopeful. The complications of sexual yearnings in young women is a nicely figurative way of showing the challenges of taking 17 year old girls from a normal life, which usually involves young men.
Cathleen's mother, Julianne Nicholson (Nora Harris), serves as the vox populi questioning the sanity of the process as she is losing her daughter to these unknown forces of religion. For Catholics, Novitiate is a confirmation; for non-Catholics it's a gloss on the complexity of Catholic faith.
Le saviez-vous
- AnecdotesShot in Tennessee.
- GaffesToward the end of the movie, as a nun undresses, she is completely nude under her habit. It would have been rare that any nun would not have on some sort of undergarments in the 1960's.
- Citations
Reverend Mother: I can feel you, right next to me, for so long. With me all that time, my darling husband. And now you've abandoned me! And you hoped that I would lose faith in you? You imagined that I would just walk out those gates? I cannot. I made a commitment forty years ago. And even if you choose to turn your light from me forever... I am yours. Oh, my darling husband.
- ConnexionsReferences Au risque de se perdre (1959)
- Bandes originalesPie Jesu
Written by Gabriel Fauré
Meilleurs choix
- How long is Novitiate?Propulsé par Alexa
Détails
- Date de sortie
- Pays d’origine
- Site officiel
- Langues
- Aussi connu sous le nom de
- Novitiate
- Lieux de tournage
- Scarritt Bennett Center, Nashville, Tennessee, États-Unis(The convent of the Order of the Sisters of Blessed Rose)
- sociétés de production
- Consultez plus de crédits d'entreprise sur IMDbPro
Box-office
- Brut – États-Unis et Canada
- 580 346 $ US
- Fin de semaine d'ouverture – États-Unis et Canada
- 22 724 $ US
- 29 oct. 2017
- Brut – à l'échelle mondiale
- 580 346 $ US