Novitiate

Novitiate (2017) was written and directed by Margaret Betts. Margaret Qualley portrays Sister Cathleen, who decides to become a nun because of her love for Jesus. She was not raised as a Catholic. In fact, her mother (Julianne Nicholson) considers the decision as a horribly bad move.

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.

Think Nun Story, but without Audrey Hepburn. Not related, but I really liked that film. Anyways, Novitiate intrigued me because I have a knack for checking out independent releases and this seemed like something that could offer a deeply dark film about a religious crisis and the implications presented, in an environment where it is sacrilegious to have those types of feelings. That sentence probably made no sense, but I will say that Novitiate pleasantly meets its expectations and brings forth strong performances all around.

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

I watched this at home on BluRay from my public library, my wife chose to skip it.

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.

This film tells the story of a young woman who enters a convent to be a nun, out of her own volition.

Wow, the film may be slow to build up for the finale, but the finale is very profound. I am still rendered speechless and am very saddened by the unintended consequences of the reforms. Having the entire world and the entire reason of existence being invalidated is unimaginable. The film finished for twenty minutes already and I am still having a heavy chest. It is a very profound film.

"Novitiate" (2017 release; 123 min.) brings the story of Kathleen. As the movie opens, we are told it is "1964" and we get to know Kathleen as she is in a nuns' convent. "I was 17 when I entered the convent, 18 when I started the novitiate. We are all women in love." Wow. We then go to "Ten Years Earlier", as we get to know young Kathleen and her mother, and how Kathleen becomes interested in Catholic school, then the Catholic faith, and eventually the Catholic church. At this point we are 10 min, into to movie but to tell you more of the plot would spoil your viewing experience, you'll just have to see for yourself how it all plays out.

Couple of comments: this is the feature length debut of writer-director Maggie Betts, And what a debut it is! Betts takes a close look at what the road is like towards becoming a nun, with a 6 months postulate and then the 18 months novitiate. These are all young women with an idealistic view of the Catholic church. In a parallel story, Betts also examines the consequences of the Vatican II reforms. The Reverend Mother who runs the convent is entirely opposed to any ref0rms. "Isn't the church just perfect as it is?", she retorts when a younger nun questions her. As one might expect, the pace of the movie is quite slow and deliberate, so this isn't for anyone in a hurry. At times it almost feels like a documentary. I was bowled over by it all, to be honest, and felt deeply invested into these characters. There are a number of scenes in the movie that will break your heart (the disbelief of Kathleen's mother upon learning what Kathleen intends to do with her life; the "chapel of faults"--I shan't say more...). As it plays out, one can't help but be reminded of "The Nun's Story" starring Audrey Hepburn (when asked why she decided to become a nun, one of the young ladies refers to that movie). The movie is helped enormously by several towering performances: Melissa Leo as the Reverend Mother is outstanding, but even better is Margaret Qualley as Kathleen (in one of her first movie roles--she is best known for her recurring role in HBO's The Leftovers). Qualley reminded me physically immediately of a younger Kirsten Stewart. The range of emotions that Qualley is able to convey on the big screen makes it very clear to me that this is a major up-and-coming talent, the last of which we surely haven't seen. Same can be said of writer-director Maggie Betts. If it sounds like I am gushing about this movie, you bet I am. This movie is for me one of the best I have seen this year.

"Novitiate" premiered at this year's Sundance Film Festival to immediate critical acclaim. No idea why it's taken so long to reach my local art-house theater here in Cincinnati, but better late than never. The Saturday evening screening where I saw this at was attended very nicely. You could hear a pin drop, as the theater was enraptured by this film. If you are in the mood for a probing psychological drama that poses some serious questions about religion and faith and features several stunning acting performances, you cannot go wrong with this, be it in the theater, on VOD or eventually on DVD/Blu-ray. "Novitiate" is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!