La religiosa

La religieuse is an interesting account of the life of the recluse who seeks a life of serenity, away from the distraction of the world only to find themselves amind cruel, pitiless and sadistic individuals who use religion and the name of God as an excuse to inflict pain on others. Prior to watching this adaptation, I have read few pages of Diderot's novel, and I can say that the movie does justice to the work, and now that I am continuing the reading, I can vividly picture the scenes of the movie, along with Pauline Etienne who gives life to the character of Suzanne Simonin, as i read through the pages.

Denis Diderot wrote La Religieuse (The Nun) in 1780 and the power in this story remains intact in this screen adaptation by Guillaume Nicloux (who also directs) and Jérôme Beaujour. Diderot was a radical freethinker, rejecting conventional dogma and associated himself with some of the most enlightened philosophers of his age. His books were burned and Diderot himself served three months in Vincennes prison in retaliation for his attacks on the conventional morality of the day. Some of his books were considered so radical that they were banned until after his death.

The story takes place in France, in the 1760s. Born to a bourgeois family, Suzanne (Pauline Etienne) is a beautiful young girl with a natural talent for music. Despite her faith, she is dismayed when her parents send her off to a convent, expecting her to become a nun. Suzanne first resists the rules of the convent, but soon finds out that she is an illegitimate child, leaving her no other option than to pronounce her vows and suffer the consequences of her mother's sin. She soon wants to escape the religious path and is trying to revoke her vows when the Mother Superior, who had brought her comfort and solace, dies. Her successor, Sister Christine (Louise Bourgoin), turns out to be a sadistic and cruel Mother Superior, inflicting the worst forms of humiliation upon Suzanne, such as depriving her of food and clothing. Suzanne is finally transferred to another convent, where she discovers another kind of Mother Superior (Isabelle Huppert), who develops an inappropriate affectionate bond with her. The story is one of a woman trying to resist imposed religious values, revealing the dehumanizing effect of cloistered life.

Pauline Etienne is radiant as Suzanne and as always Isabelle Huppert delivers a riveting performance. The costumes by Anaïs Romand are especially fine as is the musical score by Max Richter. This is a superb film on every level.

In 1966 ,when the first version of Diderot's novel was released, there was an outcry :the Church insisted that the movie be called "Suzanne Simonin,la religieuse de Diderot ". Half a century later ,history did not repeat. The Catholic Church has seen worse.

Nicloux 's remake is not in the least inferior to Rivette's work ; it's downright different from it ,and with the exception of Micheline Presles, has a more convincing cast : Pauline Etienne, in the tradition of Catherine Mouchet ("Thérèse") , is a more credible tormented nun than the beautiful but inexpressive Anna Karina ; she shines in the scene of her vows where one feels her confusion and her human hesitations .Ditto for Isabelle huppert ,one of the best living French actresses,who effortlessly outshines Liselotte Pulver in the thankless part of the homosexual mother superior who falls madly in love with unfortunate Suzanne who has not got a clue but knows that there's something wrong in this ,to put it mildly, disconcerting relationship .Nicloux smartly uses the old French ditty from the seventeenth century "Mon Père M'a Donné Un mari" (= my father gave me a husband) , which denounced the drama of the numerous daughters married against their will .When the lesbian mother superior reprises the song , she identifies herself at Suzanne's husband ;Huppert is only supporting ,but she blows everyone off the screen in her scenes.

Neither Rivette nor Nicloux was faithful to the end of the novel : after escaping from the convent ,the heroine was desperately looking for a job as a governess or a simple servant in a castle ;the book ends with a PS that augurs badly .The former director gave a pessimistic tragical denouement.

Nicloux ,on the other hand ,developped an aspect of the novel : Suzanne is an illegitimate child ; Diderot who was an atheist , made the mother a hypocrit who thought that,by giving her daughter as an offering to God, she was able to wash her sin away. Some space is given over to this affair which leads to a (relatively) optimistic conclusion : the wonderful pictures of the nature in the last sequences,sharply contrast with the place were Suzanne was "buried alive".

... given the age of the story - but this disappoints on other fronts as well.

Firstly, the Dickensian "let's drag everyone through misery until the deus ex machina ending" is just too well-worn for me, but could have been OK if the execution were more interesting on the way. Sadly, I was bored quite often, waiting for something to happen (or just not to see again something already well-signposted) and some of the acting (sadly including Huppert's turn here) was just not very convincing.

Ultimately, a nicely-shot but (for me) too-familiar tale of the crushing power of systems and the risks of resistance. Others may have more fun with it.

If it were up to her that is. Bad jokes aside, this is based on a novel that has already seen an incarnation (no pun intended) in movie that was made in the sixties. I can neither relate to that movie or the book, since I haven't read or watched those. But I can say that I can relate to our main character here. And who would not be able to? Being forced to do something you don't want to, is something everyone has had to go through in different variations.

I do wonder what the church is saying about this, although it's obvious that the blame goes to single persons instead of everyone. The structure is pretty neat, with someone reading what happened and us being thrown into that mix. Great sets and costumes and a very well acted (underplayed) main role. Sometimes the devil is in the detail ...