The second film by French New Wave director Jacques Rivette, adapted from the 1796 epistolary novel Le Religiouse by Denis Diderot, The Nun stands out from the freewheeling filmmaker’s career for its controlled, classical approach. Anna Karina stars as Suzanne, the youngest daughter of a wealthy lawyer in 18th-century Paris who is forced to take vows in a convent against her wishes. Suzanne is a devout woman who loves God but simply does not feel a calling and wishes to experience the world outside. When she sues to have her vows annulled, she suffers under a tyrannical Mother Superior who cruelly punishes her, and is sexually pursued by a decadent abbess when she relocates to a more permissive convent. The Nun is essentially a chamber drama, taking place almost entirely within austere convent cells and chapels, and Suzanne’s spirit and individuality is all but suffocated by the habit she wears and the cold, claustrophobic rooms she inhabits. Rivette treats convent life and ritual as a kind of performance, which Suzanne disrupts with her defiant protest. Karina powerfully brings Suzanne to life, and even while covered in the habit she stands out from the conformity of her sisters. Completed in 1966, the film was banned for a year in France and not seen in the U.S. until 1971. Extras include audio commentary by film critic Nick Pinkerton, a new "making-of" documentary short, and a booklet with an essay by film critic Dennis Lim. Recommended. (S. Axmaker)
The Nun
Kino, 140 min., in French w/English subtitles, not rated, DVD: $19.99, Blu-ray: $29.99 Volume 34, Issue 5
The Nun
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