Customer Reviews

Agnes of God [VHS]

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Agnes of God has a very tight script, plot and cinematography. It is gripping from end to end. The film is not about religion but about the inter-personal and intra-personal conflicts of a psychiatrist, the mother superior of a community of nuns and one of her young nuns.

Set in Montreal, the movie opens with a very young, pretty nun being discovered unconscious and splattered with a lot of blood. A dead newborn baby is also discovered in the room.

Presumably, unknown to anyone, the nun, Sister Agnes (Meg Tilly), had been pregnant, and she strangled the baby immediately upon its birth. She is charged with manslaughter.

A psychiatrist, Dr. Martha Livingston (Jane Fonda), is summoned by the court to make a diagnosis of the woman. Initially Dr. Livingston resisted the assignment, because she said, it was an open and shut case. The community of nuns is cloistered, and for Dr. Livingston to do her job, she must penetrate the world of the cloister. She is not at all congenial or sympathetic towards the nuns. It turns out she has her own emotional ax to flail against the church.

Mother Miriam Ruth (Anne Bankcroft), the mother superior of the convent, is equally hostile to Dr. Livingston. She is adamantly opposed to having a psychiatrist diagnose Sister Agnes, but she has no choice since it is a legal matter. She is faced with the dilemma of sending her young charge go to jail or the nuthouse. Later on, it comes out that the prioress has been keeping a few secrets of her own related to the issue.

Everyone denies knowing the girl was pregnant. No one has any idea how it happened. Its obvious the postulate/novice is suffering from a serious psychiatric illness, or several. She has the social and emotional development of a naïve grade school child.

The few surprises and plot twists are well spaced and more than enough to keep the plot flowing. I found all of the characters and action credible. The three main characters are all multi-dimensional. The Mother Superior is well rounded, a mature person and leader, full of flaws and dragging a lifetime of baggage. Sister Agnes is the epitome of innocence and purity. She comes across as truly otherworldly. Her singing symbolizes both. I was a little disappointed in Dr. Livingston. Considering she was a psychiatrist, I thought she was a too lacking in self-knowledge. Her chain smoking was both annoying and symbolic.

Dr. Livingston's assigned task is diagnosing Sister Agnes only, not cure her, but Dr. Livingston quickly channels her anger into passionately trying to help her. She succeeds as a psychiatrist and as a human being.

Director Norman Jewison adapted the Broadway play of the same name with an A list of performers who, despite their individual and combined magnificent talents, can't quite salvage what might be to some a disappointing resolution. Still, getting there is a provocative odyssey in defining the fine line between divine faith and science. In a usually engaging performance, Jane Fonda is a chain-smoking psychiatrist in a French-speaking Canadian territory and is appointed by the Crown to evaluate the mental stability of a novice nun, Agnes (brilliantly played by Meg Tilley in an Oscar-nominated supporting role) who gives birth and then kills her newborn in her blood-spattered convent room. Soon, with Agnes proclaiming Immaculate Conception and virgin birth, the film's premise of faith vs. science vs. rape is laid. All too soon, Fonda clashes with the protective but domineering Mother Superior (Ann Bancroft, also in an Oscar-nominated turn). With the Crown dubious about Agnes' version of how she got pregnant, it nonetheless wants the case quickly adjudicated so as not to create a battered public image associated with prosecuting a nun. Along the way, we learn that the strain between Fonda and Bancroft is the former's rejection of the Catholic faith stems from the former's bad experience with a sister during childhood. Still, the focus is on the extent of human faith and its sometimes incompatibility with science. All three actress - Fonda, Bancroft and Tilley - are captivating in their adverse positions with each other in the argument of Science vs. God. The film's resolution is consistent with contemporary dogma and leaves us somewhat puzzled but more disturbed by its hint that faith may not be enough to salvage ourselves. Then again, maybe there's not supposed to be a happily-ever-after or comfortable absolution: after all, even with the strongest of faith, not everything ends happily ever after. Nonetheless, "Agnes of God" remains a tantilizing film that entices its viewers to question and reaffirm their faith and whether it can survive the invasion of skepticism that comes in the name op science. Beyond that, as an entertainment piece, "Anges of God" is a showpiece for its three lead characters, and watching them finding the answer none of them wants is a worthy watch.

There is something about the sweetness and innocence with which Meg Tilly plays the part of Agnes that attracts me to this movie time and time again. Perhaps it's the longing for some of the innocence and naivety that she portrays in Agnes. I think Jane Fonda's portrayal of Livingston is just wonderful. She manages to play a tough, atheistic psychiatrist with such gusto, yet she still appears very human and vulnerable.

I recommend this movie highly, especially to people who have struggled with the paradoxes involved in the conflict between faith and science.

This is an interesting film that raises the questions as to whether miracles still exist in the modern world. The movie and play were criticized by some as being an attack on Christianity in general and Catholicism in particular. Catholics have a good reason to be wary of broadsides from popular culture but sometimes these condemnations take the form of a knee jerk reaction. I for one found the movie a good debate about religion and spirituality and I found the movie to be highly moving and faith affirming.

The story concerns a young novitiate in a secluded convent in Canada who becomes pregnant and whose baby is killed.
The government is put in a difficult position since even though Canada has a large Catholic population a crime has been committed which must be investigated.

Jane Fonda, in one of her best roles, plays the neurotic psychiatrist Martha Livingstone who is sent to investigate the incident. The psychiatrist is not completely objective as she is what some might call "a fallen Catholic", someone who has unfortunately been harmed by religion. And she has an ax to grind.

Her nemesis (although "nemesis might be too strong of a word) is the mother superior of the convent played by Anne Bancroft. Her performance is also magnificent. Although the mother superior obstructs the investigation some of the most interesting dialogue about faith is between the psychiatrist and the mother superior. Both women almost more interested in Agnes to justify their own vocations and points of view as they are about getting to the truth.

Dr. Livingstone believe Agnes should be allowed to leave the convent and become an independent woman with as much religious zelotry as the mother superior demonstrates in wanting Agnes to remain at the convent.

By far the most interesting character is the nun who bore the child. She is played by Meg Tilly to perfection. She portrays a nun whose innocence is like that of a child.

We come to learn the mother superior has her reasons for covering up some of the facts of the case, the main one being that the innocent novitiate is the niece of the mother superior.

To the shock of Dr. Livingstone Agnes sometimes demonstrates stigmata (for those of you who do not believe in stigmata it is a fairly well documented phenomena -whether it is a miracle and proof of the existence of God is a matter of debate).

The high point of the film comes when Agnes is hypnotized. Beautiful cinematography and special effects gives a moving picture of what Agnes experienced.

At the end of the movie we are left to draw our own conclusions.

A very moving and thought provoking film.

Highly recommended.

Jim Connell "Hallstatt Prince"

This film provokes more questions than it provides answers. The score by Georges Delerue enhances the unfolding of the mysterious narrative. Meg Tilly shines as Agnes. Her performance is inspired and affecting.

It is a tribute to the talent of three fine actresses that this film is powerful and intriguing, despite a poor premise and deficient dialogue. However, the script does have certain merits. A few sequences (for example, the apparently mad Agnes's saying she has a revelation of a lady calling to her "Marie! Marie!") do keep one guessing, even if the characterization of both Agnes and the clearly intelligent and worldly superior make one wonder about the sanity of both.

Anne Bancroft's performance, in particular, is amazing. Many of her character's assertions are bizarre, and one is left to wonder whether she truly sees Agnes's situation as a miracle (...unlikely, since it led to manslaughter) and Agnes as a great saint (ditto). To depict a woman of clear intelligence and world knowledge as capable of thinking Agnes's child had no earthly father would seem impossible until one sees how Anne Bancroft's superb skill makes it close to believable.

I am a huge fan of ambiguity; honestly, for I think that a movie that moves you to question what you think you know is beyond important. It challenges our views of certainty and challenges us to contemplate a reality different than the one we have already accepted as definite. Because of this I can't really come down too hard on `Agnes of God' for trying to be just that. Sadly, the film doesn't fully accomplish the task, but it is a valiant effort at least.

The film revolves around a young nun, Sister Agnes, who violently gives birth to a child and then murders the baby. Psychologist Dr. Martha Livingston is given the task of determining whether or not Agnes is crazy, but in order to get to Agnes she has to go through the overly protective Mother Miriam Ruth. Martha has her own quorums with faith and religion that move her to butt-heads with Mother Miriam, but it is apparent that both want what is best for Agnes, they just both see a different answer to the question of `what is best'.

I'm yelling SPOILERS even though I don't really think that they are.

The problem I have with this particular films ambiguities is that they don't really validate themselves. We are meant to believe that there are two viable options to Agnes's conception; namely that she was unfaithful to god by having relations with a man, or that she was divinely impregnated. Dr. Livingston looks at things logically while Mother Miriam is insistent that the child was a child of god. The mere fact that the birth resulted in the murder of a child somewhat disputes Mother Miriam's whole argument and thus leaves the audience conflicted, for they want to embrace to possibility but are unable to, for accepting it would seem morally wrong; as if to admit that god would choose such an unstable vessel. The film also never backs up its claims with any real weight. It never gives us explanations as to why we should keep our options open. These few plot holes leave the ending more absolute than ambiguous, which then just comes out overly frustrated because they refuse to tie up the loose ends that they have created.

However off balance the films construction and or script was, there is no denying the fact that the performances within are beyond superb.

I am not a huge fan of Jane Fonda's style of acting. It seems almost too methodic, as if she is really thinking too hard. This comes across more here than it does in some of her other work. That said, she is effective and at times moving, but she is not the `superb' part I was talking about. No, it is Anne Bancroft and Meg Tilly who sum up my feelings on the films performances, and they sum them up with grace and power. Both actresses were Oscar nominated, and rightfully so (although I tend to think BOTH actress should have been in the `Supporting Actress' category). Bancroft plays Mother Miriam, the stern and matronly caretaker to young Agnes. Her beliefs are strong and they play a huge role in her approach to the situation at hand. She comes across cold and bitter yet she is at heart very loving and sincere. Meg Tilly is even more impressive as Agnes, capturing her jaded innocence with such heart and soul. We can see her suffering below the surface while she attempts to create a person filled with the grace of god.

In the end I can say that `Agnes of God' is a good film, but it fails to become the great film it was trying to be. I heard that the inconsistencies within the film are also present in the stage play from which this was spawned, and that is a shame. If only a few areas were tightened up then this would be a masterpiece.

I picked up this movie recently as I remembered seeing its poster in the theaters at the place where we used to go to see movies. My mom told me that was a movie for adults, so it always had some intregue for me. Now that I am an adult (ha ha ha), it holds just as many questions and just as much mystery.

Jane Fonda plays Dr. Livingston, a court appointed psychiatrist who has been called in to investigate a mysterious murder case. A young woman has given birth and apparently killed her baby soon after. The young woman was Sister Agnes, a novice at a French Canadian convent. She has no memory of the event, and the Mother Superior is bent on keeping others out. She and Dr. Livingston would clash several times. Dr. Livingston is the voice of reason, the realist, the one who is determined to find the answers and a perfectly reasonable explination for everything. Mother Superior is the one who has put her faith in God, trusting enough to leave some things alone to that of the whims of fate. And Agnes, sweet, innocent little Agnes is at the center of it all.

In the conversations Dr. Livinston has with Agnes, we find that she is innocent but hiding an abusive past. She doesn't understand many things about the world, and that she had been locked in this convent all her life she had no means in which to learn. Why would she? This is the place where she is finding happiness away from her abusive past. This is hard for Dr. Livingston to accept, why any young woman would want to be a nun and live this way. Dr. Livingston has her own problems, and perhaps she wants to atone for her own mistakes by finding and answer. We also find out that Mother Superior is not so innocent either. She did not become a nun until later in life, had once been married, and choose to leave the world that Dr. Livingston comes from. It is reveiled that Agnes is the Mother Superior's niece, and that she suspected that Agnes was pregnant to the point that she put a waste basket in her room for her to dispose of the child once it was born. Mother Superior also wants to protect Agnes and keep others out from disrupting their quest for spiritual realization. Naturally, there will be clashes.

And under hypnosis, we hear about the night Agnes's child was conceived. Per the instruction of a dying elderly nun, Sister Paul (who Agnes also said saw the mysterious man) tells her to go to the secret passage behind a statue of St. Michael in the basement. Agnes follows the passage and goes to the barn, where she would meet HIM. From there she cannot describe what happened. She says she saw him from her window in the field everynight and he sang a beautiful song to her, so she knew him. *Shudder*

What fascinated me the most about this movie was the fact that Agnes was a true innocent, and as one she really did not know where babies come from, and it calls upon your faith which you thought was long since dead. So who was the father? If you believe in science, it was a man. If you believe in faith, it was God. These are the only two answers possible. But, we will never know. But it just can't be, your rational side says to you. Yet, you hear Agnes's side of the story under hypnosis and you will always wonder, plus hearing her sing the song that her mysterious midnight visitor would sing to her. Even in this day and age, there are some that are truly blessed with the ability to communicate with the spiritual world. Agnes truly is of God.

Several weeks ago, I reviewed the 1973 film CATHOLICS, and made the point that it would be best understood and appreciated by Roman Catholics. AGNES OF GOD, released in 1985, is a picture for which the same might be said.

Meg Tilly stars as a young woman who's recently given birth to, and apparently murdered, her baby. No surprise there, except that she also happens to be a young nun, Sister Agnes, tightly cloistered in a French Canadian convent. Agnes has no memory of the deed, so Jane Fonda plays the court-appointed psychologist, Dr. Livingston, tasked with unearthing the facts of the matter. Who was the biological father? How did he breach the convent's walls to gain access to Agnes and impregnate her? What were the circumstances of the birth and killing? Anne Bancroft plays the head of the religious house, who apparently knows more than she's telling. Livingston won't be stopped, and the Mother Superior is indomitable. It's a case of the Irresistible Force meeting the Immovable Object.

All three actresses give exceptional performances in a film that pivots around two key elements of Catholicism, the doctrines of the Immaculate Conception and the Virgin Birth, as well as the phenomenon of the Stigmata. There's even a lighter moment as the Fonda and Bancroft characters discuss what sort of cigar might have been the favorite of certain of the Apostles. (Can you envision Peter smoking a big stogie?)

It's been argued that the picture, while undeniably excellent, was ultimately unsatisfying. I think such a conclusion misses the point, which is that some things, like the Immaculate Conception and the Virgin Birth, will never be proven facts, but must be accepted on faith by those so inclined. And, not all movie endings are necessarily tidy, nor should they be. Sometimes, the conjecture one is left with is the point of it all.

Meg Tilly plays Agnes, a nun in a convent in Montreal who apparently got pregnant and murdered her baby, but doesn't remember anything about it. Martha Livingston (Jane Fonda) is the court ordered psychiatrist who is called upon to examine Agnes and find out exactly what happend. Mother Superior (Anne Bancroft) is opposed to Ms. Livingston opening up Agnes' mind and searching for the truth. This movie has strong performances from all three ladies. Meg Tilly is outstanding as the young and naive Agnes. I believe she was nominated for an Oscar for this performance and deservingly so. Fonda and Bancroft also give strong believable performances. This story is filled with secrets,mystery and the wonderment of miracles. It's very touching and has a wonderful soundtrack as well. A must see.