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18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Astonishing!, April 30, 1999
By A Customer
Initially banned in France in the 60s, this film version of Diderot's shocking novel about a young woman forced into the nunnery is considered the most traditional of New Wave master Jacques Rivette's oeuvre. But it is compelling, visually beautiful and poignant. The film is greatly abetted by the superb performances of the sterling cast-- Micheline Presle as the kindly mother superior, Liselotte Pulver as a lesbian nun and Anna Karina, Godard's muse and then wife, in the title role. Karina's performance is unforgettable,making this film one of the important achievements in French cinema.
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Freedom, where?, February 11, 2003
Anna Karina, Jacques Rivette's then wife, stars in this many tiered expose of social and religious norms in 18th century France. Anna Karina's striking beauty and smoldering sensuality are in full bloom and yet since she is an illegitimate daughter she is treated like a burden by her parents who want nothing more than to be rid of her. The convent is the easiest solution. And for Karina the convent is an especially cruel fate as she has grown up amid the most opulent surroundings. In the first scene of the film we see beautiful Karina being coerced into taking vows of chastity, poverty, and obedience. She rebels against the bizarre rituals she is being forced to take part in and is returned home but slowly she is coerced by both family and church to enter the convent. And the convent turns out to be just one long torture for her. Once there she is told she must surrender all individuality but the more they try and subdue her the more she fights back and since they can't convert her spirit she is soon being punished with more and more severe physical depravities. She applies to be released but the civil authorities fear doing anything that will upset the very powerful church authorities. Finally one sympathetic clergyman allows her to be transferred to another convent. Convent #2 is absolutely a world apart from the first convent. In fact it looks like the 1960's in this new locale as all the nuns wear beads and dress each according to their taste and sit hand in hand singing songs. This new convent is as liberal and permissive as the other convent was strict and disciplinarian but Karina soon finds out that convent #2 has a few irregularities of its own--like night visits from a wanton mother superior. Karina's beauty seems to be her curse. Karina confides to the parish priest about her fears of the mother superior whose intentions she only partially understands and the prieswho knows full well the mother superiors inclinations helps her escape. Once free of the convents walls however the priest also tries to accost her. The religious institution failed her in every way and society proves just as unkind. She is soon taken under the wing of a nice woman who feeds her but that woman turns out to be a madame of a brothel and the last scenes of the film show Karina yet again forced to take part in yet another bizarre ritual. A very powerful film which stays with you days after seeing it. I believe ultimately it is a story about how elusive a thing true freedom really is.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Studious Look at the Life of an Unwanted Woman, January 30, 2003
This review is from: The Nun (Widescreen Edition) [VHS] (VHS Tape)
Though Jacques Rivette is equated with the French New Wave his films are not marked by the quick cuts and time shifts and collage quality of other New Wave directors. Rivettes style is slow and meticulous with very long takes. Some New Wave film makers emphasize spontaineity by speeding things up Rivette does just the opposite--he slows things down and the effect of his very long scenes is that you have time to think and focus on things much more intently, perhaps even meditatively. The story is of Susan whose two older sisters have been married off. But Susan will not be married off because she was the product of a brief infidelity. Her presence is a constant reminder to her mother of that infidelity so she wants to be rid of her if only to clear her conscience. So Susan is coerced into becoming a nun. At first she refuses her vows but soon she sees no other way. Rivette painstakingly shows the inner torment this beautiful girl of 19 goes through as she is told she must vow to poverty, obedience and chastity for life. One understanding older nun helps her along but soon that only friend passes away and since Susan is not as docile as the others she is soon at odds with everyone in the convent. The Mother Superior tries to tame her with tortures and cruelties but Susans will is not broken. Finally her petitions to be transferred are accepted and she is off to convent number two. This second convent is idyllic, the sisters are much more liberal and much less severe, unfortunately for virtuous Susan its also a hotbed of sapphic activity. In the first convent Rivette showed us Susans rebellious side and in this new setting he shows us another side of her, her pure and innocent side. Rivette is studiously showing how conventions both social and religious shape people(or try to) and what blunt(and corrupt) instruments they prove to be especially when a true individual comes along and confronts them and refuses to be shaped by them.
Lastly there is Susans attempt to live in the outside world. But brought up in such cloistered surroundings and never having been given a proper education about the ways of the world and given the limited options available to women in 18th century France she is thoroughly unprepared, she remains an innocent though a thoroughly unique one to the end. The ending is abrupt. Rivette is never sentimental, he is matter of fact. He presents his scenes like facts and lets his viewers come to their own conclusion. Fascinatingly told story from a fascinating film maker.
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