The Nun's Story (1959)
Country: US
Technical: col/1.78:1 151m
Director: Fred Zinnemann
Cast: Audrey Hepburn, Peter Finch, Edith Evans, Dean Jagger, Peggy Ashcroft
Synopsis:
The daughter of an eminent surgeon between the wars leaves her comfortable existence to join an order of nuns. Although determined by her need to nurse the sick, she chafes at the strict rules of the order, particularly when it gets in the way of her work.
Review:
Based on a novel about an actual Belgian sister in the 1930s, Zinnemann's film, shot on location and at Cinecittà, is a characteristically painstaking and finely wrought piece of work. Using an aspect ratio uncommon in American films of the time, and lighting that avoids stridency in keeping with the measured pace of the narrative, the director allows the growing conflict within his protagonist to come through in Hepburn's striking performance. Uncompromising by nature, she is the last person on earth to become a nun, constantly judging herself for her own shortcomings, but is driven by her vocation to continue the struggle for obedience. She gains a measure of independence in the Congo, as assistant to the atheist Dr Fortunati, but even there she finds her ambitions thwarted by her superiors, in an effort to curb her pride. A sober, even solemn film, at times, but one of few so sensitively to grapple with what it means to be human and submit to God.
Country: US
Technical: col/1.78:1 151m
Director: Fred Zinnemann
Cast: Audrey Hepburn, Peter Finch, Edith Evans, Dean Jagger, Peggy Ashcroft
Synopsis:
The daughter of an eminent surgeon between the wars leaves her comfortable existence to join an order of nuns. Although determined by her need to nurse the sick, she chafes at the strict rules of the order, particularly when it gets in the way of her work.
Review:
Based on a novel about an actual Belgian sister in the 1930s, Zinnemann's film, shot on location and at Cinecittà, is a characteristically painstaking and finely wrought piece of work. Using an aspect ratio uncommon in American films of the time, and lighting that avoids stridency in keeping with the measured pace of the narrative, the director allows the growing conflict within his protagonist to come through in Hepburn's striking performance. Uncompromising by nature, she is the last person on earth to become a nun, constantly judging herself for her own shortcomings, but is driven by her vocation to continue the struggle for obedience. She gains a measure of independence in the Congo, as assistant to the atheist Dr Fortunati, but even there she finds her ambitions thwarted by her superiors, in an effort to curb her pride. A sober, even solemn film, at times, but one of few so sensitively to grapple with what it means to be human and submit to God.
Country: US
Technical: col/1.78:1 151m
Director: Fred Zinnemann
Cast: Audrey Hepburn, Peter Finch, Edith Evans, Dean Jagger, Peggy Ashcroft
Synopsis:
The daughter of an eminent surgeon between the wars leaves her comfortable existence to join an order of nuns. Although determined by her need to nurse the sick, she chafes at the strict rules of the order, particularly when it gets in the way of her work.
Review:
Based on a novel about an actual Belgian sister in the 1930s, Zinnemann's film, shot on location and at Cinecittà, is a characteristically painstaking and finely wrought piece of work. Using an aspect ratio uncommon in American films of the time, and lighting that avoids stridency in keeping with the measured pace of the narrative, the director allows the growing conflict within his protagonist to come through in Hepburn's striking performance. Uncompromising by nature, she is the last person on earth to become a nun, constantly judging herself for her own shortcomings, but is driven by her vocation to continue the struggle for obedience. She gains a measure of independence in the Congo, as assistant to the atheist Dr Fortunati, but even there she finds her ambitions thwarted by her superiors, in an effort to curb her pride. A sober, even solemn film, at times, but one of few so sensitively to grapple with what it means to be human and submit to God.