The Nun’s Story (1959)

The Nun’s Story
Directed by Fred Zinnemann
Written by Robert Anderson from a book by Kathryn Hulme
1959/USA
Warner Bros.
Repeat viewing/Netflix rental

[box] Rev. Mother Emmanuel: Do good, then disappear.[/box]

A stand-out Audrey Hepburn performance is only one of the highlights of this beautifully shot and thoughtful film.

Gabrielle van der Mal (Hepburn) is the highly intelligent daughter of a prosperous and famous research physician.  She has been assisting him in the lab and is an accomplished nurse.  As the film opens, she is preparing to become a nun in a nursing sisterhood.  One senses that her calling has more to do with nursing in the Congo than with a religious vocation.  Her father (Dean Jagger) doubts that his daughter has the selflessness to keep vows of obedience.

Sure enough, Gabrielle struggles from the outset with the order’s Rule, which requires inner and outer silence, sacrifice and humility.  She tries her utmost and eventually takes the name Sister Luke and permanent vows as a Bride of Christ. After several frustrating years, she is sent to Africa where she thrives in a less restrictive environment.  But the onset of war presents yet more challenges.  With Peter Finch as a surgeon; Edith Evans as the mother superior; Peggy Ashcroft, Mildred Dunnock and Beatrice Straight as nuns; and Dolleen Dewhurst as a mental patient.

The initial sequences of Gabrielle’s initiation into convent life have always rather terrified me.  They are shot in a very severe and off-putting way.   I can’t imagine being strong enough or humble enough to withstand the discipline of this particular order.

I think the film might have benefitted by more of an emphasis on faith and love, but maybe that is not the point.  There is an appealing feminist strain in this story, which examines the plight of a woman whose drive and talents really have no place in either the outside world or the convent.  The performances are all great and the color cinematography is stunning. Recommended.

The Nun’s Story was nominated for Academy Awards in the categories of:  Best Picture; Best Actress; Best Director; Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium; Best Cinematography, Color; Best Sound; Best Film Editing; and Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture.

Trailer