The Nun's Story
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Movie Reviews of The Nun's Story
Movie Review: Soft and subtle yet resoundingly powerful...
Summary: 5 Stars
There are few films that can say so much with so little; but `The Nun's Story' does just that. In a simple and none-to-evasive premise the film tackles the weighty subject of faith and all its variables but never feels heavy handed or overly stuffed. In fact, despite its two-hour-plus running time, the film has a very breezy feel to it; relaxed and nicely paced and totally engaging.
The film tells the story of young Gabrielle van der Mal who desires to become a nursing nun in the Congo. She pursues her passion yet is met with setbacks, both inside the convent but also within herself. She taps into something every intimate; very internal that causes her to question whether this course was the right course for her. She questions whether this life of a nun, no matter how important to her, is really a life she can fully commit to.
Can she fully give herself over, even when she doesn't fully agree?
Like I mentioned, the plot is quite simple. Gabrielle is accepted into the nunhood (her new name being Sister Luke) and eventually makes her way to her desired destination; the Congo. She becomes nurse to an unbelieving Doctor (played by Peter Finch) and it is under his thumb that she begins to doubt herself to a fuller extent.
Director Fred Zennemann tackles this subject with a beautiful delicacy that really elevates the film, tapping into that genuine and intimate place that Gabrielle finds herself. We are given a very real look at the conflicting emotions of those devoted in faith and it asks some very weighty questions and delivers a very personal answer. Zennemann is matched all the way by his stars, Hepburn especially. Audrey (my favorite Hepburn) is stunning as Gabrielle. She captures, sometimes without even a word, this woman's inner demons. She manages to make her a three dimensional, real person to us, complete with flaws and quirks and very genuine concerns. Peter Finch is in fine form as Dr. Fortunati, the man who helps bolster in Gabrielle the courage to question her own aspirations, and Edith Evans (Dame Edith Evans) is stunning as the Reverend Mother Emmanuel, a woman so devoted to her faith that she sparks controversy within her actions.
`The Nun's Story' is not simply a film for the religious. This is a film for everyone. Don't allow the subject matter to be off putting, for the film is developed in a way that will cause no discomfort or offence. This is a movie that handles its weighty matter with grace and serenity; delivering an honest portrait while remaining easy to swallow. With some stunning performances and some poignant material, `The Nun's Story' remains easily one of the most important films of the 50's.
Movie Review: Powerful. Absolutely Powerful til the last Second.
Summary: 5 Stars
The Nun's story is one of those films that leaves an impression like no other. It is one of the most, if not the most, powerful film I have ever seen dealing with religion, personal conflict and the will to keep going.
The Nun's story follows the story of the young Gabrielle van der Mal (Audrey Hepburn) who decides to become a nun. We see how she becomes one of many, dealing with religion, personal feelings and her obligations. She becomes a nun in hospitals, studying to be able to go to Congo, where she becomes the assistent of a Doctor. But even though Gabrielle, now named sister Luke, wants to do everything right and according to the rules a nun must live to, the inner struggle just becomes stronger and stronger.
Audrey Hepburn once again delivers. She acts extremely powerful and is totally believable as the struggeling sister. This was her prove to the world back in the 1950's, that she also could act in stead of just looking pretty on the screen. Her third oscar nomination followed for this role, which she sadly didn't won, but definitely deserved.
The rest of the cast also acts great. Peter Finch potrays the doctor sister Luke gets assigned to. He acts convincingly and gives a satisfying performance.
The film also features a fantastic supporting cast which have been rightly selected by the filmmakers and helps bringing the story to life even more.
The locations, are from dark and sad to colorfull and bright. The beauty of the exotic Congo has been magnificently captured on camera and gives the film a fantastic atmosphere and look.
Next to Hepburn's beautiful performance, the thing that grabbed me the most was the story. It is extremely powerful and emotional. It even had a kind of thriller edge to it sometimes. Those moments made me wispher things to the screen like: "No no no, don't do that".
The story just pulls you in and keeps you there till the very end of the film. It is drama from the highest level.
Wonderful filmmaking, beautiful locations, a fasenating Hepburn and one of the most powerful stories I have ever seen.
And that last shot, those last few seconds of the film will always be burned in my memory.
Movie Review: The Nun's Story
Summary: 5 Stars
This is one of my all-time favorite movies of Audrey Hepburn. I have the VHS and wore it out. I was very glad to see it released on DVD. So many of my favorite classic movies are not released on DVD. The Nun's Story is an enthralling story of a young idealistic young woman who was brilliant in medicine thanks to the tutelage of her doctor father. Upon learning that the man she loves carries genes that will pass on severe mental disabilities, they decided that it wouldn't be right to marry. Gabrielle decides that since her life in the world was essentially over, the convent would be her best option. She works hard to become the perfect nun. Along with all the spiritual struggles she went thru, she was also able to obtain degrees in tropical medicine (the first step towards service in the Congo) to one in psychiatry. Sister Luke's spiritual troubles make you want to reach out and hug her, to let her know that she wasn't a bad nun and an excellent nurse. It was obvious that she would have made a cracker jack doctor herself if the conventions of the time would have allowed her to attend medical school. Even tho this movie has religious overtones, it was, nevertheless a fantastic movie and the scenes that were shot on site in the Belgium and the Congo were breathtaking. I adored the author of the book, Kathrine Hulme for many many years. I first read the book in 10th grade and loved it. I have a very dog-eared paperback copy that has been well loved. Only with the advent of used book merchants was I actually able to obtain a hard cover copy of the book. If you like Audrey Hepburn, you'll love her in this. Along with Audrey Hepburn, the picture had a load of top notch stars. If you don't mind the religious overtones, the movie is an excellent one to watch and the book is even better.Movie Review: Magnificent and Moving
Summary: 5 Stars
Fred Zinnemann's dramatic personal story of a young nun, Sister Luke, reveals in compelling details the world that most of us don't know at all - the world of the women who give up everything, their material possessions, families, and relationships to pledge their lives to God. Based on the true story of former nun Marie Louise Habets, made in Rome, Belgium and the Congo jungles, the film follows Audrey Hepburn's Gabrielle Van Der Mal/Sister Luke from its early sequences of the pious cloistered life behind the convent walls, through harrowing scenes in a mental asylum, to her dream assignment in the missionary Congo hospital, and back to Europe when World War II had broken out and the nuns were forbidden by the order to take sides. "The Nun's Story" is magnificent and touching. It is excellent in every department, but its brightest star is Audrey Hepburn who carries the film effortlessly in every scene as strong-willed, passionate, and devoted Gabrielle/Sister Luke. This story of her ultimate rebellion against vows of obedience versus her calling as nurse and supporting the resistance movement in Belgium torn by war was deservingly one of the big box-office hits of the 50s.
Fred Zinneman never denied or was ashamed of being a Hollywood director, "I will always think of myself as a Hollywood director, not only because I grew up in the American film industry, but also because I believe in making films that will please a mass audience, and not just in making films that express my own personality or ideas. I have always tried to offer an audience something positive in a film and to entertain them as well." His best films are well scripted, flawlessly crafted, and memorably acted. In this regard, "The Nun's Story" is a typical Zinneman's film.
Movie Review: Powerful and unsentimental
Summary: 5 Stars
Seen again for the first time in a couple of decades, Warner's beautifully restored DVD of The Nun's Story is a real surprise, avoiding the mawkish sentimentality that usually accompanied old Hollywood's approach to Catholicism with a sober, quiet unostentatious majesty and a mostly successful attempt to avoid cliché (there's no romance with Peter Finch's surgeon as you might expect). Fred Zinnemann, who now seems on the verge of being completely forgotten, constantly does things slightly differently - not just jump cutting from continent to continent, but avoiding convention in subtle ways. When Sister Luke departs for the Congo, not only is her departure handled in the bare minimum of shots but they're also not the ones you usually expect: no head on shots of the ship leaving for the open sea, but instead zooming out from a sideways view before cutting to the ship's wake. The visual economy never feels Spartan, but at the same time it fits the subject matter perfectly.
Audrey Hepburn too is something of a revelation. Too often an irritatingly kooky pixie clotheshorse, here she abandons many of her usual affectations that you either find charming or maddening to give the kind of sincere and grounded performance that was too rarely asked of her. It's a quietly powerful and surprisingly honest film that stands up to the test of time. Shame that for some reason Zinnemann gets Dean Jagger to voice one of the bit players as well, which briefly takes you out of the movie before a sudden act of unexpected violence shocks you back in, but there's little else to fault in it.
The only extra on the DVD is the original trailer.