UnowPriceless hyped garbage

Noutions Good movie, but best of all time? Hardly . . .

FuzzyTagz If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

ThrillMessage There are better movies of two hours length. I loved the actress'performance.

gradyharp Denis Diderot wrote La Religieuse (The Nun) in 1780 and the power in this story remains intact in this screen adaptation by Guillaume Nicloux (who also directs) and Jérôme Beaujour. Diderot was a radical freethinker, rejecting conventional dogma and associated himself with some of the most enlightened philosophers of his age. His books were burned and Diderot himself served three months in Vincennes prison in retaliation for his attacks on the conventional morality of the day. Some of his books were considered so radical that they were banned until after his death.The story takes place in France, in the 1760s. Born to a bourgeois family, Suzanne (Pauline Etienne) is a beautiful young girl with a natural talent for music. Despite her faith, she is dismayed when her parents send her off to a convent, expecting her to become a nun. Suzanne first resists the rules of the convent, but soon finds out that she is an illegitimate child, leaving her no other option than to pronounce her vows and suffer the consequences of her mother's sin. She soon wants to escape the religious path and is trying to revoke her vows when the Mother Superior, who had brought her comfort and solace, dies. Her successor, Sister Christine (Louise Bourgoin), turns out to be a sadistic and cruel Mother Superior, inflicting the worst forms of humiliation upon Suzanne, such as depriving her of food and clothing. Suzanne is finally transferred to another convent, where she discovers another kind of Mother Superior (Isabelle Huppert), who develops an inappropriate affectionate bond with her. The story is one of a woman trying to resist imposed religious values, revealing the dehumanizing effect of cloistered life.Pauline Etienne is radiant as Suzanne and as always Isabelle Huppert delivers a riveting performance. The costumes by Anaïs Romand are especially fine as is the musical score by Max Richter. This is a superb film on every level.

kosmasp If it were up to her that is. Bad jokes aside, this is based on a novel that has already seen an incarnation (no pun intended) in movie that was made in the sixties. I can neither relate to that movie or the book, since I haven't read or watched those. But I can say that I can relate to our main character here. And who would not be able to? Being forced to do something you don't want to, is something everyone has had to go through in different variations.I do wonder what the church is saying about this, although it's obvious that the blame goes to single persons instead of everyone. The structure is pretty neat, with someone reading what happened and us being thrown into that mix. Great sets and costumes and a very well acted (underplayed) main role. Sometimes the devil is in the detail ...

shawneofthedead Imagine being sent to a convent against your will. Imagine taking a religious vow in which you don't personally have faith. Imagine discovering that the treacherous currents of guilt, power, control and sex remain every bit as relevant within a nunnery as outside of it. Such is the tragic predicament in which the film's titular nun finds herself in this handsomely-shot - if not entirely well-executed - adaptation of 18th-century French philosopher Denis Diderot's controversial novel.With the family coffers drained for the dowries of her two elder sisters, Suzanne Simonin (Pauline Etienne) is sent to a convent. She has no desire to be there, and makes that known to the kindly abbess who takes care of her. When her benefactress mysteriously dies, convent life rapidly becomes all the more complicated. Suzanne finds herself treading far murkier waters, her wellbeing completely at the mercy of the cold, unforgiving Supérieure Christine (Louise Bourgoin) and the overly attentive Supérieure Saint-Eutrope (Isabelle Huppert).For much of its running time, The Nun explores Suzanne's plight with a steely depth and determination that's fascinating to watch. There's an icy tension to her confrontations with Supérieure Christine: these are rife with politics, power and drama, as the flock of nuns dutifully turn against Suzanne with the capricious menace of school-children on a playground. Etienne is wonderful throughout, playing Suzanne's rebellious spirit as convincingly as she does her moments of surrender and despair.It's when the usually magnificent Huppert appears on the scene that The Nun stumbles badly. Huppert's character is drawn in broad, garish strokes, with none of the depth, complexity and subtlety of which she is so very capable. Almost laughably, Supérieure Saint-Eutrope appears to be little more than a fickle, amorous gargoyle leeching on the younger nuns in her charge.Perhaps that's partly the point - it could be a tip of the hat to the fact that Diderot's novel started out as an elaborate practical joke on a friend, rather than a genuinely impassioned treatise on the state of the church. Even so, the shift in tone from considered to campy is abrupt and, ultimately, too much to bear.

Horst in Translation (filmreviews@web.de) Pauline Etienne really makes the movie in this big screen adaptation of Denis Diderot's novel from the 18th century. In 1966, this was already done starring Anna Karina and judging from the rating, it turned out pretty good as well. I'd be surprised if she was better than Etienne though. Etienne was around 23 when the film was shot and it's impressive how she, despite her young age, creates a character and story that never bores the audience for a movie that is not too far away from the two-hour mark. We get to watch Susanne Simonin's struggles as she is pressured by peers and family to become a nun. Initially, she refuses to take her vow and when the moment comes, she says that she will not lead a life without giving in to temptation. Shortly afterward, her mother confesses to her that her real father is not who Susanne thought he was. The mother describes it as her only sin and wants the result of this sinful act, Susanne, become a nun and serve nobody but God to make up for her darkest hour. Susanne agrees and lives in a monastery from that day on. Her doubts, however, won't disappear and she realizes quickly that this may not be the right path for her. We witness her fight to leave the Church, which was almost an impossible endeavor back in the 18th century for a young woman after she took a vow. We suffer with her when her confidante dies, her only true friend has to stop seeing her, her new matron turns her life into living hell, another matron uses Susanne to fight her own demons. And of course on her path to freedom and on her search for her real father.I applaud Etienne for her portrayal here. It's one of the best female performances I've seen from 2013 so far. Physically she looks like a mix of Carey Mulligan and the young Elisabeth Moss and acting-wise she can compete with these two, probably among the most talented of their age groups, as well. There's not too many films about life in monasteries and, of course, "Doubt" is a very famous one. If you liked this one, chances are good, you'll enjoy "La religieuse" as well. It moves very slowly and is rather bleak most of the time, but the lead actress really makes it worth a watch and the way she held her own against established actresses like Martina Gedeck or Isabelle Huppert was quite impressive and I'm positive we will see a lot more from her in the future, maybe also the jump across the Big Pond.