The Nun (2013) User Reviews (11)

Get thee to a nunnery... though perhaps not this one

[shawneofthedead · 5/10 · 8 January 2014]

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.

An okay movie, but possibly a star-making turn for the lead actress

[Horst_In_Translation · 6/10 · 4 November 2013]

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.

She's having nun of that

[kosmasp · 7/10 · 2 August 2014]

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 ...

1966 version was better, people who say this show how bad the Church was are missing the context entirely

[random-70778 · 6 July 2019]

I am a fan of Diderot by way of Rousseau. And his novel was interesting in the letter based structure. It quite forward thinking for its time, in that while the Enlightenment was directly challenging many statistic and institutional ideas, very few Enlightenment writers were including women in their considerations.

That said the user reviews here and especially the professional reviews are a bit overwrought as a result of leaving out context. Firstly almost all people were locked into vocation, virtually never of their own choosing, as everything about their life. Certainly married women were, and subject to control and violence that makes anything in "The Nun" pale by comparison. So too was just about anyone else for most of human history. Either overtly owned or tied to the land and their "station' and subject to warlord or state violence for for chalking that. Certainly in mid/late 18h century Nuns were eating better (no small thing in world were people regularly starved to death), were safer in almost every way than most other people, certainly than the great majority of men, who were much more likely to be inducted into the military as cannon fodder.

Again, the 1966 version is better, and better yet is the novel.

a well-polished nun

[dromasca · 7/10 · 28 January 2023]

Guillaume Nicloux, the director of this 2013 version of the film 'La religieuse' was born in 1966, that is exactly the year that the film of the same name made by Jacques Rivette, starring Anna Karina, premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, after a year ofinterdiction due to the protests of the Catholic Church. Both films are adaptations of Denis Diderot's 18th-century anti-clerical novel, and both take liberties in adapting the story and altering the ending. The comparison between the two films is yet another chapter in the never-ending series of remake debates. In this case, however, there is an essential difference, namely the fact that this is not an American adaptation, Nicloux's film being made on the same ('our, European') side of the Atlantic Ocean. And yet, compared to the 'original', this new adaptation is also less interesting and brings few new and quality elements. 'La religieuse' the 2013 version is not a film without merit, but, paradoxically, it is much more 'decent' and brings to screen less sparks and surprises than 'La religieuse' the 1966 version.

The general lines of action of the novel are preserved and some scenes have exact correspondents in the two films. Suzanne Simonin is the third daughter in a family that can only afford dowries for her older sisters. Consequently, the parents decide that the girl will be destined for the monastic life. There is an additional, hidden and darker reason for their decision which will be revealed later. The young girl does not feel attracted to the monastery. Although she is completely devoid of life experience she feels that there is a much more meaningful life outside its walls. In addition, the experiences in the convent are traumatic - hypocrisy meets sadism, rigid hierarchies give the most powerful the right to decide the destinies and torment the souls and bodies of the young girls. What should be a world of peace of mind and faith turns for those who cannot adapt into a concentration universe. Attempts to escape, even when they succeed after great pains and efforts, throw the girls into another world, no less cruel and willing to manipulate and exploit them.

Guillaume Nicloux's film is visually impressive. Some of the scenes in the monasteries, especially those depicting religious ceremonies are shot from spectacular angles. The costumes are also stylistically appropriate, and the clothing details enhance the feeling of suffocation and even physical torture experienced by the characters who were forced to wear them. The Belgian actress Pauline Etienne undertakes the role of Suzanne brilliantly, a role which in the original version was played by Anna Karina, and is very suitable for the role, both physically and emotionally. Isabelle Huppert adds to her impressive filmography another role of a mature woman with ambiguous and dark corners in her personality - that of Mother Saint-Eutrope. She manages to be effective even though the script was less generous with her, leaving out the explicit aspects of the character's mental breakdown. Herein lies perhaps the biggest problem with this film. The world outside the convents is just as cruel and has an equal responsibility in the tragic fate of Suzanne and many other girls in her situation. By tweaking the ending in an almost Hollywood-like direction and removing or polishing too much some key scenes, what resulted is a less gritty but also less clear cut version of the story. This version of 'La religieuse' may be more beautiful but is less compelling than the 1966 one.

Forgive me Father for I have sinned

[gradyharp · 10/10 · 14 June 2015]

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.

Ridiculously spartan

[zeionara · 5/10 · 11 November 2019]

From the first few minutes the movie seems too plain and boring. There are only two scenes which take up too much time and do not explain anything completely. The plot is silly, the music is unsatisfying. Don't recommend this for watching to anyone.

Nun Shall Slip

[writers_reign · 8/10 · 7 November 2013]

By pure (I'm guessing) coincidence, this film is playing a limited engagement at the same time as Philomena is on blanket release: both have Oscar-worthy performances from the leading actress and both portray the Catholic Church as Draconian, a view with which I am in total agreement. If the name Isabelle Huppert brings people into screenings of The Nun (there were seven in the audience at the performance I attended) then this will be a good thing. Huppert appears only in the last couple of reels but she is prominent from then on but it is the young lead actress, Pauline Etienne, who is in virtually every scene and dominates the film whilst hardly raising her voice, let alone her eyes. Apparently there was an earlier version (it's an adaptation of a well- known novel by Diderot) in 1966, but it would have had to go some to equal let alone eclipse this version. I'll confess freely that I've nodded off in films paced at four or five times the speed of this but I remained awake for every frame. It's a pretty harrowing tale whichever way you look at it and the setting - France in the 1760s - doesn't help. Our heroine, the youngest of three sisters, enjoying a bourgeois existence, is sent, much against her will, to a convent, ostensibly for s set period then, nearing the end of her tenure, is told that her parents wish her to stay and actually take the veil. The reason given is that underwriting the weddings of the two elder sisters has depleted the family funds, not the most convincing argument I've ever heard, but there you go. Terribly unhappy and totally unsuited for the life, she refuses to go through with the ceremony and finds a sympathetic ear in the Mother Superior, but, wouldn't you know, she is replaced by a martinet who soon has our heroine scrubbing floors, tied up, denied food and a chamber pot, all, of course, in the name of our Lord. A note smuggled out brings a result of sorts and the second Mother Superior is replaced and our heroine transferred to another convent under the auspices of Isabelle Huppert, who is immediately drawn to the girl and is soon begging for kisses and creeping into her cell in the small hours. Boy, that's some church you got there, Lord.

Probably Unfair to be Too Critical of the Cliches...

[derek-duerden · 4/10 · 12 October 2021]

... given the age of the story - but this disappoints on other fronts as well.

Firstly, the Dickensian "let's drag everyone through misery until the deus ex machina ending" is just too well-worn for me, but could have been OK if the execution were more interesting on the way. Sadly, I was bored quite often, waiting for something to happen (or just not to see again something already well-signposted) and some of the acting (sadly including Huppert's turn here) was just not very convincing.

Ultimately, a nicely-shot but (for me) too-familiar tale of the crushing power of systems and the risks of resistance. Others may have more fun with it.

Does justice to Diderot's novel

[hocinebou-32837 · 8/10 · 2 May 2022]

La religieuse is an interesting account of the life of the recluse who seeks a life of serenity, away from the distraction of the world only to find themselves amind cruel, pitiless and sadistic individuals who use religion and the name of God as an excuse to inflict pain on others. Prior to watching this adaptation, I have read few pages of Diderot's novel, and I can say that the movie does justice to the work, and now that I am continuing the reading, I can vividly picture the scenes of the movie, along with Pauline Etienne who gives life to the character of Suzanne Simonin, as i read through the pages.

La religieuse de Diderot.

[ulicknormanowen · 8/10 · 26 January 2023]

In 1966 ,when the first version of Diderot's novel was released, there was an outcry :the Church insisted that the movie be called "Suzanne Simonin,la religieuse de Diderot ". Half a century later ,history did not repeat. The Catholic Church has seen worse.

Nicloux 's remake is not in the least inferior to Rivette's work ; it's downright different from it ,and with the exception of Micheline Presles, has a more convincing cast : Pauline Etienne, in the tradition of Catherine Mouchet ("Thérèse") , is a more credible tormented nun than the beautiful but inexpressive Anna Karina ; she shines in the scene of her vows where one feels her confusion and her human hesitations .Ditto for Isabelle huppert ,one of the best living French actresses,who effortlessly outshines Liselotte Pulver in the thankless part of the homosexual mother superior who falls madly in love with unfortunate Suzanne who has not got a clue but knows that there's something wrong in this ,to put it mildly, disconcerting relationship .Nicloux smartly uses the old French ditty from the seventeenth century "Mon Père M'a Donné Un mari" (= my father gave me a husband) , which denounced the drama of the numerous daughters married against their will .When the lesbian mother superior reprises the song , she identifies herself at Suzanne's husband ;Huppert is only supporting ,but she blows everyone off the screen in her scenes.

Neither Rivette nor Nicloux was faithful to the end of the novel : after escaping from the convent ,the heroine was desperately looking for a job as a governess or a simple servant in a castle ;the book ends with a PS that augurs badly .The former director gave a pessimistic tragical denouement.

Nicloux ,on the other hand ,developped an aspect of the novel : Suzanne is an illegitimate child ; Diderot who was an atheist , made the mother a hypocrit who thought that,by giving her daughter as an offering to God, she was able to wash her sin away. Some space is given over to this affair which leads to a (relatively) optimistic conclusion : the wonderful pictures of the nature in the last sequences,sharply contrast with the place were Suzanne was "buried alive".