Black Narcissus: Nuns on the Run

A story to storm your heart! Drama at the top of the world… Where winds of the exotic past sweep men and women to strange and fascinating adventure…

High altitudes do something to people; the crisp, clean air goes to your head. That should be a positive thing, but to the leading characters in this classic Powell-Pressburger flick the experience leads to nothing but grief. Madness and the power of sex have something to do with it as well. It’s all very sensational and was perceived as pretty daring on its release. But the thing most viewers will remember is the magnificent work by those people who created the look of the film; some regard it as the most beautiful piece of cinema ever made.

And where on earth would the most beautiful film ever made take place? Well, in the Indian parts of the Himalayas. There, the filmmakers take us to a magnificent building that used to house a general’s harem; now it’s been turned into a monastery. Anglican nuns arrive at this remote place and they are not exactly thrilled. They don’t really understand the people that live near the monastery, nor their customs, and neither do they like Mr. Dean (David Farrar), a British expatriate who lives nearby. But that could be because several of the nuns can’t help but find him sexually attractive. Viewers get to follow these women as they try to get the monastery in shape, grow vegetables, teach the children and help those of their neighbors that are sick. They encounter plenty of practical problems but none that are impossible to handle. And yet they are so unhappy, unable to enjoy the heartbreaking beauty of what God has created for them. Why? Because they also have problems that are inside their heads and that’s not easy to handle. Sister Clodagh (Deborah Kerr), the Sister Superior, hasn’t thought for years about the reasons that made her become a nun but now, for some reason, she starts pondering the unhappy love affair that was behind her decision. The house where they’re staying is full of memories from when it housed the harem and it’s as if the erotic atmosphere is enveloping the new occupants. The presence of Mr. Dean doesn’t help. Neither does a request from the handsome son (Sabu) of the general who used to own the house. He wants to join the children’s classes and get an education but the young general and his Black Narcissus perfume turns out to be another sexual force. One of the nuns, Sister Ruth (Kathleen Byron), may have been insane all the time but it is probably the atmosphere and the environs that finally make her literally fall off the edge.

The acting is not the strongest part of the film but it’s not bad at all. The most familiar names in the cast are of course Jean Simmons and Kerr (who had worked with the directors in The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943)). Both were about to become major stars. The male actors are effective sex symbols; Sabu’s boyish looks balance the more rugged features of Farrar’s. And then we have the look of the film, which is overwhelming. It does seem like the directors have brought us to the Himalayas, with its mountains and cool wind, but in fact they never left England. Except for a few scenes that were shot in a garden in Sussex it was all built in Pinewood Studios, because the filmmakers felt that there they would have greater control over the colors. That may have been a good idea because the intense use of colors (even inside the new monastery) makes the film look like the kind of sexual fantasy it really is.

Beauty and evil are combined in this extraordinary place, this heavenly part of the Himalayas. The nuns realize that they can’t handle the heat and perhaps other people did the same in 1947. Strangely enough, this was not a very well received film at the time. But 57 years later, this seductive wine tastes pretty good.

The YouTube clip shows the trailer.

Black Narcissus 1947-Britain. 99 min. Color. Produced, written and directed by Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger. Novel: Rumer Godden. Cinematography: Jack Cardiff. Art Direction: Alfred Junge. Cast: Deborah Kerr (Sister Clodagh), David Farrar (Mr. Dean), Sabu (The Young General), Jean Simmons, Kathleen Byron, Flora Robson.

Oscars: Best Cinematography, Art Direction-Set Decoration. Golden Globe: Best Cinematography.

Four stars

Published by Stefan Hedmark 2004-11-27 09:04

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