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4.0
365 Ratings

The Nun

La religieuse

Trailer
Directed by Jacques Rivette
France, 1966
Drama

Synopsis

In eighteenth-century France, a girl is forced against her will to take vows as a nun. Three mothers superior treat her in radically different ways, ranging from maternal concern, to sadistic persecution, to lesbian desire.

Synopsis

The Nun is not available at this time. Instead, check out Robert Bresson's Diary of a Country Priest, which is currently showing on MUBI.

Diary of a Country Priest
Robert Bresson
The Nun Directed by Jacques Rivette
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Awards & Festivals

Cannes Film Festival

1966

2018

International Film Festival Rotterdam

1989

Viennale

2002

Frameline: San Francisco International LGBTQ Film Festival

1991

Show all (24)

Cast & Crew

Articles from the Notebook

Movie Poster of the Week: Jacques Rivette’s “The Nun”

A variety of international posters, from the divine to the ridiculous, for the French New Wave director’s 1966 masterpiece.
Adrian Curry

Movie Poster of the Week: The Posters of the 6th New York Film Festival

As the 2018 NYFF comes to a close, a look back at the films, and the posters for the films, that made up the 1968 edition.
Adrian Curry

Movie Poster of the Week: The Posters of Jacques Rivette

Remembering the genius ring-master of French cinema through his best posters.
Adrian Curry
1

Image of the day. Anna Karina, Behind The Nun

Anna Karina behind the scenes of Jacques Rivette’s La religieuse (1966).  Rivette has turned over his archives to the Cinémathèque…
Daniel Kasman
3

Critics reviews

Even in this crowd [at the 1968 New York Film Festival], “La Religieuse” stood out, less for its notoriety than its brilliant filmmaking and impassioned restraint.
January 02, 2019
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Piercing sounds of church bells drown out several passages within the film. The ringing — purposefully captured at an uncomfortably loud octave — encompasses our ears. The dialogue may be lost in the process, but the impact is heightened. The sound design of La Religieuse contributes strongly in empathizing with Suzanne, as it clearly translates her anxiety and loneliness.
March 10, 2016
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What are people saying?

  • Kenji's rating of the film The Nun

    Kenji

    The Diderot-Rivette-Karina combination is a winner. Satires don't have to come with klaxons blaring. As an indictment of the Catholic church (and wider society too, only reinforced by the film being banned) it feels more powerful for its stylistic restraint, and the casting of Karina more striking after the freedom of Pierrot le Fou. Not the New Wave's blazing star, Rivette has been both bold and richly rewarding.

    January 24, 2019 16:53

  • ig_____or's rating of the film The Nun

    ig_____or

    Anna Karina's face framed by that nun's habit is all it takes to grab your attention. It was nice to follow the trials and tribulations of this woman who, despite her lack of aptitude or devotion for a life dedicated to God, was holier than everyone she came in contact with.

    January 12, 2019 03:59

  • Warren Spratley's rating of the film The Nun

    Warren Spratley

    Life in a persistent mode of profound dissonance. Each cut & sound, each camera movement emphasizes the discordance of existence. To live is to experience undeviating opposition.Life as war is relentlessly conveyed by way of the female experience in an overwhelmingly oppressive milieu. How does improvisation fit into a strict narrative structure? The ending leads us all to a morbid sense of existential inevitability.

    January 24, 2019 18:17

  • Lynch/Fellini's rating of the film The Nun

    Lynch/Fellini

    One of the greatest Atheist films ever made. On top of that, this is such a beautifully tragic story that is told with such grace by Jacques Rivette, and has a central character worthy of our sympathy, as played by Anna Karina. Just fantastic!

    January 24, 2019 18:09

  • Brotherdeacon's rating of the film The Nun

    Brotherdeacon

    During the Englightenment, Denis Diderot's story held a reckless indictment of the Church and its monastic transgressions, infused with allusions to sex, madness and social status. By 1966 its subject was still censored. However, Rivette has bound his retelling in tight restraints like a shibari master swinging his Submissive in ropes from a Fragonard painted ceiling, using method not story as God's portent signifier

    December 27, 2013 22:01

  • N. C.'s rating of the film The Nun

    N. C.

    marvelous!! Anna Karina proving the she's much more than "Godard's muse". Atought, it's sad that a woman has to "prove" something like that.

    October 16, 2017 23:50

  • jchandleroc's rating of the film The Nun

    jchandleroc

    The real tragedy of this film lies in the fact that, truly, no place is safe for a woman. Suzanne's hellish upbringing begets a hellish psychological interior that is made manifest in her hellish surroundings. Everyone and everything she encounters functions only to drain, demean, and degrade. A jarring score and abrupt yet rhythmic cuts and transitions create an oppressive atmosphere of utter confusion.

    January 24, 2019 18:17

  • nessmj's rating of the film The Nun

    nessmj

    an intense experience - the sound editing works to bring home a maddening point of the tribulations through which Suzanne lives. the hurried nature of the cuts and jump shots really reminded me of what it was to be 17, how quickly everything seemed to pass with vivid moments while the rest faded away. thematically speaking to our position as to forever being at the behest of others, in one way or another.

    February 02, 2016 16:10

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