Suzanne, a young woman in a wedding gown, prepares to take her vows of chastity, obedience, and poverty and make herself a nun. However, she refuses at the last moment and instead begs her parents not to force her to take them.
This does not work, and later Suzanne learns much about her family and her heritage – or her lack thereof. She discovers that her mother's husband is not her father, and that her mother is shutting her up in the convent because she does not want her husband to know that the girl was not his daughter. She also does not want to see her sin in the flesh, for she says bearing the girl was her only sin. The father sends the priest to convince her, who reveals her heritage, but it fell on deaf ears. Later the mother falls on her knees to beg the daughter to take the vows, explaining the story enough to make Suzanne resign herself to her fate, realizing that her mother would never give her a chance to marry because the mother did not feel she was worthy to marry and the family could not afford to marry her off. According to the mother, she did not have the bloodline to marry. She writes her mother a letter that says she will take the vows, a letter that will later be used against her in the court case she wages against the church to be released of her vows.
Suzanne allows herself to be dressed in a wedding gown and takes the vows. She enters the convent, extremely depressed and unresponsive, unable to cope with the requirements of being a nun. She bonds to the Mother Superior, who takes her under her wing, and they have many long conversations. The Mother Superior, Mme de Moni, knows it is a mistake to accept the girl as a nun but does not stop it, instead telling the girl to accept her fate and make the best of it. Suzanne attempts to, which is made easier by Mme de Moni's encouragement, and does not utter more words but her body language reveals all. During this time, Suzanne's mother dies, and Mme de Moni does as well. She bears it until the life finally drives her mad, for the new Mother Superior, Sister Sainte-Christine, mistreats her because of her rebellion as a result of her dislike of the nun's life. She isolates her constantly and deprives her of food, forcing her to adopt a diet of bread and water.
Suzanne then sends her friend away with a letter to a lawyer. She wants to be free and absolved of her vows under the argument that everyone around her forced her to take the vows against her will: her mother, her father, the Mother Superior, etc. The lawyer, who becomes her biggest advocate against the religious orthodoxy enslaving her, informs her that while the case is pending, she will have to stay with Sister Sainte-Christine and endure the resulting persecution, but that either she will win or be transferred. Suzanne does not care, not truly understanding the depths of Sister Sainte-Christine' cruelty. While the case pends, Suzanne suffers many mistreatments under Sister Sainte-Christine, who steals her crucifix, forbids her to eat, forbids her to pray, forbids the other sisters to interact with or speak to her, and isolates her. She allows them to walk on the weakened, starving Suzanne after Mass. She is also whipped. They become convinced she is possessed, and Sister Sainte-Christine requests an exorcist. Officials arrive, see her mistreatment and understand that her devotion to God is not the way a possessed person would act, and investigate the mistreatment, which involves Sister Sainte-Christine's being reprimanded. After that, Sister Sainte-Christine lessens the punishment to only isolation but still treats her coldly.
When Suzanne discovers that the church has decided not to absolve her vows, she once again falls into a severe depression. Her lawyer apologizes and promises to keep in touch, although a church official forbids the contact. The same man later tells her that the church transferred her to another convent under the supervision of Mme de Chelles. In addition to long conversations about her thoughts and experiences, the light-hearted, fun, happy Mme de Chelles displays an attraction to and makes sexual advances towards Suzanne, which Suzanne never fully grasps. She meets a monk who attempts to comfort her by saying that he was forced into religion against his will as well. They develop a relationship and he later tells her that they must escape together. Suzanne goes with him, but flees from him when he forces kisses on her as soon as they are together which implies he desires more with her. Suzanne finds refuge nearby, working as a seamstress and doing chores for women. While there, she learns that the monk was caught and faces life in prison, same as she does. She cannot bear the thought of returning. She flees the small village she has taken refuge in and winds up begging on the street. A smart looking woman takes her to her home, but Suzanne does not understand it is a brothel and joins the girls who are dressing to entertain clients at a masked dinner party. As everybody takes their places, Suzanne realises what is involved. Crossing to the window, she asks God's forgiveness and jumps to her death.
Due to its sensitive depictions of high-authority Catholic figures, the film was petitioned against by an outraged public ahead of its completion in 1965, as well as condemned by the Catholic church. The film was twice approved for release by the Censorship Board and both times blocked by the Minister of Information, Yvon Bourges, thus effectively banning the film temporarily from a theatrical release. Mention of the ban was itself banned on French TV. Elliott Stein, an American journalist living in Paris, reported in the British film magazine Sight and Sound that Le Monde ran a day-to-day feature, 'L’Affaire de La Religieuse', to which one opened as if to a daily horoscope or weather report".
Finally, in 1966, after a year of acrimony, the Minister of Culture André Malraux allowed La Religieuse to be shown at the Cannes Film Festival, where it received critical acclaim and a nomination for the Golden Palm Award.[2] The praise allowed for a theatrical release in France, where it was met with much anticipation, despite earlier sentiment towards the subject matter. The film would go on to have a theatrical release in the United States in 1971.
Denis Diderot was a French philosopher, art critic, and writer, best known for serving as co-founder, chief editor, and contributor to the Encyclopédie along with Jean le Rond d'Alembert. He was a prominent figure during the Age of Enlightenment.
Jacques Rivette was a French film director and film critic most commonly associated with the French New Wave and the film magazine Cahiers du Cinéma. He made twenty-nine films, including L'Amour fou (1969), Out 1 (1971), Celine and Julie Go Boating (1974), and La Belle Noiseuse (1991). His work is noted for its improvisation, loose narratives, and lengthy running times.
Louise Florence Pétronille Tardieu d'Esclavelles d'Épinay, better known as Mme d'Épinay, was a French writer, a saloniste and woman of fashion, known on account of her liaisons with Friedrich Melchior, Baron von Grimm, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau, who gives unflattering reports of her in his Confessions, as well as her acquaintanceship with Denis Diderot, Jean le Rond d'Alembert, Baron d'Holbach and other French men of letters during the Enlightenment. She was also one of many women referenced in Simone de Beauvoir's The Second Sex as an example of noble expansion of women's rights during the 18th century.
Bulle Ogier is a French actress and screenwriter.
The Nun may refer to:
La Religieuse is an 18th-century French novel by Denis Diderot. Completed in about 1780, it was first published by Friedrich Melchior Grimm in 1792 in his Correspondance littéraire in Saxony, and subsequently in 1796 in France.
Georges de Beauregard was a French film producer who produced works by many of the French New Wave directors. In 1968, he was a member of the jury at the 18th Berlin International Film Festival. In 1983 he was awarded a Special César Award, the French national film prize.
Marie of the Incarnation, OCD, also known as Madame Acarie, was the foundress of the Discalced Carmel in France and later became an extern sister of the order.
Suzanne Schiffman was a French screenwriter and director for numerous motion pictures. She often worked with François Truffaut. The 'script girl' Joelle, played by Nathalie Baye in Truffaut's Day for Night was based on Schiffman. It accurately portrayed her close collaboration with Truffaut and other directors.
Merry-Go-Round is a 1981 film by Jacques Rivette, starring Maria Schneider and Joe Dallesandro. The film is a crime drama revolving around a kidnapping plot. Elizabeth sends telegrams to her old boyfriend Ben (Dallesandro) in New York City and to her younger sister Léo (Schneider) in Rome to join her in Paris, where she is selling her dead father's estate. The scenario was written by Rivette in collaboration with Eduardo de Gregorio and Suzanne Schiffman, with dialogue by de Gregorio. Distributed by Roissy Films.
The Letter is a 1999 French-Portuguese drama film directed by Manoel de Oliveira. It tells the story of a married woman who has feelings for another man, and who confesses her feelings to her friend, a cloistered nun. The Film is loosely based on the 1678 French novel The Princess of Cleves by Madame de Lafayette.
Images in a Convent is a 1979 sexploitation film by Italian cult filmmaker Joe D'Amato starring Paola Senatore, Marina Hedman and Donald O'Brien.
The Story of Marie and Julien is a 2003 drama film directed by Nouvelle Vague film maker Jacques Rivette. The film slowly develops from a drama about blackmail into a dark, yet tender, supernatural love story between Marie and Julien, played by Emmanuelle Béart and Jerzy Radziwiłowicz. Anne Brochet plays the blackmailed Madame X. Béart had previously worked with Rivette in La Belle Noiseuse, as had Radziwiłowicz in Secret Defense. The film was shot by William Lubtchansky, and edited by Nicole Lubtchansky, both frequent collaborators of Rivette's.
Michelle Sentuary, married name Jean-Cyrille Guesnon de Bonneuil, was a French overseas agent during the French Revolution and First French Empire. Inspiring André Chénier and others, she was a lady "celebrated for her beauty and her agreeable spirit" according to the formula of Charles de Lacretelle himself a friend of Chénier. She stands for thousands of women in modern and contemporary historiography, and has had several biographies in biographical dictionaries. She was the mother of Amédée Despans-Cubières.
The Nun is a 2013 French drama film directed by Guillaume Nicloux. It is based on the 18th-century novel La Religieuse by French writer Denis Diderot. The film premiered in competition at the 63rd Berlin International Film Festival. It received two nominations at the 4th Magritte Awards, winning Best Actress for Pauline Étienne, and a nomination at the 39th César Awards. Production companies included Les Films du Worso, Belle Epoque Films and Versus Production.
Dina Bélanger, RJM, in religion Marie of Saint Cecilia of Rome, was a Canadian member of the Religieuses de Jésus-Marie.
Jacques Rivette was a French film director, screenwriter and film critic. He wrote and directed twenty feature films, including the two-part Joan the Maiden, eight short films and a three-part television documentary. He also acted in small roles and participated in documentaries. After making his first short film, Aux quatre coins, in his hometown of Rouen, Rivette moved to Paris in 1949 to pursue a career in filmmaking. While attending film screenings at Henri Langlois' Cinémathèque Française and other ciné-clubs he gradually befriended many future members of the French New Wave, including François Truffaut, Jean-Luc Godard, Éric Rohmer and Claude Chabrol. Rivette's association with this group of young cinephiles led to the start of both his filmmaking career and his work in film criticism. In collaboration with his new friends, Rivette made two more short films and worked as a cinematographer and editor on films by Rohmer and Truffaut. He also worked in small roles and as an assistant director to Jean Renoir on French Cancan and Jacques Becker on Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves. During this period he began writing film criticism for the magazine Gazette du Cinéma and later Cahiers du Cinéma, and was one of the most respected writers by his peers.
Joan the Maid is a 1994 French historical film directed by Jacques Rivette. Chronicling the life of Joan of Arc from the French perspective, it was released in two parts: Joan the Maid, Part 1: The Battles and Joan the Maid, Part 2: The Prisons.
Convent of Sinners, is a 1986 Italian nunsploitation erotic film directed by Joe D'Amato. D'Amato directed, photographed and edited the film. The Rene Rivet screenplay was based on the novel "La Religeuse" by Denis Diderot.
Philippe Fourastié was a French director and screenwriter.
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