Many “Oscar”-grabbing films are based on stage plays, usually those with little bit of controversy or edginess. This formula, more often than not, reduces them to actors chewing scenery at the expense of anything else, which, at times, might hamper films that were supposed to be intriguing. This, to a certain degree, happened with Agnes of God, 1985 drama directed by Norman Jewison.
Film is based on the play by American writer John Pielmeier, which was loosely inspired by real life incident in 1970s. The plot is set in Montreal and begins in one Catholic convent where nuns discover that Sister Agnes (played by Meg Tilly), young and beautiful novice, apparently had baby which was found dead by Mother Superior Miriam Ruth (played by Anne Bancroft). Dr. Martha Livingstone (played by Jane Fonda) is court-appointed psychiatrist that comes to the convent in order to interview Agness and assess whether she is mentally fit to stand trial. Agnes, who has entered convent after spending most of her life isolated from the outside world, doesn’t remember the incident, thinks that she never was pregnant and apparently doesn’t have any idea about sex. Dr. Livingstone is determined to find the truth, which puts her at odds with Mother Superior, convinced that the investigation would ultimately harm simple-minded woman and disrupt convent’s way of life.
The greatest asset of this film is the cast, in which two of three main roles were played by “Oscar”-winning actresses. Ironically, it is Meg Tilly, relatively unknown and young actress at the time, which leaves the most powerful impression. Known for exotic beauty, Tilly here plays character opposite of glamorous, a clearly disturbed young woman whose talent for angelic singing hides many dark secrets and years of abuse. Yet, her interpretation of Agnes and her simple faith is so strong that at times audience can entertain the thought about her ordeal having supernatural origin. Meg Tilly, quite deservingly, won Golden Globe for her performance. Anne Bancroft is also very good as a woman who is torn between desire to help young woman at her care and need to prevent unnecessary scandal and further encroachment of disdainful modern world into her convent. Jane Fonda, on the other hand, plays rather one-dimensional character whose only remarkable trait is chain-smoking. Pleiheimer, who also wrote the script, at times plays with stereotypes – Dr. Livingstone is modern, liberated woman whose feminism and agnosticism stemmed from early disappointments with Catholic Church, while Mother Superior is revealed to be a former wife and mother who became nun in order to find new family.
Pleiheimr’s script, on the other hand, mostly fails to properly deal with many issues of the plot – conflict between faith and rationality, as well as the role of the religious traditions in the modern world. While most in today’s “woke” Hollywood would be tempted to portray convent as repressive institution, Jewison, the director known for leftist and liberal content in his film, takes more measured approach and directs many scenes of everyday life in convent, which includes nuns enjoying simple pleasure of ice skating or Catholic families being proud when their daughters take nun’s vows. Such scenes, shot in Jewison’s native Canada by Sven Nykvist, Ingmar Bergman’s celebrated cinematographer, and accompanied by bombastic score by French composer Georges Delerue, actually don’t add much to the film, just as those in which Dr. Livingstone walks city’s streets or deals with police and judiciary in Montreal offices. They only make the film longer and “less theatrical”, but in the end it hurts the film when plot gets resolved in realistic, but banal and ultimately disappointing way.
RATING: 4/10 (++)
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Movie URL: https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/24735-agnes-of-god Critic: AA
