Black NarcissusPeople are naturally inclined to adapt to their surroundings. But when people resist these impulses, suffering follows. Black Narcissus is a psychological thriller about a convent of nuns established in the mountainous region of northern India. Led by their stiff and proper young superior, Sister Clodagh (Deborah Kerr), the nuns set up their nunnery in a former pleasure temple of an old Indian ruler--a seemingly strange fit for these cloistered women. Their point of contact with the Indian general is a handsome and down-to-earth man named Mr. Dean (David Farrar), who Clodagh concludes is disruptive to her fellow sisters merely by his masculine presence alone.
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Set (and made) in 1947 at the end of the British Raj--Great Britain's rule over modern day India and Pakistan--Black Narcissus is an early example of what is commonly referred to as a "slow burn" thriller. At first glance, it feels more like a story about out-of-place European nuns in a foreign land, struggling to adjust to the customs of their host country. Clodagh's superior, Mother Dorothea (Nancy Roberts), charges her to lead this convent, yet comments that she doubts that she will succeed. There is also the issue of Sister Ruth (Kathleen Byron), who the two describe with apprehension as "unwell". Clodagh adds that their order is stronger because it is voluntary, yet Ruth's behavior suggests that there is more to Ruth's story. Ruth's sour attitude turns to resentment as Black Narcissus progresses, and she grows increasingly unhinged, as though she were a prisoner of Clodagh's. Meanwhile, Clodagh has the unenviable task of trying to settle the new convent where others--some monks--had failed. The setting is a schizophrenic mix of color with decrepitude, at once lovely and integrated with nature, yet adorned with erotic frescoes throughout and precariously balanced on the edge of a sheer cliff, thousands of feet above a valley where the townsfolk reside. It is barely attended by an eccentric caretaker named Angu Ayah (May Hallatt), who seems to long for the "old days" when the house was essentially the general's harem. The Old Indian General (Esmond Knight) has paid the villagers to come to the convent for medicine and schooling, which immediately overwhelms the unprepared nuns. Dean tries to explain to Clodagh the dynamic between the villagers and outsiders in practical terms, likening them to "children". Yet his best efforts to aid the nuns in settling is often received with coldness, both by Clodagh and Ruth to an extent. As schooling progresses, a beautiful teenage girl named Kanchi (Jean Simmons) arrives. Adorned with jewelry and with a wanton look in her eyes, she sets her sights on one who has also arrived to receive education from the nuns. This is the son of the general, referred to only as "The Young General" (Sabu), who dresses like a "peacock", and keeps a handkerchief anointed with perfume. It is called "Black Narcissus", and is emblematic of the young lord's opulence and wealth. And as Clodagh faces each new trial that comes with managing the convent, she begins to recall her past in Ireland, when she herself was a wealthy young woman being wooed by a money-obsessed suitor named Con (Shaun Noble), growing increasingly wistful with each reverie.
Perhaps it goes without saying, but one of the tenets of being a nun is chastity. So, as mentioned, it is exceedingly odd that Clodagh and company should set up shop in a palace once used by the rulers of old for pleasure with women. This is but one of many undercurrents that guide the tone of Black Narcissus, which includes sexual repression, where the nuns begin to lose their direction the longer they remain at the new convent, in one way or another. One such nun named Sister Philippa (Flora Robson), who is skilled in gardening and originally intends to cultivate a garden for fruit and vegetables. When Clodagh later overhears that she has instead made her garden into one almost exclusively containing pretty flowers, Philippa claims that it was something within their new residence that compelled her to indulge in this enterprise instead. Another nun, referred to as "Sister Honey" (Jenny Laird), owing to her being so "sweet", gradually becomes more and more anxious, becoming truly hysterical when a woman from the village brings a baby with a fever, panicking by giving the baby poison to end its suffering because it cannot be saved. The only true anchor in the group is the stalwart Sister Briony (Judith Furse), but even she is incapable on her own to attend to all of the problems in the old building, like its rundown plumbing. Yet when Dean makes the attempt, crouched down in their shower sealing a pipe with a blow torch, Ruth panics at the sight of a man in such a private place and demands that he leaves. This is because, as Black Narcissus reveals in time, Ruth is overcome by her emotions, including desire, anger, and even cruelty. Little is known about why Ruth became a nun, but it clearly doesn't suit her, evident in every scene with her. She criticizes the villagers as ignorant, she barks orders at everyone, and she lurks in the shadows, spying on Dean whenever he visits, jealous that Clodagh is tempting him to spite her. Ruth's downfall sets the tone for the entire movie; her face wears an increasingly bitter smirk with each scene she's in. Dean also represents a disruptive force, even if by no direct fault of his own. For a collective of women who have sworn to celibacy, the handsome and rugged Dean represents a temptation they had heretofore not been adequately prepared to deal with. He wears an easy smile and seems at home with earthly pleasures, like when he arrives to sing Christmas carols under the influence of alcohol. This undercurrent of repressed lust in Black Narcissus is also mirrored in the relationship between Kanchi and The Young General, who saves the former from a whipping by Ayah, who subsequently prostrates herself before him. Although Dean compares this situation to the tale of "The King and the Beggar-maid", it seems that he himself is oblivious (or unconcerned) with how he affects Clodagh and (especially) Ruth in kind.
Tales of people--including nuns--kept in isolation in an unfamiliar setting while forced to confront their repressed desires are among the most intriguing to be found in psychological thrillers, with Black Narcissus being an early--yet nevertheless, exceptionally effective--example of one. Compare the sense of "cabin fever" that the nuns experience with more moderns examples like The Shining or The Beguiled--or even more provocatively and on point, Ken Russell's The Devils. Some have observed that the nuns, being Europeans sharing Christianity with the natives, represent European imperialism, along with the challenges that arise when people struggle to adapt to a foreign land and culture. Anxiety is ratcheted up as the film goes on. Clodagh struggles to retain her composure as Ruth loses hers. Take the scene when she is alone in the chapel, and the camera stalks her. The sound of creaking accompanies this eerie scene, and Clodagh whips around expecting danger; she is expecting Ruth. She sees in Ruth an inherent threat; but more than just a physical one, she is a threat to her very identity. This is what makes her flashbacks so significant in understanding her. Clodagh is facing her own identity crisis. She confesses to Dean that she hadn't even considered her old life until arriving at this mountainous and remote locale. In the Freudian sense, Ruth represents the "id", with Clodagh as the "superego", and they are increasingly embroiled in conflict at their respective urges and needs fail to find purchase. Black Narcissus suggests that the very nature of being a nun requires repression of baser urges--an ennobling of the soul--but also asks whether this runs counter to our human nature. It is crucial then that this be set in a foreign land, where these practices are tolerated but not truly understood. The Young General says that he feels shame for leaving his studies to run off with Kanchi, but it is a kind of shame more closely tied to disappointing Clodagh than for indulging his passions. He only says this so that he doesn't insult her values as he sees them. Ruth ultimately refuses to renew her vows and races from the convent decked out in an alluring dress, complete with bright red lipstick. She confronts Dean and proclaims that she loves him; only...she doesn't really. She loves the idea of indulging her desires, and he just so happens to become the focus for her desire. In a sense, she becomes an example for why the need to repress these desires exists, as much as to caution against it. Whatever crisis she faces, she ultimately fails to overcome it, and Clodagh only barely manages to herself. When the rains finally break at the end of the film, it is a metaphor for the release of the tension found in this unnatural setting for the nuns, of the forced repression they endured, and of the acquiescence that comes with accepting that not all mountains can be climbed.
Recommended for: Fans of a gripping and claustrophobic (even acrophobic, at times) psychological thriller written, directed, and produced by the dynamic British filmmaking duo of Forties, Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger. Black Narcissus is a vivid film in many ways, not least of which in its gorgeous use of Technicolor, its powerful performances, and by way of its riveting orchestral score by Brian Easdale, one which heightens the tension every step of the way.
Perhaps it goes without saying, but one of the tenets of being a nun is chastity. So, as mentioned, it is exceedingly odd that Clodagh and company should set up shop in a palace once used by the rulers of old for pleasure with women. This is but one of many undercurrents that guide the tone of Black Narcissus, which includes sexual repression, where the nuns begin to lose their direction the longer they remain at the new convent, in one way or another. One such nun named Sister Philippa (Flora Robson), who is skilled in gardening and originally intends to cultivate a garden for fruit and vegetables. When Clodagh later overhears that she has instead made her garden into one almost exclusively containing pretty flowers, Philippa claims that it was something within their new residence that compelled her to indulge in this enterprise instead. Another nun, referred to as "Sister Honey" (Jenny Laird), owing to her being so "sweet", gradually becomes more and more anxious, becoming truly hysterical when a woman from the village brings a baby with a fever, panicking by giving the baby poison to end its suffering because it cannot be saved. The only true anchor in the group is the stalwart Sister Briony (Judith Furse), but even she is incapable on her own to attend to all of the problems in the old building, like its rundown plumbing. Yet when Dean makes the attempt, crouched down in their shower sealing a pipe with a blow torch, Ruth panics at the sight of a man in such a private place and demands that he leaves. This is because, as Black Narcissus reveals in time, Ruth is overcome by her emotions, including desire, anger, and even cruelty. Little is known about why Ruth became a nun, but it clearly doesn't suit her, evident in every scene with her. She criticizes the villagers as ignorant, she barks orders at everyone, and she lurks in the shadows, spying on Dean whenever he visits, jealous that Clodagh is tempting him to spite her. Ruth's downfall sets the tone for the entire movie; her face wears an increasingly bitter smirk with each scene she's in. Dean also represents a disruptive force, even if by no direct fault of his own. For a collective of women who have sworn to celibacy, the handsome and rugged Dean represents a temptation they had heretofore not been adequately prepared to deal with. He wears an easy smile and seems at home with earthly pleasures, like when he arrives to sing Christmas carols under the influence of alcohol. This undercurrent of repressed lust in Black Narcissus is also mirrored in the relationship between Kanchi and The Young General, who saves the former from a whipping by Ayah, who subsequently prostrates herself before him. Although Dean compares this situation to the tale of "The King and the Beggar-maid", it seems that he himself is oblivious (or unconcerned) with how he affects Clodagh and (especially) Ruth in kind.
Tales of people--including nuns--kept in isolation in an unfamiliar setting while forced to confront their repressed desires are among the most intriguing to be found in psychological thrillers, with Black Narcissus being an early--yet nevertheless, exceptionally effective--example of one. Compare the sense of "cabin fever" that the nuns experience with more moderns examples like The Shining or The Beguiled--or even more provocatively and on point, Ken Russell's The Devils. Some have observed that the nuns, being Europeans sharing Christianity with the natives, represent European imperialism, along with the challenges that arise when people struggle to adapt to a foreign land and culture. Anxiety is ratcheted up as the film goes on. Clodagh struggles to retain her composure as Ruth loses hers. Take the scene when she is alone in the chapel, and the camera stalks her. The sound of creaking accompanies this eerie scene, and Clodagh whips around expecting danger; she is expecting Ruth. She sees in Ruth an inherent threat; but more than just a physical one, she is a threat to her very identity. This is what makes her flashbacks so significant in understanding her. Clodagh is facing her own identity crisis. She confesses to Dean that she hadn't even considered her old life until arriving at this mountainous and remote locale. In the Freudian sense, Ruth represents the "id", with Clodagh as the "superego", and they are increasingly embroiled in conflict at their respective urges and needs fail to find purchase. Black Narcissus suggests that the very nature of being a nun requires repression of baser urges--an ennobling of the soul--but also asks whether this runs counter to our human nature. It is crucial then that this be set in a foreign land, where these practices are tolerated but not truly understood. The Young General says that he feels shame for leaving his studies to run off with Kanchi, but it is a kind of shame more closely tied to disappointing Clodagh than for indulging his passions. He only says this so that he doesn't insult her values as he sees them. Ruth ultimately refuses to renew her vows and races from the convent decked out in an alluring dress, complete with bright red lipstick. She confronts Dean and proclaims that she loves him; only...she doesn't really. She loves the idea of indulging her desires, and he just so happens to become the focus for her desire. In a sense, she becomes an example for why the need to repress these desires exists, as much as to caution against it. Whatever crisis she faces, she ultimately fails to overcome it, and Clodagh only barely manages to herself. When the rains finally break at the end of the film, it is a metaphor for the release of the tension found in this unnatural setting for the nuns, of the forced repression they endured, and of the acquiescence that comes with accepting that not all mountains can be climbed.
Recommended for: Fans of a gripping and claustrophobic (even acrophobic, at times) psychological thriller written, directed, and produced by the dynamic British filmmaking duo of Forties, Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger. Black Narcissus is a vivid film in many ways, not least of which in its gorgeous use of Technicolor, its powerful performances, and by way of its riveting orchestral score by Brian Easdale, one which heightens the tension every step of the way.