A glossy treatment arranged in a painterly manner, and fine if you are looking for a bit of masterpiece theatre sizzle.
A strangely drab adaptation of Diderot's much racier novel.
Though Etienne and Huppert are fantastic, Guillaume Nicloux’s adaptation of Denis Diderot’s novel is neither nunsploitation nor chamber piece, just about working as a sermon on hypocrisy.
The earnest solemnity of the storytelling risks making it a hair shirt-like ordeal for audiences, too.
This is dark but comedic, with plenty of frills beneath the habit.
There's promise for Nicloux and Etienne.
Though the film draws parallels with the abusive power structures of the church then and now, it’s Etienne’s performance as Suzanne – and a deranged last-act turn from Isabelle Huppert – that commands attention, just not enough to make the film worth enduring.
It's an affecting and frank take on the loneliness of faith as well as faithlessness, whose horrors come in odd contrast to the plush production values. The linen alone is lovely enough to make you weep.
Sometimes the acting styles seem as diverse as the characters. But Pauline Etienne as the heroine is a harmonising centre, believable, luminous, quiet-spoken, poignant.
General release. Check local listings for show times.
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