Story of a Nun (film)

Movie
German title	Story of a nun
Original title	The Nun's Story
Country of production	United States
original language	English
Publishing year	1959
length	149 minutes
Age rating	FSK 12
Rod
Director	Fred Zinnemann
script	Robert Anderson
production	Henry Blanke
music	Franz Waxman
camera	Franz Planner
cut	Walter Thompson
occupation
	Audrey Hepburn : Sister Lukas, Gabrielle van der Mal; Peter Finch : Dr. Fortunati; Dame Edith Evans : mother Emmanuel; Dame Peggy Ashcroft : Mother Mathilde; Dean Jagger : Dr. van der Mal; Mildred Dunnock : Mother Margarita; Ruth White : Mother Marcella; Beatrice Straight : mother Christophora; Patricia Bosworth : Simone; Patricia Collinge : Sister William; Rosalie Crutchley : novice mistress; Barbara O'Neil : Mother Didyma; Margaret Phillips : Sister Pauline; Colleen Dewhurst : Archangel Gabriel; Stephen Murray : Father André; Lionel Jeffries : Dr. Goovaerts;

The manor house number 22 on Bruges Sint-Annarei served as the film set

Story of a Nun (Original title: The Nun's Story ) is an American drama film directed by Fred Zinnemann from 1959 with Audrey Hepburn in the leading role.

action

Audrey Hepburn as sister Lukas on the set in the Belgian Congo in 1959

The Belgian doctor's daughter Gabrielle van der Mal enters a convent in the 1920s. The disciplined life of the community, in which one is not for a moment to oneself, and the ideal of monastic obedience troubles Gabrielle even as a postulant . She is given the religious name Lukas for clothing .

After taking the temporary vows , Sister Lukas is allowed to start studying tropical medicine for several months, but is then first sent to a mental hospital. After the solemn vows have been made, she is sent to the mission to Africa, which was her greatest wish even before she entered. Her superior there is the surgeon Fortunati, an atheist who considers Sister Luke to be deeply unhappy and torn and therefore cannot understand her efforts to remain in the religious community.

After twelve years in the Congo, in 1939, shortly before the outbreak of World War II, Sister Lukas was commissioned to accompany a patient with nervous disorders back to Belgium. The outbreak of war also prevents them from returning to the Congo. In the Belgian mother house and in a hospital on the Dutch border, where she will be sent next, life in the community, the vowed obedience and charity towards the German invaders are becoming increasingly difficult. Some time after her father was shot dead by German airmen as a civilian, she left the order; the film leaves it open where she will go after leaving.

background

The script is based on the novel The Nun's story by Kathryn Hulme , which drew on the life and memories of Marie Louise Habets . The exterior shots were shot mainly in the Belgian Congo (today's Democratic Republic of the Congo ) and in Bruges ; there, among other things, the manor house at Sint-Annarei 22 (corner of Blekerstraat) served as the backdrop for Gabrielle's parents' house. For the interior shots in the Roman Cinecittà , the interior of the Belgian parent company was recreated in great detail. As a result, the film made four times its shooting costs.

criticism

“Fred Zinnemann has carefully and respectfully adapted Kathryn Hulme's controversial novel to suit the needs of the screen. The topic seems to have been shifted, however, so that, among other things, the misunderstanding is encouraged, as if the duty of monastic obedience were incompatible with the commandment to love one's neighbor. "

- Lexicon of international film

Awards and nominations

Tale of a Nun was nominated for both the British Academy Film Award , the Golden Globe and the National Board of Review Award in 1959/1960 . At the Academy Awards in 1960 , the film was nominated in eight categories (including best film, best director, best actress), but could not win a prize. The film was awarded the Golden Shell at the Festival Internacional de Cine de Donostia-San Sebastián .

Zinnemann won the National Board of Review Award for his directorial work and was nominated for the 1960 Golden Globe .

Secondary literature

Selma Mahlknecht: Beyond the Wall . The cinematic view of the nun. Attempt at generalization. In: Brigitte Mazohl (Hrsg.) - Ellinor Forster (Hrsg.): Women monasteries in the Alpine region (Schlern writings). Wagner, Innsbruck, 2012, ISBN 978-3703004919 (interpretation of the novella)

Web links

Nun's Story at the Internet Movie Database (English)
The story of a nun in the online film database

Individual evidence

↑ Bob Warnier: City Guide Bruges - The Pearl of Flanders (Verlag Simon Sauer, Sinsheim, Germany), p. 111, ISBN 978-3-940391-35-3
↑ https://www.domradio.de/nachrichten/2019-11-03/audrey-hepburn-als-frau- Zwischen-naechstenliebe-und-gehorsam-vor-60-jahren-kam-die-geschichte- einer , Vor 60 years ago the “story of a nun” came to the cinema - Audrey Hepburn as a woman between charity and obedience
^ Story of a Nun. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .

[1] Bob Warnier: City Guide Bruges - The Pearl of Flanders (Verlag Simon Sauer, Sinsheim, Germany), p. 111, ISBN 978-3-940391-35-3

[2] ttps://www.domradio.de/nachrichten/2019-11-03/audrey-hepburn-als-frau- Zwischen-naechstenliebe-und-gehorsam-vor-60-jahren-kam-die-geschichte- einer , Vor 60 years ago the “story of a nun” came to the cinema - Audrey Hepburn as a woman between charity and obedience

[3] Story of a Nun. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .