Sacrifice of a nun
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Sacrifice of a nun |
| Original title | Le dialogue des Carmélites |
| Country of production | France |
| original language | French , Italian |
| Publishing year | 1960 |
| length | 112 (France), 106 (Germany) minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 12 |
| Rod | |
| Director |
Philippe Agostini, R. L. Bruckberger |
| script | Philippe Agostini R. L. Bruckberger based on the novel The Last on the Scaffold (1931) by Gertrud von Le Fort |
| production | Jules Borkon |
| music | Jean Françaix |
| camera | André Bac |
| cut | Gilbert Natot |
| occupation | |
| |
The Sacrifice of a Nun is a 1959 French-Italian drama by the former cameraman Philippe Agostini based on a novel by Gertrud von Le Fort and set at the time of the French Revolution . Film and novel are essentially based on the death of the blessed martyrs of Compiègne . Pascale Audret , Jeanne Moreau , Alida Valli and the married couple Jean-Louis Barrault and Madeleine Renaud play the leading roles .
action
The action begins in May 1789 when two young women in Compiègne join the Discalced Carmelites . One of the new novices receives the religious name Constantia from St. Dionysius, the other Blanche of Christ's agony. While Sr. Constantia appears cheerful, cheerful and carefree, Sr. Blanche is more withdrawn. Since childhood she has suffered from a seemingly insurmountable fear of dying and death, one reason why she chose "Blanche of Christ's fear of death" as the religious name. On the evening of her entry, the prioress warns her that she has taken refuge in Carmel like a child in a house lit up in the dark, but that she knows nothing of the terrible loneliness in which a Carmelite must live and die.
As the prioress lies on her deathbed, she entrusts the subprioress, Mother Mary of the Incarnation, to Sr. Blanche. The prioress does not die easily; with Blanche, who witnessed this because she was standing in front of the window, this only increased her fear. Mother Thérèse of St. Augustine elected.
On July 14th 1789 the French Revolution breaks out. A People's Commissar, a representative of the Jacobins, is waiting for the new prioress at the cloister . These radical revolutionaries only see the monasteries as “nests of exploiters and traitors”. The religious were charged with secretly hoarding riches and providing protection and shelter to so-called "enemies of the people". When the Chevalier de la Force, Brother Blanches, who was persecuted as a nobleman by the new forces, appeared in front of the Carmel gate in the middle of the night to bid him farewell before he fled France, it was a welcome occasion for the Commissioner To have the monastery searched from top to bottom.
When, towards the end of the canonical novitiate year, the Sisters of the Council voted to approve the novices to profession , Sr. Constantia received enough votes, but Sr. Blanche did not. When the prioress wants to tell her that she must return to the world, Blanche reveals to the council her perpetual fear, which she no longer believes she can overcome, but wants to offer Christ like a wound, whereupon the prioress changes her mind and Blanche accepts profession allows.
In the course of the revolution, the monastery church is devastated and the monastery almost looted, the spiritual of the monastery hides outside, the prioress of Carmel leaves Carmel in civilian clothes to look for help abroad and subordinates the convent to Mother Mary of the Incarnation. At the urging of Mother Mary, the Carmelites secretly take a vow that in the worst case they want to suffer martyrdom . Finally they have to leave the cloister of the monastery; Mother Therese of St. Augustine is just returning at this time.
Sr. Blanche, like the others, took the vow of martyrdom, but flees to her father, the Marquis de la Force, before being driven out of the monastery out of fear. This was accused by the Marquis of the Jacobins and executed, Blanche remains alone in the father's house. Out of fear or shame, she does not want to return to the Carmelites, although Mother Mary, who visits her at this time, encourages her to do so.
Since the nuns continue their community life in secret, they are also arrested, imprisoned and publicly beheaded on July 17, 1794 in Paris. As they climb onto the scaffold one after the other, singing the Veni Creator , they are joined out of the crowd as the penultimate one by the former Sr. Blanche, who at that moment has given up her fear. Only Mother Mary of the Incarnation is spared by a fortuitous circumstance. She stands in the crowd that is watching the execution and also wants to join, but is prevented by the former spiritual of the monastery and a barely perceptible gesture of negation from the prioress Mother Therese of St. Augustine so that she can continue the Carmel in France.
Production notes
The Sacrifice of a Nun was filmed from September 18 to November 28, 1959 and premiered on June 10, 1960 in Paris. The German premiere took place on July 22, 1960. The buildings were designed by Maurice Colasson , the costumes were designed by Anne-Marie Marchand.
Historical background
The story is based on true events of the revolutionary years. The Martyrs of Compiègne were Discalced Carmelites of the Convent of Compiègne . On July 17, 1794, they were guillotined in Paris for refusing to break their religious vows . They were beatified on May 27, 1906 . Her feast day is July 17th .
Reviews
“Noble film based on Gertrud von Le Forts 'novella' Die last am Schafott 'and Bernanos' play 'Die gnadete Angst'. Carmelites in the French Revolution. One of the best among many nuns films. Excellent actresses: the young Pascale Audret, Madeleine Renaud, Alida Valli. "
"A quiet and strict style of representation that does not tolerate false sentimentality, elevates the historical material to a timelessly important drama of human weakness in Christian strength."
“This is an extremely classy film. A film that does justice to Gertrud von le Forts' novella 'The Last on the Scaffold' as much as possible; in the script, in the dialogues, in the cast that Father Bruckberger and Philippe Agostini prepared for almost ten years. If the glowing breath of reality with which the poet was able to make her characters so promptly is still missing, even though the story takes place in the French Revolution, this is unfortunately due to the elegant manner in which the scriptwriters also directed. Much has been stylized in the manner of period films, and some wonderful black-and-white pictures were taken from the Carmelite monastery. Where this stylization is missing, it would have been most necessary. (…) Of the ensemble of wonderful actresses, the title character will be remembered most, to whom the very young Pascale Audret is able to give convincing traits, although Alida Valli as prioress, Madelaine Renaud in a small role and the glowing intense Jeanne Moreau also offer admirable performances . It is a shame that this good film is not better, that one remembers too often theater made into a film. "
“Her [Pascale Audrets] most important film role was certainly that of the heroine, the Countess Carmelite Blanche de La Force, which ends on the scaffold in the brittle religious and religious drama 'Sacrifice of a Nun' towards the end of the French Revolution (1794) - an achievement which she completed with both delicacy and determination. "
"From the novella ' The Last on the Scaffold ' by Gertrud von le Fort, the religious-psychological dialogue between a novice who was fearful of life and a nun who enjoyed martyrdom, arose indirectly - Georges Bernanos wrote a film dialogue that was dramatized and then reworked for the cinema - a history painting of a familiar kind. The Carmelite Sisters heroically resist the pillaging hordes of the French Revolution. The novice's occasional fickleness appears only as a dramaturgical trick to postpone the happy ending, which is predictable around a number of corners - the novice happily accepts the martyrdom. The sight of Jeanne Moreau, the erotomaniac from 'The Lovers', as a martyr in a nun's habit brings involuntary attraction. "
See also
Dialogues des Carmélites , opera by Francis Poulenc
Web links
- Sacrifice of a nun in the Internet Movie Database (English)