Black Narcissus

"The movie was written, directed and produced by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, a duo known as the Archers. I wouldn’t hold the novel in quite as high regard as some of the other novels we’re talking about, but it’s very compelling. Rumer Godden was an English novelist who spent periods of her life in India. Black Narcissus , named after a French perfume, was her first bestseller. She also wrote The River , one of Martin Scorsese’s favorite movies. It’s set in Calcutta on the Hooghly River and was directed by Jean Renoir. So two great filmmakers adapted Rumer Godden’s work. In the story, a group of British and Irish nuns set up a convent school high up in the Himalayas, in what was once a harem, and plan to do good work for the locals. The main protagonist, Sister Clodagh (played in the film by Deborah Kerr) joins the order after a failed romance in Ireland. As the novel begins, this young nun assumes the position of the youngest sister superior but is far from confident. The narrative in both novel and film also follows the emotional journeys of four other sisters, especially Sister Ruth (played by Kathleen Byron), who becomes Sister Clodagh’s rival in the bid for the affection of Mr. Dean, the British agent for the ruler of the state in which the monastery is situated. Sister Ruth proves unpredictable in her behavior. It’s really a story of repressed female desire that is, in the course of the events, unleashed. In some sense, the failure of the nuns to overcome the physical environment of their problematic relationship with the local population might be seen as presaging Britain’s exit from India . “Two great filmmakers adapted Rumer Godden’s work” In the novel, the descriptions of the setting and detailing of the world take up pages. This gives us a vivid sense of it. In the film, this visual fabric suffuses the narrative throughout. It’s much more organic, in a way, to the medium. The melodrama of intrigue and the latent eroticism that builds through the story is more focused and more emphasized in the movie. That happens, in particular, through Jack Cardiff’s high contrast, richly saturated, often expressionist cinematography. It’s very sensual. The very language itself is the language of the senses. It’s the language of color. It’s the language of shadow. It’s the language of visual tonality of space and depth, of vista, and detail. Alfred Junge’s production and costume design also contribute hugely to that."