Years ago, before the CD era, I bought the soundtrack record of "The Nun's Story" by Franz Waxman. One of the best of the old school film composers, Waxman outdid himself with this score - at once intimate and soaring. The grooves are well worn now, but it's still a favourite.
The music was just one of the beautifully crafted elements that made "The Nun's Story" such an extraordinary experience.
You don't have to be Catholic to feel the power of this film about Sister Luke (Audrey Hepburn), a nun just before WW2 who desires to help others in a troubled world despite inner struggles with her faith. She belongs to an austere order that abhors the sin of vanity above all others. An interesting concept these days when you'd be forgiven for thinking it had actually become a virtue.
Fred Zinnemann was a classy filmmaker who believed in filming in real locations, Belgium and the Belgian Congo in this case. The film also has a tremendous sense of spirituality with fascinating sequences of convent and church ritual.
Although the crisis of faith suffered by Audrey Hepburn's character forces her out of the order, the sense of people living life on a higher plane comes through with denial of self and service to others their driving motivation.
Audrey Hepburn lives and breathes Sister Luke. She looks stunning in her various nuns' habits; clothing it must be said that is designed to do anything but flatter female beauty. She was one of the most radiant stars ever and this is her most luminous role. It was her personal favourite among her movies, and isn't it good to learn that she was such a nice person, considerate to her fellow actors and the crew; just a charmer with everyone. Peter Finch, another star with presence, nails his role as the challenging Doctor Fortunati.
I always thought the story was true, but now know that although it is a work of fiction, it was based on the life a woman who did experience the things depicted in the film.
"The Nun's Story" has a number of scenes that leave a lump in the throat: Sister Luke on the train leaving the Congo, and that deafening silence as she walks away from the convent finally broken by a couple of notes of Waxman's inspired score and the tolling of a bell.
The film came out decades before we became aware that some in the clergy had betrayed their positions of trust. One may be tempted to view "The Nun's Story" a little more cynically these days, but I think it simply shows the other side of the coin; those unpublicised members of the church who guided by faith quietly spend their lives helping others.
The music was just one of the beautifully crafted elements that made "The Nun's Story" such an extraordinary experience.
You don't have to be Catholic to feel the power of this film about Sister Luke (Audrey Hepburn), a nun just before WW2 who desires to help others in a troubled world despite inner struggles with her faith. She belongs to an austere order that abhors the sin of vanity above all others. An interesting concept these days when you'd be forgiven for thinking it had actually become a virtue.
Fred Zinnemann was a classy filmmaker who believed in filming in real locations, Belgium and the Belgian Congo in this case. The film also has a tremendous sense of spirituality with fascinating sequences of convent and church ritual.
Although the crisis of faith suffered by Audrey Hepburn's character forces her out of the order, the sense of people living life on a higher plane comes through with denial of self and service to others their driving motivation.
Audrey Hepburn lives and breathes Sister Luke. She looks stunning in her various nuns' habits; clothing it must be said that is designed to do anything but flatter female beauty. She was one of the most radiant stars ever and this is her most luminous role. It was her personal favourite among her movies, and isn't it good to learn that she was such a nice person, considerate to her fellow actors and the crew; just a charmer with everyone. Peter Finch, another star with presence, nails his role as the challenging Doctor Fortunati.
I always thought the story was true, but now know that although it is a work of fiction, it was based on the life a woman who did experience the things depicted in the film.
"The Nun's Story" has a number of scenes that leave a lump in the throat: Sister Luke on the train leaving the Congo, and that deafening silence as she walks away from the convent finally broken by a couple of notes of Waxman's inspired score and the tolling of a bell.
The film came out decades before we became aware that some in the clergy had betrayed their positions of trust. One may be tempted to view "The Nun's Story" a little more cynically these days, but I think it simply shows the other side of the coin; those unpublicised members of the church who guided by faith quietly spend their lives helping others.