THE NUN'S STORY

US, 1958, 148 minutes, Colour.
Audrey Hepburn, Peter Finch, Edith Evans, Peggy Ashcroft, Dean Jagger, Mildred Dunnock, Rosalie Crutchley, Lionel Jeffries, Niall Mc Guinness, Colleen Dewhurst.
Directed by Fred Zinnemann.

The Nun's Story is based on a novel by Kathleen Hulme and is set in Belgium in the 30's and 40's. It traces the life of one girl from her entry into the convent in the late 20's, through her training, her work in houses in Belgium and the Congo, the early years of the war and her final departure from the convent.

The older style of life and training in the convent is meticulously re-created and shows the atmosphere and world in which the nun had to learn to conform herself, sacrifice herself and strive for perfection.

Sister Luke's worries in religious life centre on obedience, the ordinary and extraordinary things that are asked of nuns, the submission of will to that of the superior for love of Christ. The old style of obedience was demanding and often blind. Through a myriad of the smallest examples, as well as some major worries, Sister Luke struggles with the fulfilment of the Rule and her own sense of how things should be done and of her own worth.

Audrey Hepburn is excellent as Sister Luke. She received an Oscar nomination and won the British Film Academy's award. She is well supported by Peter Finch as a doctor in the Congo. The film is tastefully and calmly made, directed well by Fred Zinnemann (The Men, High Noon, A Man for All Seasons).

A thoughtful film about dedication and vocation and a style of religious living that prevailed until the 1960s but which has now changed.

1. Was this a sad or a happy film?

2. How did the film make clear why Gaby wanted to be a nun? What was her father's reaction? Her sister's? Why?

3. Was the entry into the convent shown as a sad event? Why?

4. First impressions of the nuns themselves? their style of meeting people, their quiet decorum, their seriousness?

5. Did the film help understand the nature of convent life - the type of sacrifices required and why they were required? Was such meticulous training necessary for girl who is going to be a nun? Was it too strict? the penances, the public accusations of faults, the silence, the nature of relationships between the nuns?

6. Mother Emmanuel, the Mother General? a good leader for the order? Did she understand people? Did she give a vision of what religious life should be?

7. What motivated Gaby when she took her vows? Was her father right in saying she would find obedience hard? How was she able to conform? Did she freely make her vows?

8. How did her style of life and her personality at the medical school contrast with her style and personality during the Novitiate? Was she too sensitive about being her father's daughter? What right did Sister Pauline have to criticise Sister Luke? How important for her life and vocation was it for Sister Luke to "be a nun first and a doctor second"?

9. Did Mother Marcella have any right to ask her to fail her exams? Why? Was Sister Luke right in passing? Did she go against her conscience (as advised by Mother Marcella) in doing so well in her exam?

10. Was her going to the asylum a humiliation? Impressions of the asylum (e.g. the bath scene and the sister's long supervision)? Why did Sister Luke open the Archangel's door? Did she really learn a lesson from this?

11. How did her style of life in the Congo contrast with that of Belgium? Why was she so disappointed at having to work at the White Hospital?

12. Do you think she found herself and her vocation in the Congo?

13. Why did she become so tense and overworked? Did she live her religious life properly, her obedience? Was Mother Matilda a good and reasonable superior? What sequences showed this?

14. What did Sister Luke learn about herself and life in general in the Congo? e.g. from her visit to the leper station, the murder of the nun?

15. What kind of a man was Doctor Fortunati? Did he understand Sister Luke? Was his analysis of her tensions accurate?

16. Did her illness help Sister Luke and give her time to re-assess herself? Would she have stayed a nun had she remained in the Congo? Why?

17. How did the Motherhouse contrast with the Congo? Did Mother Emmanuel understand Sister Luke's problems? Did she give her good advice?

18. What did the sequence where Sister Luke met her father again reveal about her, her tensions and dissatisfaction with herself?

19. Why did she stay a nun during the early years of the
war? How did the death of her father affect her?

20. Was she right in asking for a dispensation? Had she tried? Was she, as Doctor Fortunati said, "a worldly nun"?

21. How did the sequence of her leaving, and the end of the film impress? Why was it so cold and sad? What future did Gaby have? Had her life been spoilt?

22. Did the film give insights into a nun's life, vocation and dedication? Is the life appealing? Did the style need changing? How? Has it changed?