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“No one with a serious interest in the cinema should miss it” (Dave Kehr). Rivette's masterpiece includes ten minutes originally shorn from the film, which was initially banned both within France and for export by the Gaullist government. Based on a Diderot novel, LA RELIGIEUSE is about Suzanne, the teenaged daughter of a once rich family, who is forced into a convent when the money for her dowry runs out. She finds the atmosphere harsh and punitive, the sisters collusive, conniving, and cruel. A second nunnery to which she absconds is the opposite: permissiveness trumps piety and the wanton Mother Superior lusts after the cowering novice. When Suzanne escapes over the convent wall with the aid of a rapist priest, she discovers that her only other option is another form of captivity, prostitution. Rivette elicited an exemplary performance from Anna Karina, who embodies the contrasting qualities of Suzanne with touching simplicity. Influenced by the films of Mizoguchi (particularly THE LIFE OF OHARU), Bresson, Preminger, and Cocteau, LA RELIGIEUSE qualifies as cinematic manna. “Beautiful and mesmerizing” ( Newsweek ).
Special ticket prices apply.
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