Black Narcissus (1947)

Directed and produced by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger

A group of nuns are given the chance to open a school and hospital in a remote corner of the Indian Himalayas. Led by resolute Sister Clodagh (Deborah Kerr), the women will have to battle the elements, local prejudices and their own personalities in order to succeed.

Having watched and reviewed The Small Back Room three weeks ago, I decided to view another of Powell and Pressburger’s movies, one that I had not before seen, and the cast of which included the stars of The Small Back Room (David Farrar and Kathleen Byron) , which was filmed two years after Black Narcissus. Based on the novel by Rumer Godden, this movie is a dark psychological drama. Like many that centre on religious people, it has almost nothing to do with religion: the order of nuns is chosen to provide characters for their cloistered life in an isolated setting. As such, it is adequate but contrived.

The direction and production are excellent, as might be expected from Powell and Pressburger (‘The Archers’). The difficulties the sisters encounter in their new location are piled on with ever greater weight and urgency, and one can sense a climax coming. This creates tension which can be felt.

Visually, the movie is a success. The brilliance of the colour photography makes the setting exotic, and the views obtained, especially with the superbly executed matte paintings – often as good or even superior to computer generated scenes now – make Mapu, the fictional district in which the story is set, truly a place out of the ordinary. The costumes must be mentioned: the nuns’ habits are voluminous and accentuate both the impracticality of the women’s labours in this remote corner of the globe, and the severe climate: the wind always blows at Mapu, and the robes and headdresses the sisters wear are always moving in the breeze. Even as heavily garbed as they are, the nuns feel the cold of the place, and that is well-conveyed.

The acting is very good, with several players having parts in other Powell and Pressburger movies. These include Kerr, Farrar, Byron, and Esmond Knight. Jean Simmons has a small but significant rôle as a young Indian girl.

Despite Byron’s stand-out performance as Sister Ruth, the character illustrates the main flaw of Black Narcissus. Ruth has emotional problems, to say the least. I found it hard to believe that she would have been accepted into a religious order in the first place, never mind allowed to remain. Such organisations are not refuges or rescue-groups, taking in all the flawed people no one else wants. The fictional order portrayed here is a working order, not a meditative one, and Ruth gives no indication that she has ever followed commands or done anything that she didn’t want to do without immense complaint. And the decision to send her to an isolated location with people she neither likes nor respects is incredible.

One character’s unlikelihood seems a small thing to hurt a movie, but Sister Ruth figures prominently in the plot, and contributes to the interactions of other characters, as well. In fact, Sister Clodagh’s selection as head of the group at Mapu is almost as improbable, given her inexperience and, again, the loneliness of the location, leaving her to her own resources and without support. The characters, however well portrayed, come across as contrivances to further, or even to make, the plot.

Even so, for its visual brilliance (both in looks and concept), direction and acting, Black Narcissus should be viewed. It is essential for the film student, and interesting, if not quite entertaining, to watch.