Review: Black Narcissus

Sister Deborah Kerr is the youngest Sister Superior in her order and is given the difficult task of setting up a mission (school and hospital) in the Himalayas (!). This area of the world is said to do strange things to people’s heads, so just think what will happen to a bunch of sexually repressed penguins up there, especially when the sisters get a look at hunky (but cynical) British ‘agent’ David Farrar, who lives nearby and offers somewhat reluctant assistance. Did I mention that the building used by the nuns was formerly the local General’s harem? Sabu plays a young General (son of General Esmond Knight, the former owner of the building) who hopes the sisters will become his educators (history, literature, the whole nine yards), and whose bewitching perfume is where the film’s title comes from. A heavily made-up Jean Simmons (check out that sparkly thing on her nose!) plays a local girl who catches the studious young General’s fancy. Kathleen Byron plays the unhinged, rather uncooperative (and majorly horny!) Sister Ruth, Flora Robson plays the increasingly weary, distracted Sister Philippa (who is in charge of growing vegetables, apparently a Nun’s work involves digging around in the dirt. Who knew?).

Those expecting an utterly serious, dour religious experience will be utterly baffled by this 1947 film directed by Michael Powell (“The Red Shoes”, “Peeping Tom”) and Emeric Pressburger (“The Red Shoes”), regarded by many as the most gorgeous colour film ever made (and in my view it is the finest use of colour in cinematic history, alongside films as diverse as “Vertigo” and “Masque of the Red Death”). That’s their loss, because this is a superb, stunningly shot, opulent melodrama. I’m an atheist, by the way, yet I also enjoy some religious films like “The Ten Commandments”, so long as one treats them as films and not something more holy or sacrosanct.

Kerr and especially the sorely underrated Byron are brilliant (they should’ve been Oscar nominated if you ask me), even Sabu and a black-faced Simmons work inexplicably well in their somewhat frivolous, potentially offensive parts. In fact, the only problem (aside from the shameful waste of one of Britain’s finest-ever character actresses, Robson, in a slightly underwritten part) comes from Farrar’s third-rate Stewart Granger, saddled with a ridiculous, short-shorts costume that to my eyes, seems wholly inappropriate, especially when he’s in the presence of nuns and such a holy setting. Sure, he’s meant to be a stud muffin arousing the repressed sexual urges of the nuns, but I doubt such a costume is really necessary (he even goes shirtless at one point, Byron’s facial expression in the scene is a scream!), and it’s certainly very silly. He also wears a ridiculous hat in many scenes, that just adds to the silliness.

But overall, this is a must see (shocking for its day- perhaps still- and censored in some quarters, but the full version is now quite readily available), especially for fans of melodrama (though it’s unlike any melodrama you’re likely to find) and gorgeous colour films. It really does help one realise that nuns are human beings at the end of the day, and gives us an idea of the sacrifices they have to make when choosing this path in life (and don’t give me any of that ‘It chose them’ crap, it’s hardly the point), Robson’s character, underwritten as it is, is a particularly sad one in many ways. Colour cinematography by the respected Jack Cardiff (“The African Queen”, “The Vikings”) deservingly won an Oscar (it’s remarkably crisp, everything seems to sparkle, notably the actors’ eyes), as did Alfred Junge for Art Direction/Set Decoration.

This isn’t “The Passion of the Christ”, it’s more Douglas Sirk melodrama, only much, much better than anything the overrated Sirk came out with. One of a kind, really.

Rating: B+