by Davide Brambilla
«Even though we nuns are supposed to be invisible, God still gave us eyes and ears», says Sister Agnes with pointed clarity. She is the nun in charge of managing Casa Santa Marta in the Vatican. She is surrounded by cardinals who are divided among themselves and guilty of scandals and deceit, in Conclave (2024) by Edward Berger. It’s a role composed mostly of glances and just a few, carefully measured words, one that earned the legendary Isabella Rossellini her first Oscar nomination.
And this aura of “invisibility”, which more often than not goes hand in hand with a watchful, discreet, and indispensable presence in the life of the Church, has not prevented cinema from portraying these figures of female consecration, be they nuns, sisters, or abbesses, real or fictional, and giving them due prominence, often thanks to the performances of great actors who, at times, rose to fame precisely through such roles.
If we look at how saints have been represented, we see a variety of interpretations, such as those of Saint Clare of Assisi, the founder of the Order of Poor Clares. From the idealized portrait in Brother Sun, Sister Moon (1972) by Franco Zeffirelli to the revolutionary and feminist version by Susanna Nicchiarelli in Chiara (2022). Saint Thérèse of Lisieux was portrayed by then-debutante Catherine Mouchet in Thérèse (1986) by Alain Cavalier, a fairly free interpretation of the life of the French Carmelite. Romanian actress Maia Morgenstern gave life to Edith Stein during the most difficult years of her search for meaning and purpose, which she ultimately found in total surrender to God, consecrating herself as Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, in The Seventh Room (1995). Mother Teresa of Calcutta, still alive at the time, was portrayed by Geraldine Chaplin in Mother Teresa (1997), and more recently by Juliet Stevenson in The Letters (2014), based on the nearly fifty-year-long correspondence between the founder of the Missionaries of Charity and her spiritual director. What stands out in these portrayals of saintly women is, above all, the attempt, which has been more or less successful, to highlight the most unique and lesser-known aspects of their relationship with the Church of their time. This aspect achieved without omitting the deeply human dimension of personal fragility and struggle, whether internal or with a society often depicted as male-dominated.
The protagonists who appear more compelling are the ones in fictional works, or those loosely inspired by real vents, that stand out for their narrative complexity and psychological depth. The Nun’s Story (1953) by Fred Zinnemann is based on the life of Marie Louise Habets, formerly a sister of Charity of Jesus and Mary, portrayed here by Audrey Hepburn. Sister Luke struggles with the rigidity of convent rules and obedience, despite freely entering religious life against her father’s wishes. After seventeen years, spent partly in a sanatorium in Antwerp and on mission in the Congo, she eventually leaves the religious life to dedicate herself more fully to helping the suffering. In Lilies of the Field (1963), a traveling African American labourer encounters a group of poor German nuns in Arizona. The sisters, welcoming the man with evangelical hospitality, eventually witness him building a church for the nearby Mexican community. Lilia Skala’s Mother Superior is an emblem of strength and resilience, trust in divine providence, hence the title, which evokes the famous passage from Matthew 6:28–29, and missionary zeal grounded in hospitality and sharing.
Two nuns are at the center of Agnes of God (1985), portrayed by Anne Bancroft and Meg Tilly, who grapple with the mystery of a newborn’s death in a convent, which is an apparent case of infanticide. One must also remember Sister Helen Prejean, who is still living, of the Sisters of Saint Joseph of Medaille, portrayed by Susan Sarandon in Dead Man Walking (1995), a role that won her an Academy Award. Called to serve as spiritual advisor to a death row inmate, her faith grants her the clarity to reconcile compassion with justice and help the man confront the consequences of his actions. Conflicted nuns appear in both the American film Doubt (2008) and the French Agnus Dei (2016). In the former, Amy Adams’ character inadvertently fuels the suspicions of her superior, played by Meryl Streep, who is determined to accuse a priest of abusing minors. In the latter, the nuns of a Polish convent, torn between their natural identity as women and their chosen role as brides of Christ, seek to find in motherhood, the result of wartime rape, a new and unexpected answer to their vocation. In addition, in the Polish context, another noteworthy film is Ida (2013) by Paweł Pawlikowski, whose protagonist Anna, a novice on the verge of taking her final vows, is sent to visit her unconventional aunt. This visit reveals long-hidden wounds from her past.
Another area that is not to be underestimated is that which deals with scandalous and deliberately provocative -if not outright provocative- themes. Associating the “virginal” or otherwise chaste figure of a nun with sexuality, whether in romantic storylines or erotic narratives, inevitably stimulates the viewer’s voyeuristic curiosity. In Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison (1957), directed by John Huston, a Marine corporal is shipwrecked on a Pacific island during World War II, where he meets Sister Angela (Deborah Kerr), who has remained alone after the native population fled fearing invasion. The soldier gradually pulls her off the straight and narrow, leading her toward temptation and inner conflict. In Viridiana (1961), the first film Luis Buñuel made after his exile, Silvia Pinal plays a novice on the verge of taking her final vows. During a visit to her uncle, she tries to uphold her ideals by performing acts of charity, yet ends up embroiled in morally ambiguous and transgressive situations. The Devils (1971) tells the story of Sister Jeanne of the Angels (Vanessa Redgrave), mother superior of the Ursuline convent in Loudun, whose hunchbacked figure reflects her inner turmoil. Secretly in love with Father Urbain and jealous of his affection for the gentle Madeleine, she unleashes all her power and influence to destroy him. Moving to Dark Habits (Entre tinieblas, 1983), an early work by Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar, the audience is taken into the fictional convent of the Redeeming Humiliated, a congregation of nuns who, in order to better understand and save lost souls, also willingly partake in sin themselves. Among more recent examples is Benedetta (2021), in which Paul Verhoeven brings to the screen, teetering on the edge of blasphemy, the true story of 17th-century Italian nun Benedetta Carlini and her carnal and emotional relationship with the young novice Bartolomea.
When it comes to scandal, Catholic Ireland stands out, with films that portray, sometimes with brutal intensity, the harsh, often sadistic severity of nuns dealing with young unwed mothers, as seen in The Magdalene Sisters (2002), Philomena (2013), and Small Things Like These (2024).
Two other diametrically opposed genres, where nuns have played central roles are comedy and, more recently, horror. Beloved titles that fall into the former category include The Bells of St Mary’s (1945), The Sound of Music (1965), The Singing Nun (Dominique, 1966), Two Mules for Sister Sara (1970), the Sister Act films (1992 and 1993), and Like a Cat on a Highway – Return to Coccia di Morto (2021). On the other end of the spectrum, it is nuns that have unsettled audiences in horror films like The Conjuring 2 (2016), along with its spin-offs The Nun (2018 and 2023), The Crucifixion (2017) and Immaculate (2024).