Review of Agnes of God (1985) by Paul Z — 07 Jul 2008

First off, Jane Fonda is a wonderful, riveting actress who packs a punch with every performance. In Agnes of God, she delivers on a very personal level, portraying a character very close to herself and bringing passion to the screen. She is also, in her early fifties, looking so loin-scorchingly beautiful that I could hardly restrain myself at times. Despite her wardrobe, depicting a woman who doesn't care to exhibit so loudly her heart-poundingly, blood-throbbingly luscious body, she magnetizes any heterosexual libido watching this film. Now that that's been made clear, I'll return to more practical comments upon this movie.

Meg Tilly makes you wonder why her sister is more popular and still working these days. She is haunting as a nun who in mind and spirit is still a naive and innocent little girl, overloaded with imagination and shame for every presentation of any of the realities of being a woman. Each actress in the film matches the other, but only Tilly disturbs us and rocks our emotions.

Anne Bancroft, in maybe her best performance short of The Graduate, is wonderful because of how realistic her character is, the sad woman whose present situation brings peace but does not hinder the edge she's developed from life. Her scenes with Fonda are riveting, despite the stage-like speed at which they exchange dialogue which hardly has the effect on screen as it would in the original play. The two actresses develop a swaying arch that lasts throughout the movie, as they meet, and no matter how much they disagree and fight, can still find that one moment in the gazebo where they can connect on a relatively comfortable level. They only hate each other because of what the other represents to the other's desperately fixed opinion, and if things were different, they could get along just like anyone else. I'm not sure if I've ever seen a relationship like that done so well and so clearly in a movie before. It's a rare and odd sort of occurrence and in life that isn't often recognized, and those two actresses performed it with the sharp perception that makes them two of the greatest actresses of the 1960s through the '80s.

Agnes of God is directed by Norman Jewison with a sort of effect that films rarely live up to. I don't know if I would call it one of my favorite films, but I would call it a film that sets a perfect example of effective, atmospheric, emotional film-making. Jewison's use of director of photography Sven Nykvist, of Ingmar Bergman fame, gives the film the visual moods it has that Jewison subtly projects on us. Every prop, setting, and landscape is old, almost antique-like, and therein lies feeling and atmosphere. There's a sense of history that is never spoken of. Georges Delerue's music is so packed with weeping, heart-sinking emotion that because of it, tears will strain your eyes. The film is so subtle in its workings, especially on Jewison's handling of the cinematography and music. The music will slowly sneak into a scene and you will hardly notice it's entrance, and it will pack a scene with tension or passion or even fear in any combination of warmth, sneakiness, and atmosphere. The film entrances you because of these subtleties. Jewison will focus so deeply on one setting that it's an entire universe for us, and when a new scene takes place somewhere else, it's jolting. What a sad, powerful, atmospheric film. I cried so hard.