Review of Black Narcissus (1947) by Alan M — 18 Jun 2008

The most sensual British film ever made. I could write a book on this picture. Michael Powell had a serious budget to make this picture but eschewed the option of making it in the Himalayas, leaving the way clear for Jean Renoir to use the proposed location instead. he made the bulk of it at Pinewood Studios and created the Himalayas there. The backdrops were matte paintings which gave a magnificently super real quality to the finished film. It is also one of the most beautifully photographed films you'll ever see due to the magic of Jack Cardiff's magnificent photgraphy. Superlatives abound in talking about this. Rumer Godden's story of nuns being consumed by the heat and exotic nature of their surroundings a cliff top seraglio in the Himalayas and the effect of a handsome British local agent (David Farrar) on their repressed sexuality is terrific. One of the Sisters, Ruth (marvellous Kathleen Byron) goes half-mad with a mixture of jealousy and lust when the man rejects her and tries to take it out on the head Sister (Deborah Kerr) who is the object of the man's desire.

The insane nun plummets to her death at the end and the remaining nuns leave the nunnery.

The sub-plots involve a young Indian prince (Sabu) and a scullery maid falling in love. Jean Simmons plays the low-caste girl and does the steamiest dance you will ever see for the young prince and a sub-plot about the nuns failing to cure a child of a serious illness which kills it causing the locals to turn against the Nuns. They look back to the Hindu holy man who sits in meditation in the grounds of the nunnery.

Certain episodes point at the surrender of the Raj to India and this is in keeping as this film was made in 1947 at the time the British were leaving an India they never fully understood. Absolute must see film for anyone who truly loves cinema at it's best.