Black Narcissus

Powell & Pressburger's 1947 psychological melodrama about the tensions that brew within a convent of nuns in an isolated Himalayan valley. Jack Cardiff won the Oscar for Best Cinematography (colour) for his stunning work on the film.

Sister Clodah (Deborah Kerr) is assigned to take over a cliff-side building, abandoned by a religious Brotherhood, and establish a convent. Aided by four fellow Anglican nuns, she seeks to 'tame' the natives through education, hospitality and conversion. However, their objectives cause tension to brew between them and the locals, with the sisters forced to confront their own demons as well.

"Finding themselves disturbed by all manner of natural phenomena - extremes of temperature, weather, and a maverick local expat's (David Farrar) rugged charms - it is only a matter of time before hardship and temptation gradually draw the women away from their vocation, and they descend into doubt, jealousy and madness." (BBC)

Less