Black Narcissus
Black Narcissus (
1947) is a film by the
British director-writer team of
Powell & Pressburger, based on the novel by
Rumer Godden.
The film was made mainly at
Pinewood Studios with some scenes shot in
Leonardslee Gardens,
West Sussex, the home of an Indian army retiree which had appropriate trees and plants for the Indian setting. It makes extensive use of
matte paintings and large scale landscape paintings to suggest the mountainous environment of the Himalayas, as well as some scale models for motion shots of the convent.
Jack Cardiff won an
Academy Award for Best Cinematography and
Alfred Junge was similarly recognised for his
Art Direction.
|
Sister Ruth rings the nunnery bell |
A group of
Anglican travel to a remote location in the Himalayas to set up a school and hospital and 'tame' the wild local people and environment, by conversion and gardening, only to find themselves increasingly distracted by the sensuality of their surroundings in a converted
seraglio. In essence, they are converted (or 'seduced') by the local people and the environment, rather than the other way around. The Sister in charge (
Deborah Kerr) is attempting to forget a failed romance at home in
Ireland and tensions mount when she has to deal with two men - the local British agent (
David Farrar) and the young heir to the throne of a princely state (
Sabu) who uses the scent 'Black Narcissus' imported from England. One of the nuns suffers a psycho-sexual breakdown, leading to a highly-charged dramatic climax.
Sarah Street (2005).
Black Narcissus, TCM British Film Guide,
I.B. Tauris, ISBN 1845110463.
Black Narcissus at screenonline
*
Reviews and articles at the
Powell & Pressburger Pages*
Criterion Collection essay by David Kehr
