Were it not for them this film would have been pretty much perfect but the flasbacks pulled it down from a possible 99.5% to a 94.5%. The directors should have picked up on how these flashbacks damaged the films structure and had nothing at all to offer.
Somebody here has been drinking and I'm sad to say it ain't me - Allan Francis Doyleshare
Why do you say so?
Barbara Wynne:We must go,darling,we have the Bishop for lunch.
Clive Candy:I hope he's tender.
Number 1: They damaged the structure, 4 flashbacks put almost right after each other in the middle of the film did not fit at all.
Number 2: They had no purpose what so ever. They didn't say anything else about here character and was unneeded.
Number 3: They just didn't fit with the mood.
Somebody here has been drinking and I'm sad to say it ain't me - Allan Francis Doyleshare
hmmmm I tend to disagree. Although I am thrilled you at least have reasons. Most people just make these broad statements with absolutely no insight as to why.
I quite liked the flashbacks as I thought, visually, they were really beautiful. The first one (I think) where they are fishing and she is standing in that lake the water sparkling so brightly it's blinding. Is what really stands out for me.
Also I feel that Clodaghs' self realization in the film, the coming to terms with the past/realising weakness is human and not an unforgiveable flaw,etc. All of this comes about when she allows herself to look back on the past and come to terms with it. We have insight into her character and therefore understand the development more.
Barbara Wynne:We must go,darling,we have the Bishop for lunch.
Clive Candy:I hope he's tender.
Surely they did explain Clodagh's character and her reasons for becoming a nun.
They also served to show that she wasn't concentrating on her vocation and her mission.
In my opinion they are some of the visual highlights of the film. To see the first "Irish idyll", when she's standing in the lough with the thigh high waders and the gingham shirt and the sunlight is dancing on the rippling water around her. When you see that on a full sized screen so that it fills your field of view, that's one of the most beautiful shots ever made.
The cut back to her in the chapel isn't needed - but it's beautifully done, the way it matches on her eye always makes me smile
Steve
I was hoping you'd come comment here Steve.
Barbara Wynne:We must go,darling,we have the Bishop for lunch.
Clive Candy:I hope he's tender.
They were a nice contrast to the rest of the film and they filled in a lot of backstory about the main character. What was more effective, the flashbacks or the part where she just explained how the guy left her?
Only the infinite depths of a man's mind can really tell the story.
I've just read the novel, and the flashbacks were as important there as they are in the film - the point of them is that the outside world is encroaching on the nuns in various ways, and this is contrary to their code of discipline - in the case of Sister Clodagh she has begun to think about her past life in Ireland, the life she lived and the life she thought she was going to live.
"Stone-cold sober I find myself absolutely fascinating!"---Katharine Hepburn
I've just read the novel myself too. One thing I notice about these flashbacks is that they are so interwoven with the present in the book. Often it will take you a few seconds before you realize what being said is in the past. I think it is intentional to show how Sister Clodagh was lost in the eerie environment. The movie tried to capture the same feeling with its own flashback too, like how Kerr run into the dark on Christmas Eve in the flashback and then back in the present when the light is on again, also the image of the pre-convent Clodagh looking to the side talking to Conrad when they were fishing was superimposed on the image of Sister Glodagh, now in habit, looking to the side during the prayer in the Chapel is also a very nice touch.
shareI don't think the movie is ruined by the flashbacks. They aren't even on my radar.
But every time Sabu or Joseph show up, the quality drops.
My only beef about the flashbacks: I just wish they had shown some flashbacks of the "palace" in its former glory days, when it was filled with the General's women. The wall paintings only gave us a teasing hint of what it must have been like.
Contemplating the palace of old, I couldn't help but recall a quote from "The Old Dark House" (1932):
They were all godless here. They used to bring their women here - brazen, lolling creatures in silks and satins. They filled the house with laughter and sin, laughter and sin. And if I ever went down among them, my own father and brothers - they would tell me to go away and pray, and I prayed - and left them with their lustful red and white women.
"Puppy cuter than pig, but piglet cuter than puppy." - Mail Order Wife
Watching it again, it's clear to me that the flashbacks are part of the major theme of the movie.
Relegated to the exotic, remote locale, the nuns give in to temptations.The nuns regard their failure to repress themselves completely as deep failures. The flashbacks are an extension of the movies motif.
- Sister Phillipa loses her spirtual focus and discipline after letting the views intoxicate her
- Sister Ruth projects lust and amorous feelings onto Mr Dean
- Sister Clodagh retreats to her past where she can still fantasize about what might have been, while neglecting her flock
Sister Honey and Sister Briony's problems receive less investigation.
i'd say what damaged this movie was Jean Simmons' character
i don't understand what was the point of her character, she was just a distraction from the main story or maybe i'm missing something, her arc didn't seem to lead to anything
awful performance by Simmons too to make matters worse
so many movies, so little time