Synopsis
After leaving a wealthy Belgian family to become a nun, Sister Luke struggles with her devotion to her vows during crisis, disappointment, and World War II.
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Cast
- Audrey HepburnSister Luke
- Peter FinchDr. Fortunati
- Edith EvansRev. Mother Emmanuel
- Peggy AshcroftMother Mathilde
- Dean JaggerDr. Hubert Van Der Mal
- Mildred DunnockSister Margharita
- Beatrice StraightMother Christophe
- Patricia CollingeSister William
- Rosalie CrutchleySister Eleanor
- Ruth WhiteMother Marcella
Recommendations
- 100
TV Guide Magazine
A superbly restrained piece of filmmaking, with Zinnemann directing in simple, unadorned style and Hepburn giving a truly radiant performance. - 90
The New York Times
From Kathryn Hulme's novel The Nun's Story, which gives an amazing account of a young Belgian woman's experiences in becoming and being a nursing nun, screen writer Robert Anderson and director Fred Zinnemann have derived an equally amazing motion picture of an extraordinary dedicated life. - 90
Variety
Fred Zinnemann's production is a soaring and luminous film. Audrey Hepburn has her most demanding film role, and she gives her finest performance. Despite the seriousness of the underlying theme, The Nun's Story [from the book by Kathryn C. Hulme] has the elements of absorbing drama, pathos, humor, and a gallery of memorable scenes and characters. - 80
The Telegraph
Hepburn's sensitive and eloquent performance makes it one of her finest films. [03 Dec 2016] - 70
Los Angeles Times
The film has a marvelous first half. All of Zinnemann's best qualities -- tact, taste, integrity, quiet intellect and idealism -- shine through in the convent scenes, as does the acting. However, good as Peter Finch is (as an agnostic doctor), the second half seems hurried, over-reticent. [25 Mar 1988, p.22] - 50
Time Out
Not as awful as you might expect, since the nun's training is shown in fascinating detail and the later doubts are quite subtly expressed. Solid performances, too, but it's still a long haul (made no lighter by Franz Waxman's abominably insistent score) for anyone not committed to theological problems of faith, conscience and obedience.
