Synopsis
Poland, 1945. Mathilde, a young French Red Cross doctor, is on a mission to help the war survivors. When a nun seeks for her help, she is brought to a convent where several pregnant sisters are hiding, unable to reconcile their faith with their pregnancy. Mathilde becomes their only hope.
Your Movie Library
Cast
- Lou de LaâgeMathilde Beaulieu
- Agata BuzekNun Maria
- Agata KuleszaMother Superior
- Vincent MacaigneSamuel
- Joanna KuligNun Irena
- Eliza RycembelTeresa
- Katarzyna DąbrowskaNun Anna
- Anna PróchniakZofia
- Helena SujeckaLudwika
- Mira MaludzińskaBibiana
Recommendations
- 90
The New York Times
Blistering. - 80
Variety
Hope and horror are commingled to quietly moving effect in Agnus Dei, a restrained but cumulatively powerful French-Polish drama about the various crises of faith that emerge when a house of God is ravaged by war. - 80
Village Voice
Where "Ida" takes a drearier, more realistic approach to the story, The Innocents, despite its dark focus on a group of women living in fear of getting repeatedly raped by their allies, actually has a mightier finish, something of a crescendo to cut through the quiet grief. - 75
The Film Stage
Despite an ending that is far too obvious and tidy, Agnus Dei is a moving drama about the struggle to keep one’s faith in the most difficult of situations. - 75
Slant Magazine
Anne Fontaine's film is an allegory for women's condition more generally, in times of war or peace. - 70
Screen Daily
Agnus Dei’s filmmakers ultimately embrace the sin of over-simplification. And audiences, grabbing for their tissues, will likely forgive them of it. - 63
New York Post
The actors bring emotional authenticity to the aftermath of trauma, but despite that and the handsome cinematography, there is also a persistent phoniness. - 60
The Hollywood Reporter
Directed by French director Anne Fontaine (Two Mothers/Adore, Coco Before Channel), this is another gorgeously appointed but also slightly overly formal film, with a muted emotional payoff that, while appropriate for the story’s convent setting, doesn’t exactly make for must-see cinema.
