Black Narcissus

Director: Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger

1947 / 101min / DCP

A group of missionary nuns led by young Mother Superior Deborah Kerr set up a convent school in the Himalayas—created at Pinewood Studios in England—but soon find themselves vulnerable to the howling winds and other temptations. Ravishingly photographed by master cinematographer Jack Cardiff, who helps to whip things into a nearly psychedelic delirium in a climax involving Kathleen Byron’s Sister Ruth, driven to the edge by unfulfilled desire for station agent David Farrar.