La Religieuse (The Nun)

Director: Jacques Rivette

1966 / 140min / DCP

Rivette’s film adaptation of Denis Diderot’s 18th-century story of unchecked abuse of power within convent walls—which the director had earlier brought to the stage with the film’s star, Anna Karina—became the focal point of a storm of controversy on its completion, banned from release for more than a year after running afoul of censors and the cultural watchdogs of the Catholic church. Karina gives a performance of radiant fortitude as Suzanne Simonin, a young woman consigned by her family to take up the nun’s habit in spite of a lack of religious avocation, struggling to keep her faith and basic humanity intact while subjected to the capricious cruelty of higher-ups including Micheline Presle’s sadistic Mother Superior.

Restored in 4K from the original film negative by L’Immagine Ritrovata, under the supervision of Studiocanal and Mrs. Véronique Manniez-Rivette, with the support of the Centre National du Cinéma, La Cinématheque Française, and the Franco-American Cultural Fund-DGA-MPA-SACEM-WGAW.