masonfisk A tale regarding the struggles of nuns during the launch of Vatican II in 60's is a message movie w/no message, a drama lacking it, a hodgepodge of cliches, notions & stereotypes if there ever was one. Ping ponging between homosexuality, religious hysteria & extreme penance, I wondered if I was watching a film about the battles for one's soul or an episode of Ninja Warrior where every contestant was wearing habits. If ever a story editor needed to wrest control of a script from a writer, this surely was the case.

twhiteson In the mid-19th century, the widely popular "expose" book, "The Awful Disclosures of Maria Monk," which portrayed Catholic convents as places of torture and debauchery, helped fuel anti-Catholic bigotry. Although "Novitiate" doesn't completely fall into blatant Catholic bashing, its portrayal of its convent as a place of misery does make it seem like Maria Monk-lite. "Novitiate" attempts to be a 21st century version of Fred Zinnemann's fantastic 1959 film "The Nun's Story" which was about a Belgian nun's (Audrey Hepburn) struggles with her faith, profession as a nurse, and conflicting loyalties during WW2. "Novitiate" was so inspired by "The Nun's Story" that it has one of its characters make a direct reference to it."Novitiate" is the story of "Cathleen Harris" (Margaret Qualley) the only child of a broken home being raised by her mother (Julianne Nicholson). Although not Catholic and being raised in a de facto agnostic household, shy Cathleen "falls in love" with God after being inspired by the devotion of one of her kindly nun teachers at the parochial school she attends on scholarship. At age 17 and against her mother's objections, she joins a cloistered convent with the intention of making it her life.However, it's 1964 and the Vatican II Council is under way with its intention of drawing Catholicism into the 20th century. That doesn't sit well with the convent's ultra-conservative Mother Superior (Melissa Leo). She's quite content with her Order's medieval traditions of public confessional debasement and self-inflicted scourging by the penitent. (Yeah, it's laid on a bit thick.)Most of the movie is about how Cathleen and her fellow rose-cheeked novitiates struggle with both their faith and convent's strict rules especially its enforced silences. Cathleen appears to adapt better than most, but then "Sister Emanuel" (Rebecca Dayan) joins the convent and that's where the movie really lost me.As stated above, the movie makes reference to "The Nun's Story" in which a novitiate admits that film was her inspiration to become a nun despite it being "unrealistic" because Audrey Hepburn was so beautiful. Unrealistic? In "Novitiate," most of the nuns range from very pretty to downright gorgeous! Also, this convent appears to have come stocked with a full make-up department because all the young sisters are always glammed-up!Yet, it really gets dumb with Sister Emanuel's entrance. Once Cathleen takes a few quick glances at the beautiful Emanuel (Ms. Dayan has former model written all over her) she suddenly decides that she belongs to the Pink Team. Her instant transformation from devout novitiate to starving (literally) for lesbian intimacy was just ridiculous. How dumb is it? Well, it reminded me of those 1990's straight-to-video "erotic thrillers" in which if two attractive women were alone in a room together then they wouldn't be able to keep their hands off each other. At least, those "erotic thrillers" usually had a few lines of dialogue to try to explain why two women became instantaneous lesbian lovers, but "Novitiate" doesn't even have that to explain why Cathleen and Emanuel are suddenly groping and giving each other passionate kisses. The only explanation is that Ms. Qualley and Ms. Dayan are both extremely attractive and the producers clearly thought it'd be "hot" to watch them "get it on." It's so blatantly prurient that's insulting.Undoubtedly, the film-makers deluded themselves that they were making serious points as to the sexual tensions that had to exist in Catholic convents because after all everyone is obsessed with sex. Right? So, we get scenes of sisters being unable to "master their domain" and the "nuns-gone-wild" stuff between Cathleen and Emanuel. It pretty much undercuts everything else including the Vatican II conflicts, Ms. Leo's and Ms. Nicholson's performances, and the shallow conversations as to faith.In sum: a stupid, prurient film with pretensions as to seriousness, depth and art. "The Nun's Story" is STILL vastly better, serious, and more realistic than this silly bit of Maria-Monk-lite.

percyporcelain This movie is good at analysing the psychodrama of convent life but is likely a bit overdrawn and overwrought. As usual, there is an evil Mother Superior bent on humbling and humiliating the sisters and novices, this strays close to cliche but is well-played and genuinely scary. There are echoes of Nazi authoritarianism, e.g. inviting other sisters to condemn each other in a conspiratorial way. It's not all doom and gloom, there are moments of light relief but they are slightly cheesy. In the end, it's hard to decide whether the director is pro- or anti-Vatican II (and the Catholic church generally). We're told at the end that 90,000 nuns in the US renounced their vows after this liberalisation was introduced.

Devin Atteln Previous religious films have attempted to capture the topsy-turvy nature that the Catholic Church faced in the aftermath of the Second Vatican Council. However, this film gives that transition a new point of view in this film; in the past viewers have typically only seen the laity's, or common person's, struggle with accepting the changes of Vatican II. "Novitiate" gives the women of the Church a voice.The acting in the film was brilliant and beautifully captured the feelings that any young person would have if they would be giving their life away as in the film, especially regarding sexuality. However, some of the finer details of the film seem to have very little basis in research. While admittedly a banal item, the spoken Latin in the film was very off-putting. Also, an archbishop would not have full autonomy over a women's religious community as is portrayed in the film. Again, these are minor details, but minor details can make or break any film. Also, it seemed that the film was trying to suggest that the only people who could "make it" in a convent like this are the brainwashed, ill-informed members. The film would have done well to show some members of the community who were genuinely happy.The film did capture the chaotic nature that religious communities faced after Vatican II, but the film only ended up telling half the story. While it's true that most women's religious communities dwindled after the reforms, there were many more liberal leaning communities that thrived and used the reforms of the Council to better reach the outside world.Overall, though, this film offers the outsider a small glimpse of world that is otherwise completely cut off and separate from their own. "Novitiate" offers the viewer a chance to understand how the 21st century Church got to be where it is today.