This film closes on Thursday, November 7th. Tickets are on sale now.

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In France during the 1760s, Suzanne (Pauline Etienne) is a promising young musician who aspires to enter society. Her ambitions are derailed when her parents suddenly send her off to a convent, expecting her to become a nun. Suzanne becomes desperate to escape cloistered life, but is forced to commit to her vows. Her ordeal intensifies when she encounters the sadistic Sister Christine (Louise Bourgoin) and then the predatory, demanding Mother Superior (Isabelle Huppert).

Diderot’s novel, a staple of French literature, has been adapted for the screen a number of times before, notably by Jacques Rivette in 1966. Guillaume Nicloux’s take is a committed, slyly subversive period melodrama that crackles with wit. Emerging Belgian actress Pauline Etienne is a captivating presence throughout, while Louise Bourgoin and Isabelle Huppert, cast as the young woman’s tormentors, put in performances to relish, depicting the most crazed onscreen wimple-wearers this side of Black Narcissus. (Notes by Michael Hayden.)

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