Based on a 1939 novel by Rumer Godden, who also penned the novel originating Jean Renoir’s magical vision of India (The River, 1951), Black Narcissus is set on the dizzying heights of Himalaya (created at Pinewood studios in England). A group of Anglican nuns led by Deborah Kerr is tasked with founding a new school and hospital to a palace on the mountains, but the magical and at times nightmarish atmosphere of the place makes the sisters come face to face with sexual temptations and ghosts from their past.
This Freudian tale and one of the most ingenious creations of the Powell/Pressburger duo is both an exceptional rarity – an English erotic film! – and a pioneering work foreshadowing the later enormous nun horror genre. Kerr is glowing in her role, but the most unforgettable performance is by Kathleen Byron as the lip-painting unstable to frenzied sister Ruth. Resembling Madeleine in Vertigo (1958), also climbing up the mission tower, her disturbing leers signalling the joy of destruction draw a direct line to Vanessa Redgrave in Ken Russell’s The Devils (1971). In addition to its psychological challenge, Black Narcissus is also a technically insane film, where virtuoso cuts skilfully merge into each other, and the palatial sets evoke Sergei Paradzhanov in his heyday.
Lauri Timonen