AGNES OF GOD

Meg Tilly and Jane Fonda

AGNES OF GOD (1985). Director: Norman Jewison. 

A young nun, Sister Agnes (Meg Tilly), is arrested for manslaughter when her strangled baby is found in a waste basket at the convent. Dr. Martha Livingstone (Jane Fonda), a psychiatrist, is brought in to assess the nun's mental condition. She has some problems in this due to the nun's reticence in talking about or even acknowledging her pregnancy, and the Mother Superior, Miriam (Anne Bancroft). has objections as well. Martha is a lapsed Catholic and Miriam accuses her of hating the Church. Martha decides to do some investigating and find out who the father of the baby is, and if somebody else strangled the infant. She discovers there's a secret exit from -- and entrance into -- the convent.

Anne Bancroft and Jane Fonda

The film version of Agnes of God, which was based on a stage play by John Pielmeier (who also wrote the screenplay) was packaged in movie houses as a murder mystery. If viewers, especially non-Catholic and non-religious viewers, knew it was actually a kind of dopey exploration of faith and the immaculate conception, there probably would have been even less of them in the theater. The film has a visual gloss to it due to Sven Nykvist's cinematography, some nice music by Georges Delarue, and the acting from the three leads can not be faulted, yet ... Most sensible viewers will feel that Sister Agnes definitely needs a psychiatrist! This is a study of severe mental illness masquerading as an examination of faith.

Verdict: Beatific looks can't help put this one over. **.