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. **.  

THE SILENCE

THE SILENCE (aka Tystnaden/1963). Director: Ingmar Bergman.

Two women who appear to be sisters are traveling in Europe with the ten-year-old son of one of them when they stop in a rather dismal little town, Timoka, where one, Ester (Ingrid Thulin), becomes ill. As Ester becomes increasingly overwrought and fears dying alone, Anna (Gunnel Lindblom) goes out of the hotel and finds a man to have sex with, and little Johan (Jorgen Lindstrom) makes his own merriment with a friendly old man and some dwarfs. This is probably fraught with symbolism and deep meaning -- maybe -- but it comes off more as an almost comically underwritten mood piece and little else. Ester has been described as a "repressed lesbian" in several reviews, probably because of the scene where she seems to come on to her sister (similar to scenes in the later Cries and Whispers) but it comes off less as lesbianism or incest than just a kind of mock eroticism-without-a-point, thrown in because it turns Bergman on. Thanks to Sven Nykvist's photography, the film is full of a grim atmosphere, as well as arresting images and faces, as well as the usual fine acting -- if only Bergman had given the players a screenplay that was worthy of their mettle.

Verdict: Half-baked in Timoka. **.

ANOTHER WOMAN

Gena Rowlands

ANOTHER WOMAN (1988). Writer/director: Woody Allen.

"I accept your condemnation."

Marion (Gena Rowlands) takes an apartment to work on her latest book in peace but discovers she can hear conversations in the next-door psychiatrist's office through a vent. One particular patient stands out in her mind, Hope (Mia Farrow), whom she eventually meets. In the meantime she has encounters of varying kinds with her partially estranged brother, Paul (Harris Yulin); her aged father (John Houseman); an old friend-actress (Sandy Dennis of That Cold Day in the Park), who tells her their long separation was deliberate on her part; and her husband Ken (Ian Holm), who seems strangely disinterested in love-making. There are also flashbacks to her conversations with such as Larry (Gene Hackman), a friend of Ken's who fell in love with her. Another Woman is extremely well-acted, has excellent dialogue, is handsomely photographed by Sven Nykvist, and certainly holds the attention, but it may not deliver the pay-off the viewer is expecting. Perhaps the movie, which is apparently meant to look at the life of a woman who keeps her feelings too much in control, is too subtle to have major impact. Rowlands [The Skeleton Key] gives an outstanding performance, however, which is most of the film's pleasure, and there are also excellent performances by Sandy Dennis (her confrontation with Rowlands in a bar is one of the best scenes in the movie) and a wonderful John Houseman [Murder By Phone]. Betty Buckley has a well-played bit as Ken's ex-wife, who shows up in the middle of a party. and causes an understandable scene. Allen has created real characters, but that doesn't mean his characterization is always incisive, and we really don't get to know any of these people, including Marion, well enough to give a damn about any of them.

Verdict: The acting puts this over and it is certainly absorbing despite its flaws. *** out of 4.

CRIES AND WHISPERS

CRIES AND WHISPERS (Viskningar och rop/1972). Director Ingmar Bergman.

Two sisters and a personal maid attend their sister's agonizing death at their family estate, ruminate about the tribulations of the past, and give vent to repressed passions and resentments. Dying Agnes (Harriet Andersson), who has apparently had a loving physical relationship with her maid Anna (Kari Sylwan), stayed on the childhood estate while her sisters Karin (Ingrid Thulin) and Maria (Liv Ullmann) married -- unhappily it seems -- and went off. It would be easy to dismiss Cries and Whispers as a weird movie about screwed-up sisters were it not for its powerful moments, acting, and images. Bergman's screenplay seems at times more like a collection of unformed ideas -- often with childish shock value -- than a fully realized work of art; there are stupid sequences that border on black comedy. The movie is famous for such scenes as when Karin mutilates herself sexually with a piece of glass (that's one way to get out of having sex with your wizened husband) and the pieta-like display with Anna holding Agnes in her arms (pictured). There has been much debate about the relationship between Agnes and Anna, but when the latter kisses and gets in bed with the former earlier in the film, it is clear that this is something she is used to; the two are definitely lovers. Karin and Maria's feelings for each other are a bit more ambiguous (at one point Maria seems to come on to her sister. One suspects Bergman was more intrigued/turned on by the idea or sensuality of lesbianism than with seriously exploring the subject.) The acting is so raw that at times the film is difficult to watch. Harriet Andersson has such an expressive face that she seems to sum up the character's whole life in one awakening close-up. While Bergman eschews the Hollywood-style sentimental, underscored treatment, it might have made this film more moving and meaningful, especially as it concerns Anna, the one who loved Agnes the best, being summarily dismissed by the family at the end with barely a keepsake. Very well-photographed by Sven Nykvist.

Verdict: Slow-moving and not for everyone but not without its rewards. ***.