BLACK NARCISSUS

'''Black Narcissus''' (1947) is a film by the British director-writer team of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, based on the novel by Rumer Godden. It is a psychological thriller about the emotional tensions within a convent of nuns in an isolated Himalayan valley.

Contents

Synopsis

Production

Historical context

Awards

References

External links

DVD Reviews

Synopsis

A group of nuns travels to a remote location in the Himalayas to set up a school and hospital and 'tame' the wild local people and environment, by conversion and gardening, only to find themselves increasingly seduced by the sensuality of their surroundings in a converted seraglio, and by the local British agent Dean (David Farrar). Clodagh (Deborah Kerr), the Sister in charge, is attempting to forget a failed romance at home in Ireland. Tensions mount as Dean's laid-back charm makes an impression on Clodagh, but also attracts the mentally unstable Sister Ruth, who becomes pathologically jealous of Clodagh, resulting in a nervous breakdown and a violent climax. In a subplot, 'the Young General' (Sabu), heir to the throne of a princely Indian state who has come to the convent for his education, becomes infatuated with a lower caste dancing girl (Jean Simmons); the film's title refers to a perfume that he has imported from England.

Production

The film was made primarily at Pinewood Studios, but some scenes were shot in Leonardslee Gardens, West Sussex, the home of an Indian army retiree which had appropriate trees and plants for the Indian setting.^[1][2] The film makes extensive use of matte paintings and large scale landscape paintings to suggest the mountainous environment of the Himalayas, as well as some scale models for motion shots of the convent. Of the three principal Indian roles, only the Young General was played by an ethnic Indian; the roles of Kanchi and the Old General were performed by white actors in makeup. The Indian extras were cast from workers at the docks in Rotherhithe.^[3]

Historical context

''Black Narcissus'' was released only a few months before India achieved independence in August 1947. Film critic David Kehr has pointed out that the final images of the film, as the nuns abandon the Himalayas and process down the mountain, could have been interpreted by British viewers in 1947 as "a last farewell to their fading empire"; he points out that it is not an image of defeat "but of a respectful, rational retreat from something that England never owned and never understood".^[4]

Awards

Jack Cardiff won an Academy Award for Best Cinematography and Alfred Junge was similarly recognised for his Art Direction.

References

1.
2.
3. Michael Powell, commentary on the Criterion Collection DVD, ch.6
4. David Kehr, 'Black Narcissus', ''The Criterion Collection'' official website.

External links

★

★ . Full synopsis and film stills (and clips viewable from UK libraries).

★ Reviews and articles at the Powell & Pressburger Pages

★ Criterion Collection essay by David Kehr

DVD Reviews

★ Comparison of Region 1 and two Region 2 DVDs at ''DVDBeaver''

★ Review by Noel Megahey of French Region 2 at ''DVD Times'' (UK)