The Nun's Story

1959
PG
2h 29m

IMDb RATING

7.5/10

12K

YOUR RATING

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80 Photos

Drama

After leaving a wealthy Belgian family to become a nun, Sister Luke struggles with her devotion to her vows during crisis, disappointment, and World War II.After leaving a wealthy Belgian family to become a nun, Sister Luke struggles with her devotion to her vows during crisis, disappointment, and World War II.After leaving a wealthy Belgian family to become a nun, Sister Luke struggles with her devotion to her vows during crisis, disappointment, and World War II.

Director
- Fred Zinnemann
Writers
- Robert Anderson
- Kathryn Hulme
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

7.5/10

12K

YOUR RATING

Director
- Fred Zinnemann
Writers
- Robert Anderson
- Kathryn Hulme
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

Nominated for 8 Oscars
- 11 wins & 23 nominations total

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Storyline

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Did you know

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Trivia
This was one of Audrey Hepburn's favorite of her films. It was also one of her most financially successful.

Goofs
When the patient in the Congo hospital is being attended by several people, the voice of the actor playing the patient is obviously dubbed over by actor Dean Jagger, who plays Sister Luke's father in the film.

Quotes
Sister Luke: You can cheat your sisters, but you cannot cheat yourself or God.
Rev. Mother Emmanuel: Have you struggled long enough to say surely that you've come to the end?
Sister Luke: I think I've been struggling all these years, Reverend Mother. In the beginning each struggle seemed different from the one before it. But then they began to repeat, and I saw they all had the same core: obedience. Without question, without inner murmuring. Perfect obedience as Christ practiced it. As I no longer can.
Rev. Mother Emmanuel: Yes?
Sister Luke: There are times when my conscience asks which has priority. It or the Holy Rule? When the bell calls me to chapel, I often have to sacrifice what might be the decisive moment in a spiritual talk with a patient. I'm late every day for chapel or refectory or both. When I have night duty I break the Grand Silence because I can no longer cut short a talk with a patient who seems to need me. Mother, why must God's helpers be struck dumb by five bells in the very hours when men in trouble want to talk about their souls?

Connections
Featured in Hey Dad..!: Testing Time (1990)

Soundtracks
Voi Che Sapete
from "The Marriage of Figaro"
Written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (as W. A. Mozart)
Played by Gabi and her father on the piano, and recurring throughout the film's score.

User reviews115

Review

Featured review

8/10

Hepburn Is Riveting

Watching the first third of this film aggravated me somewhat, since it seemed to be celebrating the self-contradictory and arbitrary regulations that govern the monastic lives of some nuns. But this film has a lot to offer and each subsequent third is better than the last.

Audrey Hepburn is Gabrielle van der Mal, a young Belgian woman who commits her life to Christ and becomes Sister Luke. Hepburn was proud of this film and justifiably so. Her portrayal (based on a true story) is riveting and authentic. The entire cast is excellent. Peter Finch plays Dr. Fortunati, a physician who challenges Sister Luke with his outspoken nature and his disregard for convention.

The narrative goes well beyond Sister Luke's struggle with her vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. It is a coming of age story and a celebration of self-actualization. In the end, the viewer is left wanting more. Hepburn extracts the maximum emotional impact from each scene, and we know there is much more to this story beyond the final, haunting shot.