Sunday 3 February 2013

An Old Movie

"Twice each day for the rest of your life you will examine your conscience", says the boss nun-in-training. Cut to a series of shots of apprentice nuns, including Audrey Hepburn, examing their conscience, voice-over listing the imperfections. "I left a light on last night."
My conscience tells me we like old movies because they let us make-believe the made-believe. We can tell ourselves stories about stories.
Now they're snipping Hepburn's hair and pulling on her first cowl. She prays. Fred Zinniman shoots this and other scenes straight up. Every woman's face showing utter lack of will. The men up at the front, the priest and his associates, look bored.
"Sister, you make a beautiful nun," say the patients, when she returns to duty on her ward. They applaud. Hepburn blushes. Later she tells another new nun, "We shouldn't blush, I'm sure we shouldn't".
"Go write it in your notebook, says the other.

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