Directed by Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger
Expectations: Very high. I’ve wanted to see this for years, even more so after seeing The Red Shoes a couple years back.
Black Narcissus is a great movie. It’s not one I loved, or one that I was especially taken by, but there’s no denying its greatness (especially in terms of cinematography). One of the most sexually tense films I’ve ever seen, Black Narcissus is an astounding achievement, even if its story is a little too melodramatic at times (even for me). I can only imagine what audiences of the day thought of it; I’m sure it lit up the screen like few other films of the era. Although, looking over the Academy Awards for that year, I’ve only seen 2–3 of the films, so perhaps I’m not the best judge of 1947 films!
Black Narcissus is about a small group of nuns tasked with setting up a school and a hospital at a remote, mountainous location in the Himalayas. The site was originally where the Indian king housed his harem, which isn’t of much concern to the nuns when they first arrive, but over the course of the film it would seem to have an effect on them. That’s not to say they all become nymphomaniacs or anything like that, but the nuns do begin to show chinks in their armor of faith, and the original purpose of the building housing their newly formed convent is one of many factors contributing to this degradation of their beliefs.
Now, can I just get a round of applause for Technicolor? A lot of praise gets thrown its way by hardcore film fans, to the point that even non-fiends know its name. Anything like that is bound to be over-hyped, but each time I am confronted with a Technicolor film I am astounded and floored at how rich, vibrant and impressive the colors are. And in the hands of one of the greatest cinematographers of all time, Jack Cardiff, Black Narcissus is like a cinematographic orgasm. Like the nuns in the film taken by the varying beauty surrounding them, any true lover of film could not watch a Technicolor film made with this much skill and not come away touting the brilliance of the colors before them. It’s hard to even think of this as a ’40s film because its cinematography is so modern and unique. Color wasn’t an everyday occurrence in films of the day, so to use it as well as it is here, crafting incredibly memorable images throughout the film, is absolutely commendable. That being said, The Red Shoes, Powell & Pressburger’s next film after this is even better in this regard thanks to the story facilitating a lot more fantastic elements and bold uses of color.
And on a side note, I think an alternate title for this review series could be, “The Challenging to Review” series, as each film so far has been something of a beast to wrap my brain around when writing about it.
Black Narcissus was a part of the 2013 Blind Spot Series where I see one movie a month that I feel I should’ve seen a long time ago. It’s all the brainchild of Ryan McNeil over at The Matinee, one of the web’s premiere film blogs. Head over there to check out his post for this month, featuring Broadcast News, as well as links to all the other people taking part in the series.