NOVITIATE – Review

Margaret Qualley as Sister Cathleen, in NOVITIATE. Photo courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics (c)

NOVITIATE focuses on a young woman preparing to become a nun in the early 1960s, just as the Catholic church is poised on the brink of the sweeping changes of Vatican II.

Maggie Betts wrote and directed this drama about a 17-year-old named Cathleen and her fellow novices as they move towards taking their first vows as nuns. It is certainly not the first film to give viewers a peek inside a convent as young women prepare for religious life, and, in fact, the film mentions the 1959 Audrey Hepburn film “A Nun’s Story. What makes this film different is that it takes place at a pivotal moment for the Catholic Church, just as the changes of Vatican II were being put in place. Catholics know what a radical shift Vatican II was. In its attempt to modernize the church, it made sweeping changes to long-standing traditions and practices, and even non-Catholics are familiar with some changes, such as dropping the Latin mass in favor of one the local language. The changes were controversial and also instituted quickly, which divided many Catholic communities, and remain an issue with some traditionalists still. The changes impacted the lives of nuns as well as all Catholics, altering old traditions and practices nearly overnight. In some ways, the film is as much an exploration of the reaction to Vatican II as a young woman’s experience in a convent.

The film primarily focuses on 17-year-old Cathleen Norris (Margaret Qualley). Cathleen attended a Catholic school on scholarship, despite being raised by a single mother who is an atheist. Her mother Nora (Julianne Nicholson) seems to have been raised Catholic but long ago lost interest in going to church and developed a cynical attitude towards religion, possibly around the time Cathleen’s unreliable, drunken father (Chris Zylka) left for good. It is just Mom and Cathleen, and so Mom could not be more shocked when her daughter decides to become a nun.

The secondary focus of the film is the convent’s head, the Reverend Mother, played brilliantly by Melissa Leo. Reverend Mother (she has no other name) rules the convent with an iron fist and a fervent faith. There is a bit of drill sergeant in Reverend Mother but one senses she is so demanding because she wants only the best ones to serve her beloved God. The church and convent life define her and also form her comforting home – until Vatican II appears. She is someone who treasures the solid, predictable world in which she lives, and she does not like change, something her world is about to undergoing in abundance.

The story follows these two characters on parallel tracks. The drama does explore issues of faith, mostly from Kathleen’s individual point of view, but does not shy away from challenging it either. We get to know the whole group of postulates, as the young novices are called in the first months before they take their first vow and become novitiates. It is a weeding out process as well as a chance for the young women to taste life as a nun and decide if it is really for them.

As the postulates, and the some of the nuns who work with them, work through their issues, the Reverend Mother undergoes a crisis, It is more a crisis of identity than of faith, brought on by her reaction to Vatican II. At first, she does not even want to share the new rules with the cloistered nuns in the convent, or even acknowledge their existence. Her outbursts of temper become more frequent and her behavior increasingly unbalanced. We are unsure if Reverend Mother is simply going mad, as an elderly nun does at one point, or if it is the pressure of the changes wrought by Vatican II, until a visit by a priest makes matters clearer.

One of the things that is unexpectedly striking about NOVITIATE is cinematographer Kat Westergaard’s beautiful photography. Everything looks lovely, from the rural Tennessee countryside where Cathleen grows up, to the stately convent grounds, to the attractive nuns and pretty young women trying out the life religious. The consistently lush, perfectly-framed photography sometimes seems a bit at odds with disturbing events unfolding on screen.

NOVITIATE features some fine performances, particularly Melissa Leo. At first, the Reverend Mother seems a one-dimensional villain, or perhaps someone descending into madness. But Melissa Leo gives us a more layered character, and deeper insight into her pain, originating in a lesser-known aspect of Vatican II changes regarding nuns. A chilling scene between her and a priest, who has arrived to see that Vatican II is enforced speaks volumes about power within the church.

Margaret Qualley turns in a strong performance as Cathleen, who copes with issues of faith as well as separating from her non-religious mother, who neither understands or really accepts her daughter’s decision to become a nun. NOVITIATE is most interesting when it takes us inside Cathleen’s individual exploration of faith.

As a peek inside the experience of becoming a nun, NOVITIATE does not really improve on the Audrey Hepburn movie. Although it updates how the story is told for modern audiences and incorporates some topics, such as lesbian feelings, that could not be part of the earlier film, it feels less authentic in other ways, despite its very attractive cast. Why this young woman, who was clearly inspired by a nun she had as a teacher, would choose to join a strict, cloistered order instead of a teaching one is never explained. The very strictness of this order is something the film seems to mine for melodramatic effect.

NOVITIATE is an uneven film, that succeeds best when it focuses on the spiritual journey of its young protagonist. But what might make it most interesting to watch is Melissa Leo’s fiery performance as the brittle Reverend Mother.

RATING: 3 out of 5 stars