Saturday, September 3, 2011

Agnes of God (1985)



When a naive novice nun is discovered with a dead newborn in her convent quarters, a court appointed psychiatrist investigates her case. [imdb]

Nominated for 3 Oscars:

Best Actress: Anne Bancroft
Best Supporting Actress: Meg Tilly
Best Original Score


I'm not gonna spend too much time writing about this; to keep it short: I honestly believe it's a mess. The worst thing about it is the screenplay, offering some RIDICULOUS dialogues, not only too stagey, but with no rhythm and sense of how people really talk. It's predictable, overhyped and doesn't live up to the tension and mystery it tries to build.


The performances are nothing special. Meg Tilly is in her own universe, I'll write about Anne on the other blog very soon & Jane Fonda is trying the hardest, but there's only so much you can do with such bad dialogue. A big mess, with only one or two better scenes, one of them being the second hypnosis (nicely shot, but a silly idea to begin with).


My rating for the film: 3.5/10. The deconstruction will continue on the other blog.

5 comments:

  1. I'm surprised by your low score too. It's an over-stagey film that doesn't rise to the meta-physical questions it wants to to ask, however it's a brave stab at it I would say.

    I do love the what the different saints smoke scene between Bancroft and Fonda.

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  2. oh, no, I completely disliked that scene. made me so uncomfortable, especially Bancroft.

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  3. given the rating you gave, would you still recommend this, to Oscar fans at least?

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  4. well, whoever is a Best Actress or Best Supporting Actress fanatic will/should see it anyway, just for the gaining info to express future judgment on a category :)

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