We’re a nun-obsessed society, it seems – from The Sound of Music and Sister Act on stage to Doubt infiltrating last year’s Oscar nominations, the wimples are everywhere. Now they’re adorning the heads of several Establishment actresses in Jan Dunn’s sensitive film.
Newcomer Emily Beecham plays a young woman determined to take the veil and holds her own well against such stalwarts as Brenda Blethyn and Susannah York. The reservations of her friends and family are sensitively tackled without taking sides, and the nuns are a (slightly predictably) quirky bunch. Their dry humour and lack of tact help to offset the more fraught moments. It never loses the feeling of being a gentle film, despite the rate at which it racks up deaths and dilemmas.
This is one to keep in mind if you’re due to spend some quality time with your mum.