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Mother Joan of the Angels

Directed by Jerzy Kawalerowicz

Thérèse

Directed by Alain Cavalier
Screening on Film
  • Mother Joan of the Angels (Matka Joanna od Aniolów)

    Directed by Jerzy Kawalerowicz.
    With Lucyna Winnicka, Mieczyslaw Voit, Anna Ciepielewska.
    Poland, 1961, 35mm, black & white, 105 min.
    Polish with English subtitles.
    Print source: HFA

A Marxist study of the supernatural, filled with austere, sharply photographed black-and-white images, Kawalerowicz's best known film abroad is based on the actual events which occurred at a monastery near Loudun, where a group of nuns experienced a Satanic possession. Through dense dramatic conflicts, expressionistic settings, and powerful performances, Kawalerowicz created a psychologically and philosophically complex allegory of good versus evil and chastity versus eroticism.

  • Thérèse

    Directed by Alain Cavalier.
    With Catherine Mouchet, Hélène Alexandridis, Aurore Prieto.
    France, 1986, 35mm, color, 94 min.
    French with English subtitles.
    Print source: HFA

Based on the life of St. Thérèse of Lisieux, a Carmelite nun who died at a young age and was later canonized, Alain Cavalier's film offers an observational portrait of a woman driven by divine inspiration. Catherine Mouchet portrays the young nun who devoted her life to her beliefs, only to succumb to tuberculosis at age twenty-four. Cavalier's visual style recalls late Bresson with his use of minimalist props, costumes, and settings, which bring life to this transcendental figure.

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Rosine Mbakam, 2025 McMillan-Stewart Fellow