Black Narcissus (1947)

UK, 100m Colour
Director: Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger; Cast: Deborah Kerr, Sabu, Jean Simmons, David Farrar, Flora Robson, Kathleen Byron

Black Narcissus is a beautifully-filmed but strange and complicated psychological drama. The story is based upon the formation of a convent set high in a Himalayan valley within the walls of a former palace which has an unexpected “humanizing” effect on it’s new inhabitants – a group of nuns who attempt to “civilize” the local population by opening a school for girls and nursing facility. Despite their best efforts the nuns are faced with worldly issues which eventually threaten their mission and their very lives (Klaus Ming September 2009).