How
to describe Black Narcissus to a contemporary audience? The plot
involves a group of nuns who trek to a remote former palace in the Himalayan
Mountains to start a school for girls and a hospital to treat the indigenous
population. However, they encounter harsh winds and frequent misunderstandings
with the people they claim to want to help. And something else happens… Each of
the nuns starts to become, well, disturbed or distracted. The Sister Superior,
Sister Clodagh (the great Deborah Kerr), starts experiencing flashbacks to her life
before she joined the order, a time she was in love with a young man she hoped
to marry – memories she has not recalled in many years. Sister Philippa (Dame
Flora Robson, subtle and effective) keeps getting distracted from her duties of
planting vegetables and stares off into the distance, eventually planting lots
of beautiful flowers instead of the vegetables necessary for food. Sister Ruth
(Kathleen Byron, giving a performance that is so gloriously unhinged it’s
impossible to ignore), who was ill before the sisters made the journey up the
mountain, decides to renounce her vows. And on and on and on… Is it the wind
that causes these feelings? Is it the pure air they are now breathing? Is it
the history of the place, its rather carnal past as a location where a former
king kept his women? It is David Farrar’s hunky Mr. Dean? The film features a
lot of sexual tension between Mr. Dean and the Sister Superior, and Sister Ruth
fantasizes that she and Mr. Dean will be together once she’s left the order of
nuns. Is there a possible love triangle there, or is it the frenzied mind of an
unwell person? The film doesn’t really answer most of the questions that it
raises. Should someone succumb to what they’re feeling, no matter how
disturbing it might be, or should they just ignore their feelings? Can someone
ignore those kinds of feelings? While you’re contemplating the underlying eroticism
of the movie, you also can’t help but pay attention to the cinematography of Black
Narcissus. It’s pretty spectacular even by today’s standards. You’ll
see high-angle shots, canted angles, a range of dominant colors in different
scenes, and some of the most astounding matte paintings integrated into the
story. Considering that the film was shot inside the famed Pinewood Studios in
England – yes, almost all indoors – the filmmakers were certainly able to
create the feel of the outdoors through, for example, those matte paintings.
They certainly wouldn’t have risked an actress being so close to a cliff; the
insurance company would have vetoed that, certainly. I mean, it seems like a
pretty bad place to put a bell anyway. I also kept noticing – how could you not
notice – how Farrar, the male lead, is photographed. A lot of his body is
exposed throughout the movie; he’s shirtless or has his chest exposed
throughout the movie. And has any man ever worn shorter shorts on film? (I will
refrain from mentioning the awful hat that he wears.) He’s clearly a
distraction for Sister Clodagh and Sister Ruth and perhaps even for us as
audience members. As beautiful and intriguing as the film is, it’s also very
problematic in its depictions of the indigenous and native people. Some of them
are meant to be comic relief, such as May Hallat’s Angu Aya, or even Eddie
Whaley Jr. as the young translator Joseph Anthony, who knows way more than he
ever tells. The nuns, especially Kerr’s Sister Clodagh, are often confused by
the behaviors of the indigenous people, and it leads to some very ridiculous
behavior. For example, trying to get rid of a holy man revered by many people
is a really, really bad idea. Sister Clodagh also gets to represent that
British colonial gaze when, for instance, she (and the camera and we viewers)
looks at – leers at? – Kanchi (played by British actress Jean Simmons, horribly
miscast here) and makes some pretty offensive assumptions about her.
Indian-born actor Sabu, playing the so-called Young Colonel, gets the most
well-rounded role for a native actor, and he is the only person playing an
indigenous person in an important role who isn’t a British actor in yellowface.
Black Narcissus was released just months before India declared
its independence from Great Britain in 1947. Perhaps the film can be read as a
commentary on how the British were truly never able to comprehend why they
didn’t belong in India and had to retreat quietly but with unresolved
confusion.
Oscar Wins: Best Color Cinematography and Best Color Art Direction-Set Decoration
