Film Critique: The Black Narcissus

The 1974 ‘Black Narcissus’ explores the trials and tribulations of a group of nuns as they establish a new convent in the Himalayas. The film was directed by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger. The film explores themes including exoticism, eroticism, female sexuality, faith, female agency and ‘the other’.  

The film exercises a level of female eroticism that was surprising for 1940’s cinema, almost radical. The exploration of female desire was unusual for the time. The Black Narcissus also experiments with ideas surrounding ‘the other’… ‘I am X, therefore anything different is Y’. Women were previously seen as a direct contrast to men, the opposite to the hypersexualised and driven male. In the film, ‘the other’ could be perceived as female sexuality, greatly unknown until now, the 1940’s. These new ideas around female desires were greatly influenced by WW2, which saw an overwhelming amount of female involvement. Women were filling men’s job roles whilst they fought in the war, women became a key part of the labour force. The war also saw an explosion of nurse roles, and a considerable increase in female doctors. This is perhaps why the nun characters within the film are all medically trained and capable for the care of an entire village. The 1940’s changed the perceptions of work roles, a realisation that women want to work and are motivated by the same desires as men. Women were gradually seen as capable and competent.

Ideas surrounding global empires were also shifting, and a gradual dismantling of orientalism was taking place.  However, orientalism is still a painfully obvious trait of The Black Narcissus. Orientalism within the film also links to ideas of ‘the other’. In this case, the white British being an opposition to the east. We see colonial power as superior to the colonised people of the east. White, straight men are often seen as the centre of these attitudes, the X. Anything different (in the films case, the Indian colonials) is seen as Y; ethnic, exotic, physical, uneducated, heathen and savage. The colonials are perceived as normal, developed, civilised, European and intellectual.

This is a film that explores how exoticism is a fantasy for the British. 

Poster Art

Environmental storytelling is extremely significant to this film; the environment represents the turmoil of the characters. The entire world is being a service to their feelings. Almost putting the grand environment under the feet of the white colonials, its in their power now that they inhabit the space.

An example of this environmental control is through the fluctuations of colour. Cool colours are labelled with ideas of restraint, the disciplined attitudes the nuns arrive with. Many of the rooms within the convent are painted with blues and surrounded by greens. Fiery passion is labelled with reds and oranges. In figure 1, we see an example of cool hues diluting the composition, advertising themes of suppression, order and restraint. In contrast, figure 2 shows a dramatic shift in colour grading. The sunset intrudes into the building through the windows and floods the room with reds and oranges. The expression on Ruth’s face makes it clear that desire is rising, a shift in the attitude she arrived with. Mary Bowell describes it as “the vibrant clash of complementary colours infusing every aspect of the mise en scene. “ – Mary Bowell (2004) Blue Nun/Red Desire. This visual conflict is heavily influenced by Van Gough’s paintings.

To counter the rise of Ruth’s sexual and romantic desires towards the character of Dean, Sister Clodagh, the protagonist, sends Ruth a glass of milk. This is a significant prop in the film and its environmental storytelling. This offer is an attempt to subdue Ruth’s desires through a drink that represents “purity, associated with the innocence of the child (…) the anti-wine” – Roland Barthes (1957) Mythologies. Milk, the complete opposite to wine, is given to Ruth as a possible cure for her new desires that no longer correlate with her Nun vows and the pure the semiotics of milk...

Audiences are constantly reminded of the grand natural environment that surrounds the convent. Wind is always present in the film, even indoors; the absence of glass windows means gusts can intrude through these gaps and agitate the curtains that cover the walls of the convent. Fluttering fabric becomes a signature characteristic of this films set design. The building is completely exposed to the landscape. Along with the weather, vegetation also intrudes on the convent through the windows, triggering sister Clodagh, who begins to reminisce on her old life, her secret hidden desires being stirred by the Himalayas. 

Figure 1 | Cool Tones

Figure 2 | Warm Tones and Milk

Figure 3 | Exaggerated Red Under-eyes

Figure 4 | Ruth Without Vows and Red Dress

Within the plot, Indian culture is hinted at but not explored, not important. “Powell and Pressburger adopt the viewpoint of the colonial power, the villagers being presented as mired in a backward culture or quaintly amusing” – Philip Gillett (2008) Nuns in Exotic Places. The directors would rather focus on the white colonials and the mild inconvenience of home sickness.

The story also explores the interesting conflict between rulers and the ruled. Some may perceive the nuns as rulers of the village, caring for them like children. However, the environment becomes too much for the colonial nuns, and they ultimately choose to leave…the rulers become overwhelmed. The Himalayas is a space too matured and cultured to be controlled by the colonials, the white British. Careless racist remarks portray the nuns as extremely shallow “they all look alike to me”.

The villagers, the colonised, are massed together as a single character to present them as an uneducated, savage and hectic civilisation. The ‘other’ in this perception is the civilised British nuns who are portrayed as independent individuals, each with solid roles in the film. The scenes of the colonised are hectic, an almost headache inducing bustle. These shots purposefully use oddly shaped horses and labour-intensive activities (such as transporting goods through dragging them) to shock audiences. Villagers are left to settle their own disputes although they’re treated as uneducated children, underlining a clear lack of care or responsibility from these supposedly religious and pure individuals, the nuns. This contradicts sister Clodagh’s comment of “without discipline we all behave like children”, as she clearly has no intention to discipline.

The pale clothing of the nun’s contrasts with the rich colours of the villagers, especially the well decorated Kanchi (might I mention… a white female actress playing an Indian girl!). A clear visual contrast that is seen in figure 6. Furthering the idea that the nuns are out of place, not at home in this environment.

Figure 6 | Clothing Contrast

The musical score in The Black Narcissus is typical for 1940’s cinema, orchestral and grand. This neatly links to the Christian and religious themes planted by the nuns. There is also the addition of drums, creating an infusion of sounds, representing the two cultures within the story. This cocktail of sounds could either be perceived as a subtly aggressive battle of noise, or a harmony, a friendship.

In conclusion, I found it challenging to look past the orientalism that is so deliberately evident throughout the film. Similarly, to the 1933 film King Kong, the film is a personification of the ‘mysterious east’. Controversial issues radiate from The Black Narcissus. The film also romanticizes third world countries as an exotic experience for white colonials, a place needing to be ruled and this is seen as a sport.

In fact, I believe this film is further evidence of the superiority complexes ridden amongst global empires that seem to prevent the acceptance of anything but themselves. The nuns leave India because they’re closed-minded, threaded to the string of British society, and can’t accept this new Himalayan environment or Indian culture.

Bibliography:

Barthes, R. (1957). Mythologies. Les Lettres nouvelles.

Bowell, M. (2004). Blue Nun/Red Desire: The Palette of Piety, Passion, and Monstrosity in Black Narcissus. [online] Powell-pressburger.org. Available at: http://www.powell-pressburger.org/Reviews/47_BN/MMB.html [Accessed 20 Nov. 2019].

Gillett, P. (2008). Black Narcissus (GB, 1947): Nuns in Exotic Places. [online] Screenstudies.com. Available at: https://www.screenstudies.com/encyclopedia-chapter?docid=b-9781350103405&tocid=b-9781350103405-chapter8&pdfid=9781350103405.ch-008.pdf [Accessed 20 Nov. 2019].

imdb (2019). figure 2. [image] Available at: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0039192/mediaviewer/rm2281797632 [Accessed 20 Nov. 2019].

imdb (2019). figure 3. [image] Available at: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0039192/mediaviewer/rm582651649 [Accessed 20 Nov. 2019].

imdb (2019). figure 4. [image] Available at: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0039192/mediaviewer/rm1018859265 [Accessed 20 Nov. 2019].

imdb (2019). figure 6. [image] Available at: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0039192/mediaviewer/rm2093725952 [Accessed 20 Nov. 2019].

Pintrest (2019). Poster Art. [image] Available at: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/510243832761987821/?lp=true [Accessed 20 Nov. 2019].

theyoungfolks.com (2019). Figure 1. [image] Available at: https://www.theyoungfolks.com/review/36083/the-film-canon-black-narcissus-1947/ [Accessed 20 Nov. 2019].