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Critics Consensus: Led by a gripping performance from Melissa Leo, Novitiate grapples uncompromisingly -- and ultimately compellingly -- with questions of faith and feminism.
Critic Consensus: Led by a gripping performance from Melissa Leo, Novitiate grapples uncompromisingly -- and ultimately compellingly -- with questions of faith and feminism.
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All Critics (91) | Top Critics (33) | Fresh (79) | Rotten (12)
"Novitiate" is challenging, uncomfortable, violent, simple in its message about transformative mind control imposed on youth, superbly acted and technically flawless.
Most films, especially mainstream ones, are about the forces that whirl around characters. "Novitiate" grapples with what's going on inside them.
In Leo, it presents a remarkable portrait of a complex woman struggling with forces beyond her control.
[Reverend Mother Leo's] countenance alternates between a stony smile and a twisted snarl, except for the moments when the changes wrought by Vatican II threaten to loosen her iron grip over her young charges. Then she simply goes to pieces.
There are times when Novitiate tests the viewer's endurance - it's a beautifully shot movie, but it runs more than two hours, and lingering compositions of silent nuns and novitiates start to feel unsupported by the story.
The film raises interesting questions, but the answers remain elusive, and whether that makes for a compelling cinematic experience is entirely in the eye of the beholder.
Novitiate is that rare film when it comes to religion - a tough, honest look at faith from writer/director Margaret Betts that is both critical and respectful.
While the story is effective in delving into that more human side to one's personal relationship with religion, its characters could be portrayed with more depth and respect.
A most recommendable film... [Full review in Spanish]
Leo is one of America's great character actors, but her mother superior is written as a fairly one-dimensional villain.
Novitiate is a rare film about religion that neither bludgeons a viewer into accepting an ideology nor treats believers as misguided simpletons.
There's a terrific ensemble cast and strong period piece work (especially costume work of the wedding dresses representing marriage to God) at play in Novitiate
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