The Nun's Story

Released Jul 18, 1959

2h 29m

Drama

List

84%

19 Reviews

Tomatometer

81%

5,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

Willful and outspoken Gabrielle van der Mal (Audrey Hepburn), the daughter of a prominent Belgian surgeon (Dean Jagger), leaves her upper-class existence to become a nun. As Sister Luke, she is eventually sent to the Belgian Congo, where she excels as a nurse working with a skilled doctor (Peter Finch). However, her willingness to continue as a nun is challenged when her father is killed by the Nazis, and she no longer feels that she can maintain the neutrality of her order.

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Variety Staff

Variety

Fred Zinnemann's production is a soaring and luminous film.

Nov 1, 2007

Full Review

Tom Milne

Time Out

It's still a long haul (made no lighter by Franz Waxman's abominably insistent score) for anyone not committed to theological problems of faith, conscience and obedience.

Jun 24, 2006

Full Review

Steven D. Greydanus

Decent Films

Certainly doesn't offer the positive depiction of religious life common in 1950s Hollywood, but it's not an anti-religious or anti-Catholic depiction either.

Rated: B

Apr 12, 2006

Full Review

Moira Walsh

The Catholic World

[Conveys] a profound and moving insight into the total self-sacrifice and tough-fibred holiness of convent life. Moreover it clothes these insights in striking dramatic terms which can hardly fail to absorb and edify the believer and the unbeliever alike.

Nov 28, 2023

Full Review

Manny Farber

The New Leader

When the plot turns up, Zinnemann reduces each heroism to kernel size and then resumes his tasteful but rather insipid documentation.

Sep 14, 2021

Full Review

Yasser Medina

Cinefilia

Although it is a drama that interrogates the moral dilemmas and contradictions of religious faith with an organic performance from Hepburn, the portrayal of a nun's crisis of conscience seems futile and a bit redundant. [Full review in Spanish]

Rated: 5/10

Feb 24, 2021

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CL

Very well written and acted.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

05/14/23

Full Review

CodyZamboni

Audrey Hepburn's strong, understated performance holds this movie together, despite the overlength and plodding pace, especially during the first half. Movie picks up once Audrey is sent to Africa. The themes of religious faith, and the human capacity for forgiveness in the face of increasingly unspeakable evil in the world, are laid bare for Audrey's character to decide, and for the audience

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

07/28/23

Full Review

Sue C

I've seen every movie Audrey Hepburn made and - as a child - was extremely moved by the struggles of Sister Luke in "The Nun's Story," based on a true account of convent life by Kathry Hulme which was a best seller. If you want to see Catholic devotion in action pre-Vatican II, watch "The Nun's Story." True, the movie is very long but a sad and powerful testament to true devotion and the often impossible demands made behind convent walls.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/03/23

Full Review

Mark A

Audrey Hepburn is awesome.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

12/20/22

Full Review

Audience Member

Didn't mean to watch it but couldn't stop until the end. I thought it was a love story but it was a struggle with sexuality but so subtly done you don't notice until the end

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/04/23

Full Review

Audience Member

10% rating. Really struggled to find anything entertaining in the film.

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

01/17/23

Full Review

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Fred Zinnemann

Director

Audrey Hepburn

Sister Luke (Gabrielle van der Mal)

Peter Finch

Dr. Fortunati

Edith Evans

Rev. Mother Emmanuel (Belgium)

Peggy Ashcroft

Mother Mathilde (Africa)

Dean Jagger

Dr. Van Der Mal

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Synopsis

Willful and outspoken Gabrielle van der Mal (Audrey Hepburn), the daughter of a prominent Belgian surgeon (Dean Jagger), leaves her upper-class existence to become a nun. As Sister Luke, she is eventually sent to the Belgian Congo, where she excels as a nurse working with a skilled doctor (Peter Finch). However, her willingness to continue as a nun is challenged when her father is killed by the Nazis, and she no longer feels that she can maintain the neutrality of her order.

Director: Fred Zinnemann
Screenwriter: Robert Anderson, Kathryn Hulme
Distributor: MGM/UA Home Entertainment Inc., Warner Home Vídeo, Warner Bros.
Production Co: Warner Bros.
Genre: Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Jul 18, 1959, Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Nov 21, 2016
Runtime: 2h 29m
Sound Mix: Mono

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