Agnes of God
Starring:Jane Fonda, Anne Bancroft, Meg Tilly, Anne Pitoniak, Winston Rekert, Gratien Gélinas, Guy Hoffman, Gabriel Arcand, Françoise Faucher, Jacques Tourangeau, Janine Fluet, Deborah Grover, Michele George, Samantha Langevin, Jacqueline Blais, Françoise Berd, Mimi D'Estée, Rita Tuckett, Lillian Graham, Norma Dell'Agnese
Director: Norman Jewison
Studio: Sony Pictures
Product Type: DVD
Editorial Review:
Amazon.com
This Broadway hit gets a solid film treatment by director Norman Jewison, but that can't make up for the weaknesses of the script (which were as true onstage as they are here). Jane Fonda plays a chain-smoking shrink sent to a convent to do a psychological evaluation of a novice (Meg Tilly) who gave birth to a baby and then killed it in her little room. Was it a virgin birth? A miracle? And what of the bloody stigmata that seem to spontaneously appear on her hands? Fonda also finds herself clashing with the Mother Superior (Anne Bancroft) over the line between faith and science. But writer John Pielmeier can't flesh this out beyond an idea; in the end, the solution is a disappointingly earthbound one that even the strong acting in this film can't elevate. --Marshall Fine
Average customer rating:
- Secrets and lies, faith and science
- Excellent religious movie...with a suspense and mystery twist!!!
- timeless
- ONE WONDERS...
- A failure in many respects
|
Agnes of God
Starring: Jane Fonda , Anne Bancroft , Meg Tilly , Anne Pitoniak , and Winston Rekert
Director: Norman Jewison
Manufacturer: Sony Pictures
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD
 General
| Drama
| Genres
| DVD
| Video
Feature Films
| Christian DVD
| Religion & Spirituality
| Special Interests
| Genres
| DVD
| Video
Arcand, Gabriel
| ( A )
| Actors & Actresses
| Stores
| DVD
| Video
Bancroft, Anne
| ( B )
| Actors & Actresses
| Stores
| DVD
| Video
Fonda, Jane
| ( F )
| Actors & Actresses
| Stores
| DVD
| Video
Pitoniak, Anne
| ( P )
| Actors & Actresses
| Stores
| DVD
| Video
Tilly, Meg
| ( T )
| Actors & Actresses
| Stores
| DVD
| Video
Jewison, Norman
| ( J )
| Directors
| Stores
| DVD
| Video
All Sony Pictures Titles
| Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
| Studio Specials
| Stores
| DVD
| Video
Used DVDs
| Stores
| DVD
| Video
| Action & Adventure
| African American Cinema
| Animation
| Anime & Manga
| Art House & International
| Classics
| Comedy
| Cult Movies
| Documentary
| Drama
| Educational
| Fitness & Yoga
| Gay & Lesbian
| Horror
| Kids & Family
| Military & War
| Music Video & Concerts
| Musicals & Performing Arts
| Mystery & Suspense
| Science Fiction & Fantasy
| Special Interests
| Sports
| Television
| Westerns
DVDs Under $7.49
| Today's Deals in DVD
| Special Features
| DVD
| Video
( A )
| Titles
| Features
| DVD
| Video
Similar Items:
- Julia
- Klute
- The Morning After
- California Suite
- They Shoot Horses, Don't They?
ASIN: B000063ING
Release Date: 2002-05-21 |
Amazon.com
This Broadway hit gets a solid film treatment by director Norman Jewison, but that can't make up for the weaknesses of the script (which were as true onstage as they are here). Jane Fonda plays a chain-smoking shrink sent to a convent to do a psychological evaluation of a novice (Meg Tilly) who gave birth to a baby and then killed it in her little room. Was it a virgin birth? A miracle? And what of the bloody stigmata that seem to spontaneously appear on her hands? Fonda also finds herself clashing with the Mother Superior (Anne Bancroft) over the line between faith and science. But writer John Pielmeier can't flesh this out beyond an idea; in the end, the solution is a disappointingly earthbound one that even the strong acting in this film can't elevate. --Marshall Fine
Customer Reviews:
Secrets and lies, faith and science.......2007-05-17
I picked up this movie recently as I remembered seeing its poster in the theaters at the place where we used to go to see movies. My mom told me that was a movie for adults, so it always had some intregue for me. Now that I am an adult (ha ha ha), it holds just as many questions and just as much mystery.
Jane Fonda plays Dr. Livingston, a court appointed psychiatrist who has been called in to investigate a mysterious murder case. A young woman has given birth and apparently killed her baby soon after. The young woman was Sister Agnes, a novice at a French Canadian convent. She has no memory of the event, and the Mother Superior is bent on keeping others out. She and Dr. Livingston would clash several times. Dr. Livingston is the voice of reason, the realist, the one who is determined to find the answers and a perfectly reasonable explination for everything. Mother Superior is the one who has put her faith in God, trusting enough to leave some things alone to that of the whims of fate. And Agnes, sweet, innocent little Agnes is at the center of it all.
In the conversations Dr. Livinston has with Agnes, we find that she is innocent but hiding an abusive past. She doesn't understand many things about the world, and that she had been locked in this convent all her life she had no means in which to learn. Why would she? This is the place where she is finding happiness away from her abusive past. This is hard for Dr. Livingston to accept, why any young woman would want to be a nun and live this way. Dr. Livingston has her own problems, and perhaps she wants to atone for her own mistakes by finding and answer. We also find out that Mother Superior is not so innocent either. She did not become a nun until later in life, had once been married, and choose to leave the world that Dr. Livingston comes from. It is reveiled that Agnes is the Mother Superior's niece, and that she suspected that Agnes was pregnant to the point that she put a waste basket in her room for her to dispose of the child once it was born. Mother Superior also wants to protect Agnes and keep others out from disrupting their quest for spiritual realization. Naturally, there will be clashes.
And under hypnosis, we hear about the night Agnes's child was conceived. Per the instruction of a dying elderly nun, Sister Paul (who Agnes also said saw the mysterious man) tells her to go to the secret passage behind a statue of St. Michael in the basement. Agnes follows the passage and goes to the barn, where she would meet HIM. From there she cannot describe what happened. She says she saw him from her window in the field everynight and he sang a beautiful song to her, so she knew him. *Shudder*
What fascinated me the most about this movie was the fact that Agnes was a true innocent, and as one she really did not know where babies come from, and it calls upon your faith which you thought was long since dead. So who was the father? If you believe in science, it was a man. If you believe in faith, it was God. These are the only two answers possible. But, we will never know. But it just can't be, your rational side says to you. Yet, you hear Agnes's side of the story under hypnosis and you will always wonder, plus hearing her sing the song that her mysterious midnight visitor would sing to her. Even in this day and age, there are some that are truly blessed with the ability to communicate with the spiritual world. Agnes truly is of God.
Excellent religious movie...with a suspense and mystery twist!!!.......2007-02-15
NOTE: This review of mine is for the movie on VHS, not the DVD. Another review will be written when I get the DVD.
A very suspenseful movie with a mystery twist, 1985's Agnes of God stars Jane Fonda, Anne Bancroft, and Meg Tilly. A young nun, Sister Agnes (Tilly) gives birth to a baby girl in her convent room on the 3rd floor, but virtually has no knowledge of being pregnant and having the baby. Jane Fonda plays Dr. Martha Livingston, the psychiatrist who is appointed by the court to talk to Agnes and get whatever details she can get regarding the case (and being nagged by her colleagues for taking too long to resolve it). But, the case seems to drag on for a certain period of time, as Dr. Livingston tries to unscramble the mystery of the situation. Anne Bancroft plays the Mother Superior Miriam Ruth, who doesn't approve of Dr. Livingston's works of psychiatry. This movie's story is kind of strange as Agnes acts as though the pregnancy never happened in her life. Her behavior at first seems to give viewers the impression that she knows nothing about sex, pregnancy, what causes pregnancy, the physical difference between men and women (this obviously means that she never even took a sex ed class in school or that her mother didn't have a talk with her about the subject of sex), etc. Questions in this story that are never answered are: Who was the father of the baby? and How did a man get into the convent and have sex with Agnes? There are some disturbing details about Agnes' background in this movie, such as being molested by her mother and being made fun of, and saying that her mother "watches and listens". The blood scenes were very haunting and scary. The hypnosis scenes were frightening and dramatic as well. The final ruling in the court reveals that she was in no manner responsible for her actions that night. Very suspenseful movie and Norman Jewison did a great job directing it. Bancroft, Fonda, and Tilly were all excellent in their roles as well. Will get the DVD soon!! I love this movie!!
timeless.......2007-01-04
I will never get tired of watching this movie. I'm glad that DVDs last longer than VHS! That is how many times I have watched this movie. The performances are delightful.
ONE WONDERS..........2006-07-02
One wonders why there was a barrage of attacks against Mel Gibson's The Passion supposed "anti-Semitism," and not one peep about this open and vicious attack on Christianity by certain "Hollywood types."
Hypocracy, perhaps? Hmmm. I wonder...
A failure in many respects.......2006-01-12
Jane Fonda, whom I respect highly as an actress, cannot save this dud. Neither the score nor the cinematography is memorable. Many scenes revolve around the fact that Dr. Livingstone is a smoker, which is a very flimsy hook upon which to hang a film. This film did not hold my interest--at several points I was consciously bored and had to exert will-power to finish watching it. Moreover, the views of psychiatric practice and hypnosis are wholly unrealistic. It seems this film could not decide what to be, and certainly lacked the courage to demythologize its subject.
![Agnes of God [Region 2]](http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/I/21E5XD5PNPL.jpg)
Average customer rating:
- Secrets and lies, faith and science
- Excellent religious movie...with a suspense and mystery twist!!!
- timeless
- ONE WONDERS...
- A failure in many respects
|
Agnes of God [Region 2]
Starring: Jane Fonda , Anne Bancroft , Meg Tilly , Anne Pitoniak , and Winston Rekert
Director: Norman Jewison
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD
Thrillers
| Mystery & Suspense
| Genres
| DVD
| Video
Arcand, Gabriel
| ( A )
| Actors & Actresses
| Stores
| DVD
| Video
Bancroft, Anne
| ( B )
| Actors & Actresses
| Stores
| DVD
| Video
Fonda, Jane
| ( F )
| Actors & Actresses
| Stores
| DVD
| Video
Pitoniak, Anne
| ( P )
| Actors & Actresses
| Stores
| DVD
| Video
Tilly, Meg
| ( T )
| Actors & Actresses
| Stores
| DVD
| Video
Jewison, Norman
| ( J )
| Directors
| Stores
| DVD
| Video
Used DVDs
| Stores
| DVD
| Video
| Action & Adventure
| African American Cinema
| Animation
| Anime & Manga
| Art House & International
| Classics
| Comedy
| Cult Movies
| Documentary
| Drama
| Educational
| Fitness & Yoga
| Gay & Lesbian
| Horror
| Kids & Family
| Military & War
| Music Video & Concerts
| Musicals & Performing Arts
| Mystery & Suspense
| Science Fiction & Fantasy
| Special Interests
| Sports
| Television
| Westerns
( A )
| Titles
| Features
| DVD
| Video
Similar Items:
- Julia
- Klute
- The Morning After
- California Suite
- They Shoot Horses, Don't They?
ASIN: B0000E3HJ3 |
Amazon.com
This Broadway hit gets a solid film treatment by director Norman Jewison, but that can't make up for the weaknesses of the script (which were as true onstage as they are here). Jane Fonda plays a chain-smoking shrink sent to a convent to do a psychological evaluation of a novice (Meg Tilly) who gave birth to a baby and then killed it in her little room. Was it a virgin birth? A miracle? And what of the bloody stigmata that seem to spontaneously appear on her hands? Fonda also finds herself clashing with the Mother Superior (Anne Bancroft) over the line between faith and science. But writer John Pielmeier can't flesh this out beyond an idea; in the end, the solution is a disappointingly earthbound one that even the strong acting in this film can't elevate. --Marshall Fine
Customer Reviews:
Secrets and lies, faith and science.......2007-05-17
I picked up this movie recently as I remembered seeing its poster in the theaters at the place where we used to go to see movies. My mom told me that was a movie for adults, so it always had some intregue for me. Now that I am an adult (ha ha ha), it holds just as many questions and just as much mystery.
Jane Fonda plays Dr. Livingston, a court appointed psychiatrist who has been called in to investigate a mysterious murder case. A young woman has given birth and apparently killed her baby soon after. The young woman was Sister Agnes, a novice at a French Canadian convent. She has no memory of the event, and the Mother Superior is bent on keeping others out. She and Dr. Livingston would clash several times. Dr. Livingston is the voice of reason, the realist, the one who is determined to find the answers and a perfectly reasonable explination for everything. Mother Superior is the one who has put her faith in God, trusting enough to leave some things alone to that of the whims of fate. And Agnes, sweet, innocent little Agnes is at the center of it all.
In the conversations Dr. Livinston has with Agnes, we find that she is innocent but hiding an abusive past. She doesn't understand many things about the world, and that she had been locked in this convent all her life she had no means in which to learn. Why would she? This is the place where she is finding happiness away from her abusive past. This is hard for Dr. Livingston to accept, why any young woman would want to be a nun and live this way. Dr. Livingston has her own problems, and perhaps she wants to atone for her own mistakes by finding and answer. We also find out that Mother Superior is not so innocent either. She did not become a nun until later in life, had once been married, and choose to leave the world that Dr. Livingston comes from. It is reveiled that Agnes is the Mother Superior's niece, and that she suspected that Agnes was pregnant to the point that she put a waste basket in her room for her to dispose of the child once it was born. Mother Superior also wants to protect Agnes and keep others out from disrupting their quest for spiritual realization. Naturally, there will be clashes.
And under hypnosis, we hear about the night Agnes's child was conceived. Per the instruction of a dying elderly nun, Sister Paul (who Agnes also said saw the mysterious man) tells her to go to the secret passage behind a statue of St. Michael in the basement. Agnes follows the passage and goes to the barn, where she would meet HIM. From there she cannot describe what happened. She says she saw him from her window in the field everynight and he sang a beautiful song to her, so she knew him. *Shudder*
What fascinated me the most about this movie was the fact that Agnes was a true innocent, and as one she really did not know where babies come from, and it calls upon your faith which you thought was long since dead. So who was the father? If you believe in science, it was a man. If you believe in faith, it was God. These are the only two answers possible. But, we will never know. But it just can't be, your rational side says to you. Yet, you hear Agnes's side of the story under hypnosis and you will always wonder, plus hearing her sing the song that her mysterious midnight visitor would sing to her. Even in this day and age, there are some that are truly blessed with the ability to communicate with the spiritual world. Agnes truly is of God.
Excellent religious movie...with a suspense and mystery twist!!!.......2007-02-15
NOTE: This review of mine is for the movie on VHS, not the DVD. Another review will be written when I get the DVD.
A very suspenseful movie with a mystery twist, 1985's Agnes of God stars Jane Fonda, Anne Bancroft, and Meg Tilly. A young nun, Sister Agnes (Tilly) gives birth to a baby girl in her convent room on the 3rd floor, but virtually has no knowledge of being pregnant and having the baby. Jane Fonda plays Dr. Martha Livingston, the psychiatrist who is appointed by the court to talk to Agnes and get whatever details she can get regarding the case (and being nagged by her colleagues for taking too long to resolve it). But, the case seems to drag on for a certain period of time, as Dr. Livingston tries to unscramble the mystery of the situation. Anne Bancroft plays the Mother Superior Miriam Ruth, who doesn't approve of Dr. Livingston's works of psychiatry. This movie's story is kind of strange as Agnes acts as though the pregnancy never happened in her life. Her behavior at first seems to give viewers the impression that she knows nothing about sex, pregnancy, what causes pregnancy, the physical difference between men and women (this obviously means that she never even took a sex ed class in school or that her mother didn't have a talk with her about the subject of sex), etc. Questions in this story that are never answered are: Who was the father of the baby? and How did a man get into the convent and have sex with Agnes? There are some disturbing details about Agnes' background in this movie, such as being molested by her mother and being made fun of, and saying that her mother "watches and listens". The blood scenes were very haunting and scary. The hypnosis scenes were frightening and dramatic as well. The final ruling in the court reveals that she was in no manner responsible for her actions that night. Very suspenseful movie and Norman Jewison did a great job directing it. Bancroft, Fonda, and Tilly were all excellent in their roles as well. Will get the DVD soon!! I love this movie!!
timeless.......2007-01-04
I will never get tired of watching this movie. I'm glad that DVDs last longer than VHS! That is how many times I have watched this movie. The performances are delightful.
ONE WONDERS..........2006-07-02
One wonders why there was a barrage of attacks against Mel Gibson's The Passion supposed "anti-Semitism," and not one peep about this open and vicious attack on Christianity by certain "Hollywood types."
Hypocracy, perhaps? Hmmm. I wonder...
A failure in many respects.......2006-01-12
Jane Fonda, whom I respect highly as an actress, cannot save this dud. Neither the score nor the cinematography is memorable. Many scenes revolve around the fact that Dr. Livingstone is a smoker, which is a very flimsy hook upon which to hang a film. This film did not hold my interest--at several points I was consciously bored and had to exert will-power to finish watching it. Moreover, the views of psychiatric practice and hypnosis are wholly unrealistic. It seems this film could not decide what to be, and certainly lacked the courage to demythologize its subject.
Average customer rating:
- The Left Hand of God
- Bogart 's performance is overly restrained and unrewarding...
- Left Hand of God VHS ~ Edward Dmytryk [VHS Tape]
- Only one point to make
- Some Flaws, but Surprisingly Good
|
The Left Hand of God
Starring: Humphrey Bogart , Gene Tierney , Lee J. Cobb , Agnes Moorehead , and E.G. Marshall
Director: Edward Dmytryk
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD
Ahn, Philip
| ( A )
| Actors & Actresses
| Stores
| DVD
| Video
Bogart, Humphrey
| ( B )
| Actors & Actresses
| Stores
| DVD
| Video
Cobb, Lee J
| ( C )
| Actors & Actresses
| Stores
| DVD
| Video
Fong, Benson
| ( F )
| Actors & Actresses
| Stores
| DVD
| Video
Forbes, Don
| ( F )
| Actors & Actresses
| Stores
| DVD
| Video
Moorehead, Agnes
| ( M )
| Actors & Actresses
| Stores
| DVD
| Video
Reid, Carl Benton
| ( R )
| Actors & Actresses
| Stores
| DVD
| Video
Tierney, Gene
| ( T )
| Actors & Actresses
| Stores
| DVD
| Video
Yung, Victor Sen
| ( Y )
| Actors & Actresses
| Stores
| DVD
| Video
Dmytryk, Edward
| ( D )
| Directors
| Stores
| DVD
| Video
Used DVDs
| Stores
| DVD
| Video
| Action & Adventure
| African American Cinema
| Animation
| Anime & Manga
| Art House & International
| Classics
| Comedy
| Cult Movies
| Documentary
| Drama
| Educational
| Fitness & Yoga
| Gay & Lesbian
| Horror
| Kids & Family
| Military & War
| Music Video & Concerts
| Musicals & Performing Arts
| Mystery & Suspense
| Science Fiction & Fantasy
| Special Interests
| Sports
| Television
| Westerns
( L )
| Titles
| Features
| DVD
| Video
Similar Items:
- Two Mrs Carrolls
- Battle Circus
- Knock on Any Door
- Conflict (1945)
- Chain Lightning (1950)
ASIN: B00005JORC |
Customer Reviews:
The Left Hand of God.......2007-06-03
I first saw this movie as a kid when it was first released. I have seen it a number of times since then and always enjoy it. Is the casting a little 'off'? Certainly! Is the idea of Bogart as a priest somewhat strange? Absolutely! But does he play the role well? Yes! Is Lee J. Cobb amusing as a Chinese Warlord? Indeed! Is his make-up exaggerated? Yes, beyond belief!!! But again, does he play his role well? Yes! And the others, do they play their roles well? No question! I read the reviews posted here and find that what others say is true - but - this is still an entertaining film, reasonably well acted, and has a superb cast. This is not a movie to be dismissed. It stands the test of time and it stands up to be reseeing. I whole heartedly recommend it to everyone.
Bogart 's performance is overly restrained and unrewarding..........2007-01-06
"The Left Hand of God" is one of these barren efforts and Bogart is the victim of an inconsequential script that find him portraying an American pilot forced down in China during World War II who joins up with a Chinese warlord (Lee J. Cobb). When Bogart decides to escape, he assumes the garb of a murdered priest and finds seclusion in a remote mission...
The role has great potential for suspense as to face one crisis after another as a result of his masquerade, but for some reason his performance is overly restrained and unrewarding...
Gene Tierney worked for an enviable number of great director: Fritz Lang, John Ford, Josef Von Sternberg, Ernst Lubitsch, Otto Preminger, Joseph L. Mankiewicz and Clarence Brown... Although her roles were not very often pivotal to their subject, and only a few of her films are among these directors' best remembered works, it all adds up to the intriguing enigma that was this woman's great attraction...
This exotic classic beauty is here a nurse called Anne Scott and she is expecting with Dr. David Sigman (E.G. Marshall) and his wife Beryl (Agnes Moorehead) the arrival of Father O'Shea...
The Story is set in 1947, in a remote province of China disturbed by the civil war...
Left Hand of God VHS ~ Edward Dmytryk [VHS Tape].......2005-09-10
I have been looking for this movie for many years. Tape was received in excellent shape and I have enjoyed seeing the movie again after about 51 years.
Only one point to make.......2003-08-14
This is one of the good ones. Moviegoers who are not traditionally devout, who find no comfort in organized religion, often find they can't stand movies with any religious content. This is a good one, though. Humphrey Bogart plays an American pilot who has found he has only one way to escape the Chinese warlord (Lee J. Cobb? LEE J. COBB? Yeah, really!) who has practically owned him for years. Rent it first, if you like: this is one of the good ones, though.
Some Flaws, but Surprisingly Good.......2003-05-04
The Story: Humphrey Bogart plays a pilot who crashes in rural China, is captured/enslaved/employeed by the local warlord (Lee J. Cobb), escapes, and poses as the new priest coming to a mission, where there is a doctor (E.G. Marshall), the doctor's wife (Agnes Moorehead), and an assistant (Gene Tierney). Bogart never fits well into the role of the priest, but then that misfitting is fitting, as a pilot-turned-enslaved soldier would be awkward if he posed as a priest. Tierney falls guiltily in love with the new "priest", while Bogart is surprisingly passionate and effective in his efforts to help the local villagers.
Commentary: This is a quiet story with much tension but little action. It does not give the viewer enough of Bogart interacting with the villagers to show why they admire him as much as they do. Cobb is totally convincing as a ruthless warlord, but totally UNconvincing as a ruthless CHINESE warlord. Despite these flaws, this is a quietly memorable film because it tells its little story well.
![Agnes of God [Region 2]](http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/I/215ZSEAH9ML.jpg)
Average customer rating:
- Secrets and lies, faith and science
- Excellent religious movie...with a suspense and mystery twist!!!
- timeless
- ONE WONDERS...
- A failure in many respects
|
Agnes of God [Region 2]
Starring: Jane Fonda , Anne Bancroft , Meg Tilly , Anne Pitoniak , and Winston Rekert
Director: Norman Jewison
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD
Thrillers
| Mystery & Suspense
| Genres
| DVD
| Video
Arcand, Gabriel
| ( A )
| Actors & Actresses
| Stores
| DVD
| Video
Bancroft, Anne
| ( B )
| Actors & Actresses
| Stores
| DVD
| Video
Fonda, Jane
| ( F )
| Actors & Actresses
| Stores
| DVD
| Video
Pitoniak, Anne
| ( P )
| Actors & Actresses
| Stores
| DVD
| Video
Tilly, Meg
| ( T )
| Actors & Actresses
| Stores
| DVD
| Video
Jewison, Norman
| ( J )
| Directors
| Stores
| DVD
| Video
Used DVDs
| Stores
| DVD
| Video
| Action & Adventure
| African American Cinema
| Animation
| Anime & Manga
| Art House & International
| Classics
| Comedy
| Cult Movies
| Documentary
| Drama
| Educational
| Fitness & Yoga
| Gay & Lesbian
| Horror
| Kids & Family
| Military & War
| Music Video & Concerts
| Musicals & Performing Arts
| Mystery & Suspense
| Science Fiction & Fantasy
| Special Interests
| Sports
| Television
| Westerns
( A )
| Titles
| Features
| DVD
| Video
Similar Items:
- Julia
- Klute
- The Morning After
- California Suite
- They Shoot Horses, Don't They?
ASIN: B00005UWUF |
Amazon.com
This Broadway hit gets a solid film treatment by director Norman Jewison, but that can't make up for the weaknesses of the script (which were as true onstage as they are here). Jane Fonda plays a chain-smoking shrink sent to a convent to do a psychological evaluation of a novice (Meg Tilly) who gave birth to a baby and then killed it in her little room. Was it a virgin birth? A miracle? And what of the bloody stigmata that seem to spontaneously appear on her hands? Fonda also finds herself clashing with the Mother Superior (Anne Bancroft) over the line between faith and science. But writer John Pielmeier can't flesh this out beyond an idea; in the end, the solution is a disappointingly earthbound one that even the strong acting in this film can't elevate. --Marshall Fine
Customer Reviews:
Secrets and lies, faith and science.......2007-05-17
I picked up this movie recently as I remembered seeing its poster in the theaters at the place where we used to go to see movies. My mom told me that was a movie for adults, so it always had some intregue for me. Now that I am an adult (ha ha ha), it holds just as many questions and just as much mystery.
Jane Fonda plays Dr. Livingston, a court appointed psychiatrist who has been called in to investigate a mysterious murder case. A young woman has given birth and apparently killed her baby soon after. The young woman was Sister Agnes, a novice at a French Canadian convent. She has no memory of the event, and the Mother Superior is bent on keeping others out. She and Dr. Livingston would clash several times. Dr. Livingston is the voice of reason, the realist, the one who is determined to find the answers and a perfectly reasonable explination for everything. Mother Superior is the one who has put her faith in God, trusting enough to leave some things alone to that of the whims of fate. And Agnes, sweet, innocent little Agnes is at the center of it all.
In the conversations Dr. Livinston has with Agnes, we find that she is innocent but hiding an abusive past. She doesn't understand many things about the world, and that she had been locked in this convent all her life she had no means in which to learn. Why would she? This is the place where she is finding happiness away from her abusive past. This is hard for Dr. Livingston to accept, why any young woman would want to be a nun and live this way. Dr. Livingston has her own problems, and perhaps she wants to atone for her own mistakes by finding and answer. We also find out that Mother Superior is not so innocent either. She did not become a nun until later in life, had once been married, and choose to leave the world that Dr. Livingston comes from. It is reveiled that Agnes is the Mother Superior's niece, and that she suspected that Agnes was pregnant to the point that she put a waste basket in her room for her to dispose of the child once it was born. Mother Superior also wants to protect Agnes and keep others out from disrupting their quest for spiritual realization. Naturally, there will be clashes.
And under hypnosis, we hear about the night Agnes's child was conceived. Per the instruction of a dying elderly nun, Sister Paul (who Agnes also said saw the mysterious man) tells her to go to the secret passage behind a statue of St. Michael in the basement. Agnes follows the passage and goes to the barn, where she would meet HIM. From there she cannot describe what happened. She says she saw him from her window in the field everynight and he sang a beautiful song to her, so she knew him. *Shudder*
What fascinated me the most about this movie was the fact that Agnes was a true innocent, and as one she really did not know where babies come from, and it calls upon your faith which you thought was long since dead. So who was the father? If you believe in science, it was a man. If you believe in faith, it was God. These are the only two answers possible. But, we will never know. But it just can't be, your rational side says to you. Yet, you hear Agnes's side of the story under hypnosis and you will always wonder, plus hearing her sing the song that her mysterious midnight visitor would sing to her. Even in this day and age, there are some that are truly blessed with the ability to communicate with the spiritual world. Agnes truly is of God.
Excellent religious movie...with a suspense and mystery twist!!!.......2007-02-15
NOTE: This review of mine is for the movie on VHS, not the DVD. Another review will be written when I get the DVD.
A very suspenseful movie with a mystery twist, 1985's Agnes of God stars Jane Fonda, Anne Bancroft, and Meg Tilly. A young nun, Sister Agnes (Tilly) gives birth to a baby girl in her convent room on the 3rd floor, but virtually has no knowledge of being pregnant and having the baby. Jane Fonda plays Dr. Martha Livingston, the psychiatrist who is appointed by the court to talk to Agnes and get whatever details she can get regarding the case (and being nagged by her colleagues for taking too long to resolve it). But, the case seems to drag on for a certain period of time, as Dr. Livingston tries to unscramble the mystery of the situation. Anne Bancroft plays the Mother Superior Miriam Ruth, who doesn't approve of Dr. Livingston's works of psychiatry. This movie's story is kind of strange as Agnes acts as though the pregnancy never happened in her life. Her behavior at first seems to give viewers the impression that she knows nothing about sex, pregnancy, what causes pregnancy, the physical difference between men and women (this obviously means that she never even took a sex ed class in school or that her mother didn't have a talk with her about the subject of sex), etc. Questions in this story that are never answered are: Who was the father of the baby? and How did a man get into the convent and have sex with Agnes? There are some disturbing details about Agnes' background in this movie, such as being molested by her mother and being made fun of, and saying that her mother "watches and listens". The blood scenes were very haunting and scary. The hypnosis scenes were frightening and dramatic as well. The final ruling in the court reveals that she was in no manner responsible for her actions that night. Very suspenseful movie and Norman Jewison did a great job directing it. Bancroft, Fonda, and Tilly were all excellent in their roles as well. Will get the DVD soon!! I love this movie!!
timeless.......2007-01-04
I will never get tired of watching this movie. I'm glad that DVDs last longer than VHS! That is how many times I have watched this movie. The performances are delightful.
ONE WONDERS..........2006-07-02
One wonders why there was a barrage of attacks against Mel Gibson's The Passion supposed "anti-Semitism," and not one peep about this open and vicious attack on Christianity by certain "Hollywood types."
Hypocracy, perhaps? Hmmm. I wonder...
A failure in many respects.......2006-01-12
Jane Fonda, whom I respect highly as an actress, cannot save this dud. Neither the score nor the cinematography is memorable. Many scenes revolve around the fact that Dr. Livingstone is a smoker, which is a very flimsy hook upon which to hang a film. This film did not hold my interest--at several points I was consciously bored and had to exert will-power to finish watching it. Moreover, the views of psychiatric practice and hypnosis are wholly unrealistic. It seems this film could not decide what to be, and certainly lacked the courage to demythologize its subject.
DVD:
- The Eel
- Class Action
- The Evening Star
- Swept from The Sea
- Dogfight
- Lady Audley's Secret
- Hanover Street
- Young Man With a Horn
- American Pop
- L'Eclisse - Criterion Collection
DVD
DVD
DVD
The Assassination Bureau
Possessed
Top Gun [WS] [2 Discs] [1986] (REGION 1) (NTSC)
DVD: The Tom Cruise Action Pack (Top Gun/Days of Thunder/Mis
Storm