Highest-Rated Movies about 'Mother Superior'

Viridiana (1961), Papillon (1973), The Sound of Music (1965), La grande vadrouille (1966), Black Narcissus (1947), The Devils (1971), The Longest Day (1962), Lilies of the Field (1963) ... Let's take a look at the ranked list of the best Mother Superior movies.

#1. Viridiana (1961)

Storyline: Viridiana, a young novice about to take her final vows as a nun, accedes, moved purely by a sense of obligation, to a request from her widowed uncle to visit him. Stirred by her resemblance to his late wife, he attempts to seduce her and tragedy ensues. In the aftermath, Viridiana tries to assuage her guilt by creating a haven for the destitute folk who live around her uncle's estate. But little good comes from these good intentions.

Plot Keywords: nun, jumping rope, suicide by hanging, drugged, novice, dowry, dove ...

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#2. Papillon (1973)

Storyline: A semi-fictional account of Henri Charrière's time in the penal system in French Guyana - some of it spent on infamous Devil's Island - is presented. It's the early 1930s. Charrière - nicknamed Papillon because of his butterfly tattoo - and Louis Dega are two among many who have been convicted in the French judicial system, they now being transferred to French Guyana where they will serve their time, never to return to France even if they are ever released. A safe-cracker by criminal profession, Papillon is serving a life sentence for murdering a pimp, a crime for which he adamantly states he was framed. Dega is a wealthy counterfeiter, who expects his well-to-do wife eventually to get him released. On Papillon's initiative, Papillon and Dega enter into a business arrangement: Papillon will provide protection for Dega, while Dega will finance Papillon's escape attempt. As Papillon and Degas' time together lasts longer than either expects, their burgeoning friendship ends up being an ...

Plot Keywords: latin america, escape from prison, tough guy, cliff, atlantic ocean, banishment, exile ...

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#3. The Sound of Music (1965)

Storyline: In 1930's Austria, a young woman named Maria is failing miserably in her attempts to become a nun. When the Navy captain Georg Von Trapp writes to the convent asking for a governess that can handle his seven mischievous children, Maria is given the job. The Captain's wife is dead, and he is often away, and runs the household as strictly as he does the ships he sails on. The children are unhappy and resentful of the governesses that their father keeps hiring, and have managed to run each of them off one by one. When Maria arrives, she is initially met with the same hostility, but her kindness, understanding, and sense of fun soon draws them to her and brings some much-needed joy into all their lives -- including the Captain's. Eventually he and Maria find themselves falling in love, even though Georg is already engaged to a Baroness and Maria is still a postulant. The romance makes them both start questioning the decisions they have made. Their personal conflicts soon become ...

Plot Keywords: based on true story, single father, catholic church, guitar, based on novel, orchestral music score, female protagonist ...

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#5. Black Narcissus (1947)

Storyline: 5 nuns openi a convent in the Himalayas, where they encounter conflict and tension - not just with the nearby inhabitants, but also amongst themselves, as they attempt to surmount the difficulties inherent in trying to adjust to their new environment.

Plot Keywords: sexual repression, mother superior, mountain, nun, female protagonist, loneliness, hysteria ...

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#6. The Devils (1971)

Storyline: Cardinal Richelieu and his power-hungry entourage seek to take control of seventeenth-century France, but need to destroy Father Grandier - the priest who runs the fortified town that prevents them from exerting total control. So they seek to destroy him by setting him up as a warlock in control of a devil-possessed nunnery, the mother superior of which is sexually obsessed by him. A mad witch-hunter is brought in to gather evidence against the priest, ready for the big trial.

Plot Keywords: priest, exorcism, devil, hanging, religion, convent, execution ...

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#7. The Longest Day (1962)

Storyline: In 1944, the U.S. Army and Allied forces plan a huge invasion landing in Normandy, France. Despite bad weather, General Dwight D. Eisenhower gives the okay and the Allies land at Normandy. General Norma Cota travels with his men onto Omaha Beach. With much effort, and lost life, they get off the beach, traveling deep into French territory. The German military, due to arrogance, ignorance and a sleeping Adolf Hitler, delay their response to the Allied landing, with crippling results.

Plot Keywords: world war two, year 1944, german soldier, dead soldier, parachute, firearm, wehrmacht ...

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#8. Lilies of the Field (1963)

Storyline: Homer Smith, an unemployed construction worker heading out west, stops at a remote farm in the desert to get water when his car overheats. The farm is being worked by a group of East European Catholic nuns, headed by the strict Mother Maria, who believes that Homer has been sent by God to build a much-needed church in the desert...—Christopher J. Thompson <thompson@amath.washington.edu>

Plot Keywords: based on novel, construction, church, construction worker, catholic, nun, chapel ...

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#9. The Nun's Story (1959)

Storyline: In 1930, in Belgium, Gabrielle van der Mal is the stubborn daughter of the prominent surgeon Dr. Hubert van der Mal that decides to leave her the upper-class family to enter to a convent, expecting to work as nun in Congo with tropical diseases. She says good-bye to her sisters Louise and Marie; to her brother Pierre; and to her beloved father, and subjects herself to the stringent rules of the retrograde institution, including interior silent and excessive humbleness and humiliation. After a long period working in a mental institution, Gaby is finally assigned to go to Congo, where she works with the Atheist and cynical, but brilliant, Dr. Fortunati. Sister Luke proves to be very efficient nurse and assistant, and Dr. Fortunati miraculous heals her tuberculosis. Years later, she is ordered to return to Belgium and when her motherland is invaded by the Germans, she learns that her beloved father was murdered by the enemy while he was helping wounded members of the resistance. Sister Luke finally decides to leave the religious life since she is not able to feel neutral against the invaders of her country.—Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Plot Keywords: nun, based on book, africa, religion, catholic, world war two, nurse ...

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#10. Mother Joan of the Angels (1961)

Storyline: Set in the 17th century. A convent in a small town is being visited by high-ranking Catholic official trying to exorcise the nun supposedly posessed by demons. A local priest have been burnt for creating this condition by sexual temptation of the nuns, especially the Mother superior who bring on the collective hysteria of the group. There is another young priest who is to help with the exorcism. His first meeting with the convent head, Mother Joanne of the Angels, has her seemingly posessed by Satan - she yells blasphemies and incites the priest. She begs the priest to save her and to help her to be a saint.—Polish Cinema Database <http://info.fuw.edu.pl/Filmy/>

Plot Keywords: 17th century, exorcist, cult film, rabbi, catholic priest, terror, hell ...

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#11. Doubt (2008)

Storyline: It's 1964, St. Nicholas in the Bronx. A charismatic priest, Father Flynn, is trying to upend the school's strict customs, which have long been fiercely guarded by Sister Aloysius Beauvier, the iron-gloved Principal who believes in the power of fear-based discipline. The winds of political change are sweeping through the community, and indeed, the school has just accepted its first black student, Donald Miller. But when Sister James, a hopeful innocent, shares with Sister Aloysius her guilt-inducing suspicion that Father Flynn is paying too much personal attention to Donald, Sister Aloysius sets off on a personal crusade to unearth the truth and to expunge Flynn from the school. Now, without a shard of proof besides her moral certainty, Sister Aloysius locks into a battle of wills with Father Flynn which threatens to tear apart the community with irrevocable consequences.

Plot Keywords: ambiguity, cigarette smoking, eating, crying, black american, accusation, christian ...

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#12. The Painted Veil (2006)

Storyline: This love story has Kitty meeting young, intelligent, shy and somewhat dull Dr. Walter Fane, whose forte is the study of infectious diseases, and the convenient marriage that she finds herself committed to. It is in this web of intrigue that they head for China, only after Walter discovers Kitty's infidelity with one dashing and witty diplomat Charlie Townsend. So much as to hide her from herself and to help thwart a cholera outbreak, this is a marriage more than on the rocks. This is a cold, indifferent and loveless partnership in a vast unknown and deadly environment that will test both these flightless lovebirds and with the hardships and tolerances more than any had ever anticipated. A visual delight amid the pain and suffering of a dying people and failing marriage. Will a cure be found for both, before it's too late?

Plot Keywords: cholera, loveless marriage, unfaithful wife, sexual attraction, scantily clad female, cleavage, scandal ...

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#13. Ida (2013)

Storyline: Poland, 1962. Anna, an orphan brought up by nuns in the convent, is a novice. She has to see Wanda, the only living relative, before she takes her vows. Wanda tells Anna about her Jewish roots. Both women start a journey not only to find their family's tragic story, but to see who they really are and where they belong. They question what they used to believe in.

Plot Keywords: nun, poland, 1960s, convent, jew, female nudity, suicide ...

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#14. The Trouble With Angels (1966)

Storyline: Coming-of-age story for two girls, Mary Clancy (Hayley Mills) and Rachel Devery (June Harding), who find themselves as students at the St. Francis Academy, a Catholic boarding school for girls. The story spans three years and follows the girls and their many pranks including setting off fire alarms, smoking cigars in the basement, and putting bubble baths in the nuns' sugar bowls. As the girls mature, they gain a greater respect for their teachers and the commitment and devotion required to be a nun, leading one of them to make a life-changing decision.—garykmcd

Plot Keywords: mother superior, based on novel, teen angst, catholic school, boarding school, catholic, nun ...

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#15. The Bells of St. Mary's (1945)

Storyline: Father O'Malley, the unconventional priest from 'Going My Way', continues his work for the Catholic Church. This time he is sent to St. Mary's, a run-down parochial school on the verge of condemnation. He and Sister Benedict work together in an attempt to save the school, though their differing methods often lead to good-natured disagreements.—Greg Helton <ghelton@airmail.net>

Plot Keywords: nun, catholic priest, tuberculosis, boy, family relationships, orchestral music score, comic relief ...

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