reiher@ucla-cs.UUCP (09/17/85)
"Agnes of God" is the perfect example of a poor match
between a director and a script. Norman Jewison is a well-
intentioned, moderately talented director whose greatest flaw is
that he frequently fails to make any personal impression on a
film. If the script is strong enough, that flaw isn't too impor-
tant. With good scripts, Jewison has produced good films, like
"In the Heat of the Night" and "A Soldier's Story". When the
script is weak, or even lacking in clear focus, he puts out films
like "F.I.S.T." and "And Justice For All", films which aren't
terrible but which seem weak and diffuse. Jewison's films are
rarely bad, but too often they fail to reach their potential be-
cause Jewison is unable to clarify what he considers important in
the script. "Agnes of God" suffers from this flaw, leaving it a
perfectly watchable but unremarkable film.
Based on a Broadway hit, "Agnes of God" concerns a nun who
is accused of murdering her newborn baby. A psychiatrist ap-
pointed by the court must determine if Sister Agnes is insane or
not. But, as the Mother Superior of the convent points out,
Agnes is not the typical person, or even the typical nun. She
seems almost incredibly naive, and perhaps she really is a holy
innocent, close to God in a way more appropriate to the Middle
Ages than today. Or is she merely insane? The psychiatrist, a
lapsed Catholic with grievances against the church, is determined
to probe deep to find out, while the Mother Superior, in
desperate need of a focus for her shaky faith, is equally deter-
mined that Sister Agnes' simple piety will not be destroyed.
"Agnes of God" is the typically talky modern play, with end-
less quarrels and discussions between the Mother Superior and the
psychiatrist, who are too simple representations of Faith and
Science (definitely with capital letters). Modern playwrights
seem to have lost the knack of capturing action on stage, and
have fallen back completely on talk. Much of the talk is well
written, but too much is said and too little done. Unfortunate-
ly, this isn't the only flaw in the script. John Pielmeier, who
also wrote the original play, fails to provide a very clear focus
or attitude for Jewison to work with. A strong director, such as
Francis Coppola, who wanted to do "Agnes of God", could overcome
both flaws, the first with better visual sense, something that
was never Jewison's strong point; and the second with a unifying
vision of his own. Jewison has nothing to say, and, except for
an isolated moment or two, no especially interesting visual
ideas.
One of the script's strong points, on the other hand, is in
characters, at least in two of them. For practical purposes,
"Agnes of God" has only the three characters. All others have
only brief appearances, most for strictly functional purposes.
The psychiatrist is not very well realized, nor very well played,
by Jane Fonda. Pielmeier ripped off Peter Shaffer's use (in
"Equus") of cigarettes as a symbol of the character's internal
emptiness, but he provides little else for Fonda to work with.
The Mother Superior is much more human, with an inner conflict
that almost works. Anne Bancroft does well with the part, mak-
ing the nun a wry and surprisingly wordly woman who yearns for
personal knowledge of God.
The real strength of the film is in the character of Agnes
and the performance of Meg Tilly. At first, Agnes seems child-
like and simple, but her depths are unexpectedly complex. The
interesting mystery isn't who killed the baby, but what motivates
Agnes and what shaped her. If the conflicts of the psychiatrist
and Mother Superior had been better integrated with the revela-
tions of what makes Agnes so different, the film would have been
much better. Meg Tilly is superb in the part. Her face has a
radiant innocence, yet her every move and word subtly shows us
the turbulence beneath the calm surface. Amanda Plummer made a
sensation on Broadway playing the part in a very different way,
but Tilly fits so naturally into Agnes that it is hard to imagine
anyone else playing the part, or having the part played in any
other way. Nothing else Meg Tilly has done suggested the power
and depth she reveals in this part, and it is likely to provide
the breakthrough she needs to become a major film actress. Her
performance is also likely to be remembered when Academy Award
nominations are being decided.
The other reason to see "Agnes of God" is Sven Nykvist's
cinematography. Nykvist has been Ingmar Bergman's director of
photography for years. Nykvist uses a warm juxtaposition of light
and shadow that is distinctly his own. Most at home in the
voluptuous summer light of Swedish summers, Nykvist adapts well
to the bleak Canadian winter. He chooses mostly dark composi-
tions from his palette, with characteristic fondness for rays of
light and portentous shadows. Any individual scene of "Agnes of
God" looks absolutely wonderful, and Nykvist's lighting and fram-
ing of scenes makes up, to an extent, for Jewison's deficiencies.
A second viewing of the film, with the intention to watch specif-
ically Nykvist's use of light and shadow to heighten mood, would
reveal even more clearly that Nykvist not only has a fine eye,
but a deft intelligence.
"Agnes of God" is a film with high intentions, but not quite
enough resources to live up to its own goals. Jewison doesn't
provide much suspense for the putative mystery, nor does he make
clear to the audience precisely what he thinks "Agnes of God" is
supposed to be about at any deeper level. He conceals the
theatrical origins in one sense, by moving around the convent and
other settings with some facility, but doesn't hide that the film
is mostly talk and little action. The talk, lacking a good,
clear purpose, becomes talk for its own sake. As such, it is
moderately interesting, but an insufficient basis for a film.
Anne Bancroft and, especially, Meg Tilly, bring life and energy
to their scenes, but Jane Fonda is practically a void at the
center of the film. On the whole, "Agnes of God" is a suitable
entertainment for those tired of juvenile summer trash, but is
hardly a film event of great significance.
--
Peter Reiher
reiher@LOCUS.UCLA.EDU
{...ihnp4,ucbvax,sdcrdcf}!ucla-cs!reiher