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THOU SHALT NOT LUST
An order of nuns simmering with repressed passion spiral into bad habits in a compelling TV remake of Oscar-winning film Black Narcissus
British nuns stuck in the Himalayas, living in a crumbling palace where the former local ruler had kept his harem and going slowly mad with pent-up passion over a handsome Englishman. What’s not to love? This new retelling of Black Narcissus, the 1939 Rumer Godden novel that was turned into an Oscar-winning film starring Deborah Kerr in 1947, is utterly compelling, from the scenery to the simmering sexual tension.
The movie was banned in Ireland, censored in America and described by Martin Scorsese as ‘one of the first truly erotic films’. We aren’t as easily shocked now, but the new BBC1 three-part series retains plenty of its allure (it’s been produced by Andrew Macdonald, grandson of the 1947 film’s co-director Emeric Pressburger), while adding modern touches such as filming in the Himalayas and using Nepalese actors instead of English ones pretending to be Nepalese.
It’s a tale of understated, burning passion. Bafta-winning writer Amanda Coe, known for sensual dramas including Apple Tree Yard and The Trial Of Christine Keeler, says it’s the first show she’s written that her children can watch, but ‘it’s also the most subtle, erotic, twisted thing I’ve worked on. It’s very much about sexual repression, and that makes it incredibly erotic. It’s a very heightened world of forbidden desires. It’s also a bit like horror film The Shining but with nuns, because they’re in this very isolated place and they all start to go slightly mad.’
The story is set in 1934 when a group of Catholic nuns of the St Faith order establish a mission and school at the remote clifftop palace of Mopu, once named the House of Women as it was where concubines had lived. They’ve been invited by the British-educated General Toda Rai (Kulvinder Ghir), whose family owns the palace and who is the son of the ruler who had the harem. Toda’s sister Princess Srimati fell to her death there too, and he wants to rid the place of its ghosts as well as educate the local people.
By the time the sisters arrive, there has already been a failed attempt to establish a base by German monks, who were forced to leave after five months. The locals, while not openly hostile, just aren’t that interested. The nuns’ very British way of doing things seems to have no place there. One of the first things they do is cover erotic paintings on the walls while, symbolically, the head on their statue of Jesus breaks off.
The women are led by the ambitious Sister Clodagh, played by Gemma Arterton, but her dedication to God starts to wobble quickly. The nuns are not meant to be swayed by beauty – even nature’s – but the Himalayas’ grandeur affects them all. Then there’s the swaggeringly uncouth but devastatingly handsome atheist Mr Dean, who works for the General and helps the nuns settle in.
Played by Alessandro
Nivola, he turns the head not only of Sister Clodagh, who’s determined to fight her attraction to him, but also Sister Ruth (played by Aisling Franciosi with wonderfully manic menace). ‘It’s not just about religion, but who you are as a person,’ says Gemma. ‘When you become a nun you have to rid yourself of your past and recreate yourself. But this is about these nuns reconnecting with their true selves. Clodagh struggles against her true self. She’s this wild, impulsive, romantic rebel, but that got her into trouble so she became a nun. At the palace her true self reawakens and she starts to question what she’s done. A rule of the order is that they aren’t allowed to look at things unless they need to, but they’re in a beautiful place and can’t help but look. Then the real Clodagh starts coming through.’
The character of Mr Dean has been enlarged upon for the series. Here he isn’t just an interloper, trespassing with all his testosterone, but a damaged man himself, a First World War veteran who has done his best to get away from England and all it stands for. ‘In the film he’s just a catalyst to wreak havoc, but in our series, based on the book, he’s had some traumatic experience himself,’ says American actor Alessandro, who’s married to English actress Emily Mortimer. ‘He’s very gruff
‘It’s like The Shining – but with nuns’
and almost delights in offending people. He’s kind of disgusted by the arrogance of the English and, to him, the Catholic mission in the palace represents all that is wrong.
‘At first he gets on badly with Sister Clodagh. But they’re like a mirror image of each other. They’ve both had their hearts broken and are terrified of their own vulnerability. She chose an extreme religious life while he chose a dissolute bachelorhood that didn’t call on him to feel anything. But he’s immediately attracted to Clodagh. There’s something about her he can’t help but find appealing.’
Meanwhile, watching this budding romance with more than a touch of the green-eyed monster is Sister Ruth. She is entranced by the tale of the doomed Srimati. Struggling with chronic insomnia, she becomes ominously unhinged and begins to imagine she’s being haunted by the doomed princess. ‘Ruth isn’t devoted to this vocation,’ says Aisling. ‘She’s very quick to rage and finds it hard to control her emotions. I was very keen not to make her a caricature though; I wanted her to feel like a real person so that it becomes quite understandable that she ends up where she does.’
They aren’t the only ones affected by the heady atmosphere, and it’s no surprise that back at the nuns’ convent in Darjeeling in India Mother Dorothea (played by Diana Rigg in her last TV role) was reluctant, along with Father Roberts (Jim Broadbent), to let them go to the palace. Sister Blanche (Patsy Ferran) becomes dangerously fond of the little children in her care, Sister Philippa (Karen Bryson) is obsessed with trying to fashion a garden out of the wilderness, while even the sensible Sister Briony (Rosie Cavaliero) is at a loss. By the time stern Sister Adela (Gina Mckee) turns up, she’s shocked by what has become of the order. Meanwhile, the palace’s housekeeper Angu Ayah (Nila Aalia) can only watch – she’s seen madness take hold there again and again.
While almost the entire group filmed in the Himalayas for three weeks – a hazardous experience since it took four plane journeys to reach the set and several of the cast suffered from altitude sickness – most of it was made at Pinewood Studios, where the original film was shot. ‘I was at a meeting with the BBC when they said they were planning a new adaptation of Black Narcissus, and I said no one else should do it but me,’ says producer Andrew Macdonald, whose work includes Trainspotting and The Beach.
‘The film was made because my grandmother loved the book. Rumer Godden, who was brought up in India, was not a fan of the film, and one of her complaints was that it had not been filmed in the Himalayas. So it was important for us to go there, as well as use real Nepalese people. Rumer’s family was also keen on us remaking it so that people go back to the book – it’s brilliant – and her great-granddaughter even worked as part of our crew.’
The exterior of the palace, which was based on research of Hindu palaces, was built at Bovingdon, a disused airfield in Hertfordshire, while the interiors were created at Pinewood using genuine Nepalese woodwork. And while elements of the film have been included, the producers were keen to ensure this series stands up in its own right. ‘It’s interesting to look at in modern terms,’ says Andrew. ‘And it’s just a brilliant story of passion, horror and eroticism.’