Black Narcissus
WHAT IS IT: A brand new adaptation by Bafta Award-winning Amanda Coe (Apple Tree Yard, The Trial Of Christine Keeler) of Rumer Godden’s iconic 1939 tale of sexual repression and forbidden love among the nuns of St Faiths.
WHAT’S THE STORY? In the unfettered sensuality of the so-called House Of Women, Sister Clodagh finds herself increasingly attracted to the handsome and damaged land agent Mr Dean (Alessandro Nivola, Jurassic Park, American Hustle). As the repressed memories of Clodagh’s past become entangled with the tragic history of Princess Srimati (Gianni Gonsalves), to the fascination of troubled Sister Ruth, history seems doomed to repeat itself. But are there really ghosts in the Himalayas, or are the incomers succumbing to long-repressed primal desires?
“I hadn’t read the book and I hadn’t seen the film before reading Amanda’s adaptation, which was really helpful for me to form my own opinions on the character and the journey. There are deviations from the book in Amanda’s adaptation– there is a lot more with the Srimati past and the ghost story thriller element of it.
“I’m so proud of the work we did on this – we put our hearts and souls into it. We all went to Nepal and it took us three flights and a week to get there. We were in the middle of nowhere in the Himalayan mountains and it was a really special bonding experience. These things don’t come along very often at all.
“There was something really magical about this, and the shoot itself for me was one of the highlights of my career so far.”
GEMMA ARTERTON SAYS: