Twitter

Where to Stream:

Ida

One of this year’s Oscar nominees for Best Foreign Language Film is Ida, a delicately filmed offering from Poland directed and co-written by Paweł Pawlikowski. The film follows a novice in a Polish convent who goes by the name of Anna. Before she takes her vows, however, she is encouraged to meet with her only relative — her aunt Wanda, a former prosecutor who worked for the post-war Stalinist regime. Wanda reveals Anna’s true identity: her name is really Ida, she is Jewish, and her parents and brother were murdered during the war. Ida then enlists Wanda’s help to find her family’s remains.

Ida is a brief yet deeply evocative film that examines its titular character’s crisis of faith in the face of her aunt’s revelations of her true identity, leading her on a path to self-discovery. And it’s certainly not the only film about a nun to do so. For centuries, consecrated women have been a central focus of dramatic examination; they’ve served as avatars through which artists of various mediums have studied the intricacies of faith and devotion. Film has provided a perfect visual medium to capture the mystery and the aura of women of the cloth.

But what makes nuns so worthy of artistic portrayal? There’s certainly a gendered aspect to our collective fascination with them (or at least, those of us who were not raised Catholic and have little experience with nuns in real life). There’s something that seems very extreme about a woman giving up the opportunity for love, marriage, children, etc., in order to devote herself completely to God — even more so than for priests, as there’s the sense that the men of the Catholic Church have much more power. But it’s also worth considering the freedom that being a nun brings — the ability to live life on a woman’s own terms, and to live within a matriarchal society — as well as the intense sacrifice of worldly comforts and monetary possessions in order to follow a spiritual calling.

Still, movies about sisters tend to focus on similar themes — crises of faith, in particular. Ida follows in the footsteps of a long tradition of films that play with familiar archetypes and ideas. Here’s a run-down of ten great movies about these devoted women that all avoid the trappings of the pulpy Nunsploitation genre.

'Black Narcissus' (1947)

Deborah Kerr stars in this gorgeous film about a sect of English nuns who set up a school and hospital in a remote area in the Himalayas. Soon, the women are seduced by their exotic surroundings — both figuratively and literally. Winning Oscars for its cinematography and art design, Black Narcissus is a technical marvel and a controversial, luscious film that still surprises audiences today. [Where to stream Black Narcissus]

'The Nun's Story' (1959)

Of course Audrey Hepburn played a pretty nun. Inspired by the true story of a Belgian nun named Marie Louise Habets, The Nun’s Story stars Hepburn as Sister Luke, a young woman who fully accepts the sacrifices required of her vows. The film, though, does feature some sexual tension between Sister Luke and a surgeon who works in a convent hospital in the Congo (played by Peter Finch). Ultimately, Sister Luke’s crisis of faith comes at the onset of World War II, when she struggles to remain obedient in the face of the Nazi occupation of Belgium. [Where to stream The Nun’s Story]

'Viridiana' (1961)

Spanish director Luis Buñuel is known for his surreal, irreverent works (particularly his infamous collaboration with Salvador Dalí, Un Chien Andalou) as well as his highly sexual and satirical films about the bourgeoisie. But this early drama concerns a young nun who visits her estranged uncle, who is hell-bent on seducing her. At times darkly humorous and blasphemous, Buñuel’s Viridiana established the director as an outspoken critic of the Catholic Church and organized religion as a whole. [Where to stream Viridiana]

'The Sound of Music' (1965)

Perhaps the most famous movie nun of all, this one didn’t stick to the nunnery for too long. Maria, played by the Oscar-nominated Julie Andrews, gets herself kicked out of her Austrian convent when she’s just a novice on account of her obsession with twirling on alps, her inability to stick to the nunnery’s rules, and for being an all-around flibbertijibbet, a will-o’-the-wisp, and a clown. Naturally, she becomes infatuated with her employer, the gruff and domineering Captain Georg von Trapp, who hires her to serve as governess to his seven unruly children. Soon, she’s ready to give up her imminent vows and shack up in her new hubby’s mansion — until the encroaching Nazis and the chance for musical stardom force them out of Austria. [Where to stream The Sound of Music]

'The Singing Nun' (1966)

Speaking of singing nuns, the real-life Jeanine Deckers (also known as Sœur Sourire) got the big-screen biopic treatment in this fictionalized version of her life. Released just three years after Deckers’ international and catchy-as-hell hit “Dominique” hit airwaves, The Singing Nun starred the wholesome Debbie Reynolds as the Belgian nun who became a worldwide sensation after a guest spot on The Ed Sullivan Show. Of course, the film didn’t get to the real dark moments of Deckers’ life; she left her convent the year of the film’s release, defended contraception, began a lesbian relationship, and committed suicide in 1985. [Where to stream The Singing Nun]

'The Trouble With Angels' (1966)

Rosalind Russell stars as the strict and beleaguered Mother Superior in charge of an all-girls Catholic boarding school where at least one student (played by former Disney star Hayley Mills, in a requisite child star image-shedding role) rebels continuously throughout her stay and corrupts her susceptible best friend. Mary Wickes, who would go on to play another nun in Sister Act, co-stars, as well as real-life burlesque star Gypsy Rose Lee. [Where to stream The Trouble With Angels]

'Agnes of God' (1985)

Based on the play by John Pielmeier, Norman Jewison’s drama stars Jane Fonda as a psychiatrist who visits a convent near Montreal after a novice named Agnes (played by Meg Tilly) gives birth — and is suspected of killing — a child. Agnes has no memory of being pregnant or giving birth, and doesn’t fully comprehend the process of conception. Anne Bancroft plays a no-nonsense mother superior who, as in most films about nuns, stands in direct contrast to the young and naive Agnes. The mystery involves a crisis of faith both for the women of the cloth and Fonda’s Martha, who begins to put more stock into the unknown than she ever did before. [Where to stream Agnes of God]

'Sister Act' (1992)

Singing nuns are old hat, but then there’s Whoopi Goldberg‘s Deloris Van Cartier, a lounge singer from Reno who has to hide in a San Francisco convent as Sister Mary Clarence after witnessing her mobster boyfriend kill his chauffeur. Naturally, the wild and loose Mary Clarence is immediately at odds with the staunch and humorless Reverend Mother (played perfectly by Maggie Smith). But soon Mary Clarence’s musical ability turns the dour choir of nuns into an exciting singing group whose musical achievements bring praise and attention upon the run-down convent. [Where to stream Sister Act]

'Dead Man Walking' (1995)

Susan Sarandon won an Oscar for her portrayal of Sister Helen Prejean, a Roman Catholic nun and anti-death penalty advocate who councils a convicted murder, Matthew Poncelet (Sean Penn), as he awaits his imminent execution. A surprising stand-out on this list, Sarandon’s Prejean does not exhibit any of the archetypes seen in many of the other protagonists mentioned here, and in turn serves as one of the few fully formed cinematic depictions of a nun. [Where to stream Dead Man Walking]

'Doubt' (2008)

Meryl Streep stars in John Patrick Shanley’s adaptation of his Pulitzer Prize-winning play as Sister Aloysius, the harsh and strict principal at a Catholic school for boys. One of her teachers, the naive Sister James (played by Amy Adams), notices a close relationship between one of the parish’s priests, Father Flynn (Philip Seymour Hoffman), and a young boy — the only black boy in the school. Sister Aloysius is sure of some misdeeds, and she will stop at nothing to discover Father Flynn’s indiscretions. [Where to stream Doubt]

Like what you see? Follow Decider on Facebook and Twitter to join the conversation, and sign up for our email newsletters to be the first to know about streaming movies and TV news!