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Agnes of God

Agnes of God (1985)

September. 27,1985
|
6.6
|
PG-13
| Drama Mystery

When a dead newborn is found, wrapped in bloody sheets, in the bedroom wastebasket of a young novice, psychiatrist Martha Livingston is called in to determine if the seemingly innocent novice, who knows nothing of sex or birth, is competent enough to stand trial for the murder of the baby.

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Actuakers
1985/09/27

One of my all time favorites.

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Gurlyndrobb
1985/09/28

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

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Siflutter
1985/09/29

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

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Philippa
1985/09/30

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

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jovana-13676
1985/10/01

This is a detective story that takes a surprising turn, rendering every moral judgment obsolete. Each of the three main characters, all women, has a secret past and a capacity to change, but as the film progresses, each one of them becomes more of herself. It's interesting to watch these three totally different characters interact between god and men until reality becomes distorted because, well, it's god's will. Prepare to lose your moral compass.

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lastliberal
1985/10/02

A Golden Globe performance for Meg Tilly and Oscar nominations for Tilly and Anne Bancroft. This is a story that brings into question stigmata, belief, along with the possibility of virgin birth.A nun (Tilly) has a baby, which is found dead, and she is brought up on manslaughter charges. She claims no knowledge of the baby or how to even have a baby.Jane Fonda, an obvious skeptic, is a psychiatrist appointed to examine the situation. What is a to be a psychiatric examination turns into an investigation of the convent. Secrets come out bit by bit as Nancy Drew, I mean the psychiatrist, discovers the one secret that can explain everything.But does it? Simple seduction or a miracle? It is left for the viewer to decide.What is not left to the viewer to decide is the excellent performances by the three stars above. They were miraculous.

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moonspinner55
1985/10/03

Young nun in a convent, so enamored with her Savior that she seems to be in a lovestruck daze, may or may not have killed an infant. Anne Bancroft is the Mother Superior, Jane Fonda is the investigating psychiatrist (every movie should have one), and Meg Tilly is the enchanting yet frustrating nun whom nobody can budge with common sense. Adapted from the kind of stage-play that doesn't go over well in high schools, "Agnes of God" (terrible title!) is sort of the flip-side to "Rosemary's Baby", an unsettling, overwrought exercise for thespians to display their range. What's amazing is that these actresses carve out interesting characterizations within the hoked-up, hysterical scenario. They can't possibly believe these goings-on, but they give it conviction, particularly Fonda, sterling as usual. Bancroft shines in one particular scene, again hoked-up, where she sneaks a cigarette; it's a cliché, but it's the relief the picture needs. Tilly is aggravatingly bright and beguiling. By the third act, the film has pretty much self-destructed, yet there's not much satisfaction in the answers given to us. **1/2 from ****

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Jon Kolenchak
1985/10/04

*CONTAINS SPOILERS* I found Agnes of God to be an extraordinary film. Fonda, Bancroft, and Tilly are an amazing ensemble. The cinematography is beautifully done, and the musical score is more complex than what immediately meets the ear.The main issue of this film can be stated in one word, faith. Many people have very strong convictions, personal and very valid about the existence of God or the non-existence of God. Although there are a multitude of personal religious and non-religious beliefs about God, when we get to the final analysis, no one really knows for certain if they are correct or not. After many years of Roman Catholic grade school, and even more years as a church organist, one of the themes that I hear over and over again is that faith is the ability to believe without relying on tangible evidence.With that in mind, if you watch the film for a second time you may realize some things that you did not realize before. For example: Jane Fonda's mother - so wrapped in her religious convictions that even in a state of advanced dementia, she can only talk about her daughters Marie (who died in a convent) and Martha (Fonda) who "had an abortion and is going straight to hell.Jane Fonda -- a professional woman, an atheist, scarred by early religious training and filled with guilt over the deaths of her sister and one of her childhood friends. In Agnes, she finds a link to her dead sister and the past. She resolves to "save" Agnes (pun intended) and somehow purge herself of the errors of her past. She can't bring back her sister Marie, but she can help Agnes.Anne Bancroft -- a second career nun finding refuge in her religion, then being discarded by her family.Meg Tilly -- an obviously disturbed young nun who moves in and out of lucidity at a moment's notice.What are some of the final results of this mix? Through Agnes, Fonda re-connects with some tiny fragment of spirituality that she holds on to through the end of the film. Bancroft goes from deeply religious, to doubt and back to her position of faith again when Agnes comes to the convent, only to have her faith tested again at the trial. Agnes seems to be the only one that, on the surface at least, is unscathed. But is she? The beautifully enigmatic scene at the end of the film where she is in the bell tower holding the bird and then letting it fly away is heartbreaking. Is she freeing herself from the horror of the past? Or has she become more and more insane and withdrawn from the world?All three women become changed as a result of their interactions. At a key moment in the action when Fonda asks Bancroft if the believes the baby was divinely conceived, Bancroft in one phrase denies the possiblilty, but moments later says, "I want the choice to believe". By the end of the film, Fonda has pretty much destroyed Bancroft's "choice", yet Fonda comes away with a renewed spirituality of her own -- very underplayed, but if you look carefully, you will sense it.In conclusion, I feel that the circumstance of Agnes' conception is unimportant in itself. What is important is the catalyst it becomes for all personally involved.

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