A couple of weeks ago, FX premiered an excellent British drama called Black Narcissus, and I was hooked from the start. I was actually quite sad that it was only three parts. In an interesting move on FX’s part, all three episodes aired back to back. I didn’t watch these live, so it had no impact on me, but I still thought it was an interesting move.
It seemed automatic that I was going to watch this miniseries because Alessandro Nivola was in it, and The Art of Self Defense was one of my favorite films from 2019. That, coupled with the fact that it was about nuns, appealed to me even more. It seemed dark, and I thought back to films like Novitiate and Doubt and hoped it would present itself in a similar way. As I moved through each episode, it did come across like those two films, but it also had a bit of an element of the supernatural.
The story follows a small group of nuns, lead by Sister Clodagh, who go to set up a branch of their operative in the Himalayas. It’s clear from the start that the experience will turn out badly. High up in the mountains, their “church” used to be a palace of sorts, where a scorned lover had committed suicide by jumping off the bell tower. The palace was a dirty white, and gave off some very creepy vibes.
To help fix up the place and get it turned into a functioning school, the sisters enlist the help of a local, Mr. Dean, to make repairs, build things, and keep a smooth relationship between the sisters and the General. While Sister Clodagh bickers with Mr. Dean in almost every encounter, it is obvious she is trying to fight down some attraction to him. Also attracted to Mr. Dean is Sister Ruth. However, it was never totally clear with me if her infatuation had to do with her inhabiting some supernatural spirit, or if the mountain air was making her crazy, or if she just hated being a nun.
She had a very aggressive relationship with Sister Clodagh, and even tried to get her removed by a visiting priest by revealing her “un-sisterly” relationship with Mr. Dean. Uh…Sister Ruth was way more creepy with him! Either way, besides all of that tension, it was clear that living in that secluded mountain palace was getting to everyone. A couple of the sisters left, some became somewhat sickly, and of course Sister Ruth went a little bananas. It was a lot for Sister Clodagh to handle, but she did her best, and she continually tried to shut down her urges. It was perhaps all for naught, because the last ten minutes of the series was intense!
I loved it. From beginning to end this show had me hooked. I couldn’t fast forward through commercials fast enough! Sister Ruth had me seething, so bravo to that actress for making me hate her character. And the show wouldn’t really be the show if there wasn’t an insane amount of chemistry between Alessandro Nivola and Gemma Arterton. If you’ve got Hulu, I implore you to go watch Black Narcissus!