Review: Black Narcissus (1947)

Photo Courtesy: The Archers

The BFI boldly invites us to explore the daring and subversive world of two acclaimed British filmmakers. Together, director Michael Powell and writer Emeric Pressburger combined to create compelling stories that delighted and shocked audiences alike. This is readily apparent in their sensuous drama, ‘Black Narcissus’, which makes masterful use of the possibilities afforded by film as a visual medium. The rising slopes of the Himalayas beautifully complements their dramatic impulses. Breathtaking yet severe, they capture humans at their most remote and therefore most intimate. So it is that, with admirable awareness, the duo crafts a fable of intriguing contrasts.

‘Black Narcissus’, adapted from Rumer Godden’s curious novel, transports us to India in the twilight of The British Raj. Sister Clodagh, steadfastly portrayed by Deborah Kerr, heads a handful of Anglican sisters as they attempt to establish a school and hospital at Mopu. The trappings of a stoic drama rooted in theological discourse are deftly subverted by the wild imaginings of disturbed Sister Ruth. Marking one among many fruitful partnerships with Powell and Pressburger, Kathleen Byron displays fearsome eroticism. This is exquisitely framed against the cautious restraint of her peers.

Yet it is the effective use of Technicolour that elevates this film to breathtaking effect. Even more so given its effective juxtaposition with the servile lifestyles led by each of the five sisters. It is inevitable that we as an audience are left to consider the yawning divide separating ourselves from their story. This facilitates the overt use of landscape as the principal protagonist in the unfolding drama. For while each sister carries their own distinct personality and interest, together they are united in their need to endure the other side of spectacular beauty. Indeed each tableau is itself a work of genuine art, with background paintings credited to Walter Percy Day. We are left transfixed by our surroundings in much the same way as the characters, rendered similarly incapable of marrying our confused intentions with clear-sighted actions to fatal effect.