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Agnes Of God Details

1985 Certificate 15
  • Rated:
  • 60
  • from 331 members

An extraordinary murder mystery about a nun who is suspected of murdering a child she gave birth to while living in a convent. A court appointed psychiatrist has a hard time determining the truth behind the nun's actions. Read more

Starring Anne Bancroft, Jane Fonda, Meg Tilly
Director Norman Jewison
Genres Drama

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Agnes Of God

An extraordinary murder mystery about a nun who is suspected of murdering a child she gave birth to while living in a convent. A court appointed psychiatrist has a hard time determining the truth behind the nun's actions.

Starring Anne Bancroft, Jane Fonda, Meg Tilly
Director Norman Jewison
Studio UCA
Run time DVD: 1 hr 34 mins
Certificate Certificate 15
Genres Drama
Language DVD: English
Dubbed French, German, Italian, Spanish
Subtitles DVD: Arabic, Bulgarian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Icelandic, Italian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish
Released DVD: 13 Oct 2003
Production year: 1985
Format DVD

  • Critics' reviews (3) of Agnes Of God

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  • 3 stars out of 5

    An odd, adult drama from Moonstruck director Norman Jewison, which promises more than it delivers. Jane Fonda is her usual forthright self as the court psychiatrist investigating the case of a novice nun (the waiflike Meg Tilly) accused of murdering her baby. It is thanks to the three lead performances Tilly, Fonda and the always dependable Anne Bancroft as the convent's Mother Superior that this sustains interest for as long as it does, but even they cannot cover up what is essentially a rather disappointing ending.

    • Radio Times
    • Posted 29 Jan 2006

  • When Agnes, a young novice, gives birth to a baby later found strangled, a court psychiatrist (Fonda) is despatched to... read more on Time Out

    • Time Out
    • Posted 04 Nov 2008

  • Most helpful member's review of Agnes Of God

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  • 4 out of 4 people found this review helpful

    Rated - 3 stars

    A sort of mutiple 'who dunnit?'.

    A nun gives birth to a child claiming it was a virgin birth, but the baby is found dead. Did she murder the baby, or did someone else? Who made her pregrant? Rather than a police investigation though, we see it all from the court appointed psychiatrist's view point as she investigates to unravel the mystery. But then what is the role of the the eldery nun that gave a message to Agnes as she died? What were the stigmata all about? There are some plot twists as you go along some of which you can see coming, some not. I am not sure about the ending though, just as it all should have been sorted out, I was left not quite knowing what the truth was.

    Jane Fonda chain smoking was a bit of a distraction to me (did the tobacco companies fund this film?). Anne Bancroft, as always, gave a good performance. A piece of trivia; watch out for the scene in the bell tower which is reminiscent of Hitcock's Vertigo, not that this is relevant to the film.

    I wasn't sure whather to give this 3 or 4 stars.

    JG

      • JG Weston from Chelmsford Essex
      • Posted 11 Sep 2004 11:30

  • Most recent members' review of Agnes Of God

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  • 1 out of 1 person found this review helpful

    Rated - 3 stars

    I'm fond-a Fonda

    Norman Jewison's film adaptation of the Tony-winning John Pielmeier play stars Anne Bancroft as the Mother Superior of a convent in which a scandalous pregnancy and murder case has arisen. Meg Tilly is the naive young nun at the centre of the intrigue, and Jane Fonda completes the hat-trick of actresses as the chain-smoking psychiatrist assigned to discover the truth.

    The plot is supposedly based on a real-life incident: a baby found dead in a nun's room, and the nun denying any knowledge of the pregnancy or the birth, insisting that she was a virgin. Nothing more should be said about what happens, not so much because it would spoil it, but because it's hard to say what's actually going on anyway... But I think that is the point: to transport an 'immaculate conception' scenario into modern-day America and explore the different psychological reactions to it, especially the clash between no-nonsense Fonda and sinister Bancroft.

    Little bit of trivia that made me smile: the Mother Superior role was originated on Broadway by the great Geraldine Page, but the decision was made to replace her in the film with Anne Bancroft; when Bancroft was honoured with a Best Actress Oscar nomination for her work, she was up against strong competition from Meryl Streep... and Geraldine Page, who eventually won for 'The Trip To Bountiful' and was given a two-minute standing ovation (apparently Bancroft rolled her eyes when Page was described by presenter F. Murray Abraham as the 'greatest actress in the English language'...) - That's showbusiness.

      • Julianna from Oxford
      • Posted 08 May 2006 22:18

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331 Member ratings
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  • 60
67
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22
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9

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      • An extraordinary murder mystery about a nun who is suspected of murdering a child she gave birth to while living in a convent. A court appointed psychiatrist has a hard time determining the truth ...