Agnes of God (1985)

Agnes of God is a captivating and spiritual murder mystery about a simple-minded young nun (Meg Tilly in a tour-de-force performance) who is found screaming in her locked cloister with bloody sheets -- and a strangled newborn child. She denies any memory of what happened as well as any knowledge of how babies are born. (She had a most unusual childhood and came to join the convent as a "true innocent," explains her mother superior.) The convent is perpetually locked down and only the fiercely protective mother superior (Anne Bancroft) has the keys. How could the pregnancy have happened? Is it a miracle or a crime -- and if so, who committed it? A court-appointed psychologist (Jane Fonda) chain-smokes her way through the chain of evidence as she becomes increasingly obsessed and sympathetic with the young nun's plight, fighting pressure to "solve" what the political and ecclesiastical leadership insists is an open-and-shut case. Agnes of God is an intellectual thriller with the occasional verbal barrage between Fonda and Bancroft, or Fonda and Tilly, esp. as the inner motivations and hidden secrets of each woman are revealed through civil conversation or adversarial confrontation. I would like to own this movie since I expect to watch it again and again. (The dialog is often so soft-spoken that the streaming version cannot be easily heard at maximum volume on a laptop, even late at night with only the central air blowing.) Enjoy! 5 stars. (11-29-2010, posted 1-14-2017)