Agnes of God

"That night, murder wasn't the only sin."

1985 1h 38m EN

😐

6.3

MID

★6.3TMDB · 145

DramaMystery

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

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.

“That night, murder wasn't the only sin.”

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Cast

Jane Fonda
Dr. Martha Louise Livingston
Meg Tilly
Sister Agnes
Anne Bancroft
Mother Miriam Ruth
Anne Pitoniak
Dr. Livingston's Mother
Winston Rekert
Det. Larry Langevin
Gratien Gélinas
Father Martineau
Guy Hoffmann
Justice Joseph Leveau
Gabriel Arcand
Monsignor

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Norman Jewison
Writers: John Pielmeier
Languages: Latin, English, French
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

ERA

Did you know

41 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

Dialogue crosses 3 languages: Latin, English, French.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Norman Jewison, shot by Sven Nykvist. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Georges Delerue. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Antony Gibbs shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Jane Fonda and Meg Tilly and Anne Bancroft carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "That night, murder wasn't the only sin.".

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt0088683 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Norman Jewison directs. Sven Nykvist behind the camera. Georges Delerue scores. Antony Gibbs cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in Latin, English, French.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

141 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
2Dialogue crosses 3 languages: Latin, English, French.
3Directed by Norman Jewison, shot by Sven Nykvist. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
4Original score by Georges Delerue. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
5Editor Antony Gibbs shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
6Jane Fonda and Meg Tilly and Anne Bancroft carry the top of the cast.
7Marketing tagline: "That night, murder wasn't the only sin.".
8IMDB entry: tt0088683 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
9Classified under 15 themes, including "court", "nun", "quebec", "hypnosis".

The technical file

Cinematography: Sven Nykvist
Original score: Georges Delerue
Editing: Antony Gibbs
Production design: Ken Adam
Costume design: Renée April
Makeup / hair: Ann Brodie
Runtime: 98 min · 1h 38m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Original language: EN
Certification (US): PG-13
IMDB: Agnes of God (1985)

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Norman Jewison

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Community reviews

What people are saying

Wuchak2020-11-24
★ 5/10
Melodramatic havoc at a rural Canadian Convent with Jane Fonda, Anne Bancroft and Meg Tilly After a bloody scandal at a Convent outside Montreal, a court-appointed psychiatrist (Jane Fonda) investigates to determine if a devout, but hysterical young woman (Meg Tilly) is fit to stand trial, but she’ll have to get past the intractable Mother Superior (Anne Bancroft) to find the truth. "Agnes of God" (1985) is a psychological drama revolving around a Convent with a few scenes of Montreal thrown in. What we have here is a mystery: Was the innocent & naïve Agnes (1) impregnated by God, (2) by some dude in the barn or wherever, or (3) a kind of spontaneous cloning or twinning. Concerning that last possibility: There are supposedly nine documented virgin births on record and the offspring were all girls who looked like their mothers. The idea that Agnes calls the baby "she” augments this possibility, plus the fact that she seemingly has enough faith to put holes in her hand, aka stigmata, why couldn't she split a cell in her womb? I’m not going to say what conclusion the ambiguous film points to, if any. “Stigmata” (1999) covers some of the same ground but is from the thriller/horror genre whereas “Agnes of God” is more mundane. “Stigmata” is all-around more compelling while “Agnes” is rather one-dimensional with women constantly confronting each other with a lot of screaming and crying. Yes, there are heavy reasons for these emotional dialogues, and those reasons are interesting to explore, but the story just wasn’t gripping for me. Too bad, because Fonda, Bancroft and Tilly bend over backwards to pull it off. While the movie didn’t really work for me, it’s a passionate and noble effort centering around faith, logic and ultimate reality (truth). And I have no doubt it has a cult following. Give it a try if the themes trip your trigger, but you’ll probably be disappointed. The movie runs 1 hour, 38 minutes, and was shot in Rockwood & Toronto, Ontario, with establishing shots of Montreal. GRADE: C

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