Black Narcissus (2020) Review

The 2020 version of Black Narcissus was a lavish three-part miniseries for FX and BBC One and aimed to bring Rumer Godden’s story to a new generation.

Sister Clodagh (Gemma Arterton) is an Irish nun in India who gets offered the Sister Superior role for a new mission in the Himalayans. Sister Clodagh takes four nuns with her but must face the challenges of repairing the dilapidated palace, the harsh environment, the isolation, and their repressed sexuality.

Black Narcissus had two big virtues: its cast and production values. The BBC and FX clearly spent a lot of money on the show. Arterton headlines the show and the cast was filled out with seasoned veterans (Jim Broadbent and Diana Rigg), character actors (Rosie Cavaliero and Karen Bryson), and emerging talent (Aisling Franciosi and Patsy Ferran). With a cast like that the miniseries has impressive acting.

Franciosi was the standout of the cast. She had the juiciest role as the nun who failed to acclimatise to the mountain conditions. As Sister Ruth, Franciosi quickly became unhinged – she became aggressive and struck one of the students in the first episode and unable to cope with stressful situations. Throughout the miniseries Sister Ruth constantly clashed with Sister Clodagh due to Sister Ruth’s erratic mental state and her attraction to Mr. Dean (Alessandro Nivola). Franciosi has a striking beauty that made rejection even tougher for her.

Nivola’s version of Mr. Dean was softened for this version of the story. He wasn’t the drunkard that David Farrar played. Nivola was able to pull off a convincing English accent. Sister Clodagh came around as a harsher character because she constantly dismissed Mr. Dean’s advice. She was pigheaded and wanted to prove she could set up the mission without his help, as well as keep temptation away.

Arterton is a terrific actress and usually makes for a great lead. Her version of Sister Clodagh was more focused on sexual repression. There were more steamy flashbacks than in the original film and when Clodagh does think back to her past, she resorted to self-flagellation and self-harm. These scenes reminded me of the main character’s actions in Saint Maud who self-harmed herself to prove her devotion to God. Although, in Sister Clodagh’s case she was punishing herself for sinful thoughts.

Black Narcissus was directed by Charlotte Bruus Christensen, who has worked as a cinematographer on films like The Hunt, The Girl on the Train, and A Quiet Place. Black Narcissus looked like it was directed by a cinematographer. There was an emphasis on the landscapes and scenery, the bustle of the town, and the colours. The end of the first episode was striking when the nuns have to treat a wounded man and Sister Clodagh slaps Sister Ruth with a blood-covered hand.

Despite the miniseries being nearly double in length to the original film and could be more explicit, it didn’t have anything new to say. The miniseries rethreads the same plot as the film without any new interpretation. Things that were added for the series have little to no importance and the added hour and 20 minutes makes Black Narcissus (2020) a drag. The miniseries took away the supernatural quality of the original film. In this version of the story it plays things straight and in theory that should work fine. The series could focus on the isolation and cabin fever driving the nuns mad, but that’s undercut by Sister Ruth being off her rocker right from the start.

The 2020 version of Black Narcissus was a great looking piece of TV and the actors commit to their roles, but it was a show that didn’t need to exist.