Audrey Hepburn called The Nun's Story (1959) her favorite film to make. She even stayed friends with Marie Louise Habets (Sister Xaverine), who the book The Nun's Story (published in 1956) by Kathryn Hulme was inspired by. They remained friends long after the film was made. The character of Gabrielle Van Der Mal is known as the most dramatic role Audrey ever portrayed.
The film goes straight into it with the very first scenes with Audrey taking off her rings and touching a framed photo of a boy she loved with her nun's habit neatly placed in her suitcase. Gabrielle is longing to enter the religious life but knows the sacrifice of leaving her old life behind. Her father Hubert (Dean Jagger) comforts Gabrielle but you can tell leaving her father and siblings is difficult. Although Gabrielle is happy to start her new life, her father is aware that the biggest challenge she will face is the vow of obedience. Throughout the film Gabrielle confronts her inability to obey and what it truly means to be a nun.
I found The Nun's Story to be one of the most honest and beautiful films Audrey ever made. She made herself vulnerable in ways that were honest and very relatable. The films depiction of the religious life and religion in general was neither negative or positive, which was rarely seen in film at the time. It makes no judgments and attempts to show the challenges that come from choosing a life that is different from many others. By the end Gabrielle (Sister Luke) comes to the realizations of these truths realizing that she must accept who she really is and face the world.
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