MovieChat Forums > The Nun's Story (1959) Discussion > characters for first and last lines

characters for first and last lines

posted 14 years ago by paleolith
4 replies | jump to latest

I've submitted the first lines and last lines as IMDb quotes, but I was unable to identify the character reliably in either case. If anyone knows the name of the character speaking the lines, please either post it here so I can make the correction, or submit the correction directly. I just submitted the quotes a few minutes ago; they will probably show up on the quotes page in a week or two.

The first lines are a narrative voiceover:

"He that shall lose his life for me shall find it. If thou wilt be perfect, go sell what thou hast and give to the poor, and come follow me." Each sister shall understand that on entering the convent, she has made the sacrifice of her life to God.

I figure it's one of the nuns, perhaps Sister William or Sister Emmanuel, but I can't tell who.

The last lines are the directions to Sister Luke spoken by the porteress -- identified as the porteress a few lines earlier. She is certainly one of the sisters in the cast, but I can't tell which.

Edward

[–] murph24 14 years ago

The first lines in the film (the voiceover) are spoken by Mother Christophe, played by Beatrice Straight.

As for the porteress, I haven't been able to find the sister's name that corresponds to this character; perhaps "The Sister Porteress" would be identification enough.

[–] paleolith 14 years ago

Thank you! I will submit that change once the quotes I already submitted have been accepted.

Out of curiosity -- and perhaps for my own future use -- how did you identify Mother Christophe as the speaker? Just by listening to the voice, or did you have something else up your sleeve?

I submitted the "last lines" as just "Porteress", since that's how she's referred to in the dialog. I find that IMDb accepts quotes where I've not been able to identify the speaker, so it's "enough" in that sense, but actually identifying her would be better. I could take screen caps of all the nuns and compare faces, but I'm not certain that she had even appeared before that scene.

Thanks again,

Edward

[–] murph24 14 years ago

how did you identify Mother Christophe as the speaker?

I always suspected that Beatrice Straight did the opening voiceover, since I was very familiar with her voice; the scenes between Sister Luke and Mother Christophe, particularly the one after the incident with the Archangel, are among my favorites in the film.

Then I came across this link, which confirmed my suspicions -

http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/16107/The-Nun-s-Story/notes.html

[–] paleolith 14 years ago

Interesting! Thanks!

Edward