Dark Habits
Spain, 1983
Director: Pedro Almodóvar
Stars: Julieta Serrano, Cristina Sánchez Pascual, Marisa Paredes, Carmen Maura
Our Rating: (see more films with this rating)

Their hospice beds long empty, the bored Sisters of the Order of Humble Redeemers pass the time shooting heroin, dropping acid, caring for pet Bengal tigers and surreptitiously penning bestselling trash novels. The once legion illicit women of Madrid seem to have redeemed themselves, so the Sisters have nothing else to do. On a night out, they attend a performance of cabaret singer Yolanda (Julieta Serrano), and seek her autograph. When Yolanda's boyfriend dies from a poisoned batch of heroin, his vengeful cronies (who think she murdered him) pursue her, and she takes refuge at the Order. "Finally," says one of the nuns, "this place will be full of murderesses, drug addicts, prostitutes... just like before. Praise be to God."

The place is suddenly abuzz, but the mean spirited Marquis, who funds the Order, is threatening to withdraw her financial support partly because her own ordained daughter was recently eaten by cannibals while a missionary in Africa. The Marquis (Mary Carrillo) fashions herself after Bette Davis of this period, all hats, veils and caked mascara, lipstick bleeding into deeply etched smoking lines. Only blackmail will bring the Marquis around, but that's no problem for our beloved nuns, who have their new charge to protect and who have no problem using any methods necessary to perform God's work.

It's easy to see church-mocking irreverence in Dark Habits, but in my opinion, it's a profoundly Christian film, as its lesbian, junky, murdering nuns have sincere and beautiful convictions and care nothing for voguish social standards. Lets not forget that Mary Magdalene was a prostitute, and Jesus thought she was great. If Mother Superior Julia's (Julieta Serrano) secrets ever got out - she's a lesbian heroin user who enjoys regular visits from her leather-clad dealer and keeps her junk in a teddy bear money box, she happily agrees to smuggle heroin out of Thailand to fund the Order and supply her own habit - ever got out, she'd be defrocked in a flash, but her behaviour is the essence of Christianity. She welcomes one and all, judges none, and journeys through life with a pure and eager heart. She battles the selfish and the materialistic (personified here by the Marquis) and champions the meek and downtrodden. She's a model for Christianity - why should she have to "play nun"?

Likewise, Sister Manure (Paredes), who drops acid daily and who joined the Order as self-penance for a murder that she never served time for after Mother Superior lied to get her off, is an unconventional everyday-Saint. When Sister Manure breaks glass and stands on it to prove her resolution, it seems silly, drug-indiced and it doesn't ring true - we're more convinced by her tripped-out sense of honour and devotion, and her fabulous, kindly talent for playing the banjo which she does with a benevolent smile.

Almodóvar and relgion go well together. The baroque, ornate excesses of Catholic aesthetics and Almodóvar’s eye for saturated colours and over-the-top everything are perfectly complementary. The startling chocolate-shop beauty of Bad Education is matched here by an early-Almodóvar low-budget warmth that's light on the polish but heavy on the empathy. At no point are the Sisters made fun of, or shown in some kind of illicit light, despite their illicit behaviour.

Glimmers of visual brilliance abound, with a concert sequence towards the film's end as arresting and beautiful as anyhing in Almodóvar’s more polished later work, while the presence of tigers, cabaret singers and the imperious Marisa Paredes make Dark Habits Almodóvar’s most wisely realised and best early film.

It's one of his top five films, from any period.

Related Reading:
All About My Mother
Bad Education
Law of Desire
Labyrinth of Passion

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