Her sufferings take on a different cast when she is transferred to another convent, where a far less conservative mother superior, Madame de Chelles (Liselotte Pulver), pursues her with barely disguised lust. Again and again the chaste Suzanne, a child ostensibly conceived in sin, is forced to bear the burden of other people’s desires, even in a social order that demands the appearance of strict propriety. It’s a story with clear applications beyond just the 18th-century Catholic Church, which may explain why Rivette’s movie feels so undated, so conversant with our present moment, where repressive forces come cloaked in more than clerical robes.
Source: L.A. Times – Entertainment News