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Post by lemacd on Aug 14, 2017 16:22:24 GMT
 How do you solve a problem like Maria? In this particular scene/song, the nuns describe Maria as undisciplined and a bit out of control (fair or unfair?) but a few nuns do speak up and express appreciation for some of nicer qualities (she's funny, gentle, angelic). I guess I always wondered why they kept her around if being a nun is serious business. Perhaps they would have be a bit more honest with her and sent her on her way if God hadn't opened a window... If you have any thoughts about the nuns in the movie, please share them so we can talk about it. |
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Post by clarinetjamie on Aug 14, 2017 23:32:10 GMT
I think they genuinely like and care for her despite all her faults and that makes it hard to just tell her to leave and to shun her away. They don't want to hurt her, but they also know that being nun is probably not the life for her either. Thus the song is them agonizing over what to do about her. Fortunately she finds the Captain calls in need of a governess and the rest is history, problem solved.
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Post by lemacd on Aug 15, 2017 0:04:29 GMT
The letter from the Captain asking for a governess was a godsend, they could finally do something about her, but not necessarily cast her off entirely. The Reverend Mother somehow knew that a taste of a normal life might help Maria understand this herself and then all their problems could be solved.
I do think that in reality, they wouldn't string her along as much as they did. They would help her find a position somewhere but it wouldn't be a trial, it would probably be for good. The timing was quite providential, literally God opening a window.
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UndoubtedlyTheWine
Junior Member
Happiness can be found even in the darkest of the times if only, one remembers to turn on the light.
Posts: 61
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Post by UndoubtedlyTheWine on Aug 18, 2017 7:12:51 GMT
The nuns loved Maria too much and that's why they kept her at the Abbey even if she put a toe out of the line and I always get a feeling that Reverend mother somehow knew that Maria was not meant to be a nun.
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Post by augiesannie on Sept 4, 2017 16:54:48 GMT
Yes, lemacd, I've often wondered what would have happened if Maria had come back and said, yes, I've decided I CAN expect it of myself. THEN what would they have done? Although RM seems pretty sincere when she says, "perhaps if you go out into the world....", she doesn't sound like she's secretly thinking "...and hopefully don't come back," does she? You'll notice that when Maria says "I'm ready at this moment to take my vows," RM shrugs that off without comment. |
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Post by reverendcaptain on Apr 28, 2020 18:47:25 GMT
I always think it's funny that she is still running in this scene. She clearly knows that the church service starts when the bells chime because that's what breaks her out of her own world on the mountain. She appears to show up 10 min after the church service is over! I would think she'd be tiptoeing back in there hoping that no one noticed her absence, though that's not really her style. She doesn't slow down until she sees the other nuns. Does she just then realize how late she is (because they are no longer in church)? or does her stopping just show that she realizes that she's busted and so there is no use continuing to hurry?
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Post by emilia78 on Apr 28, 2020 22:05:54 GMT
She doesn't slow down until she sees the other nuns. Does she just then realize how late she is (because they are no longer in church)? or does her stopping just show that she realizes that she's busted and so there is no use continuing to hurry? She knows she is late from the moment she is on the hills singing and hears the bells ringing. She thought that she would be into the service before its end and no one would notice her absence, that is why she is running. But in all her hurry and stress she notices the nuns looking at her and she realizes once again that all the criticism she has received all her time at the abbey is true for a thousanth time... |
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Post by reverendcaptain on Apr 29, 2020 15:19:42 GMT
She doesn't slow down until she sees the other nuns. Does she just then realize how late she is (because they are no longer in church)? or does her stopping just show that she realizes that she's busted and so there is no use continuing to hurry? She knows she is late from the moment she is on the hills singing and hears the bells ringing. She thought that she would be into the service before its end and no one would notice her absence, that is why she is running. But in all her hurry and stress she notices the nuns looking at her and she realizes once again that all the criticism she has received all her time at the abbey is true for a thousanth time... Though, if we assume when we first see RM, SM, and SB, that they are leaving church, then Maria is running in the wrong direction to get to church when she gets back. Maybe not everyone goes to every church service and she was supposed to be washing dishes in the kitchen or something and is trying to get back there before anyone leaving the church comes to check on her? |
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Post by emilia78 on Apr 29, 2020 18:12:21 GMT
Maybe she was going to change clothes and then go to the church? because so many hours in the hills, logically her clothes would be dirty...
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Post by reverendcaptain on Jun 15, 2020 15:36:52 GMT
How many sisters do you think live at Nonnberg? How many novices and postulants do you think there were? I am just trying to picture how many people RM was managing.
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Post by indigoblue on Jun 15, 2020 22:42:40 GMT
There used to be an aerial view of it in Google images, and Nonnberg was massive; I should think it was built for abut 200 nuns? But that was perhaps 200 years ago, and even in the 30s I should think numbers were dwindling, so perhaps 100 then, far fewer now, mostly fully-fledged nuns.
I met a man in his 20s once, who had spent a year as a novice in a large monastery; he said there were about 20 novices per year, mostly in solitary confinement, not allowed play musical instruments etc, but going to services throughout the day and night, reading the rest of the time.
I can sort of see why Maria didn't make the grade - he didn't either!
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