The titular Mother Joan (Lucyna Winnika) is said to be the most possessed of the nuns and as the story unfolds, the priest dedicates himself to saving her soul, taking on all of the burdens of her sins and descending into madness as he attempts to absorb the evil that he thinks is inside of her.
Early on it becomes clear that there may not be anything supernatural going on at all. To be sure, the film asks lots of questions about faith and mysticism, so there's definitely a spiritual element to the narrative. But, it's not your traditional exorcism movie. The "horror" in this film is more of an existential horror, like you might find in a Bergman flick, rather than a literal one. Are the nuns possessed, or are they just sick of being nuns? Or, rather, sick of being human? What happens when the toil of day to day ordinary life becomes too much to bear and religion doesn't seem to fix anything?
The story is set against a beautiful but bleak landscape, made all the more hopeless by the stark black and white photography. There are many long shots of the characters, as tiny as ants, traversing the wasteland between the inn and the convent, passing the stake where the previous priest was burnt as it still stands as an ominous warning and reminder.
It's really a shame this movie is not more well known than it is. I mentioned Bergman before, and he's a director with a rightfully famous name, but Jerzy Jawakerwicz deserves a spot in the hall of fame as well for this artistic and entertaining meditation on faith and spirituality.
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