La religieuse (1966)

dir. Jacques Rivette France, 1760. In exchange for a boarding fee, the spiteful aristocratic mother of the unwilling 16-year-old nun-to-be, Marie-Suzanne Simonin, shuts her up in a convent. As a result, forced into taking her vows, innocent Marie-Suzanne resigns herself to her fate and promises poverty, chastity, and obedience to God. Three mothers superior (Madame de Moni, Sister Sainte-Christine, and Madame de Chelles) treat her in radically different ways, ranging from maternal concern, to sadistic persecution, to lesbian desire. Suzanne's virtue brings disaster to everyone in this faithful adaptation of a bitter attack on religious abuses by the Enlightenment philosopher Denis Diderot.