By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Pernille Rose Grønkjær
Country: denmark
Year: 2007
Running time: 84
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0925259/
Bruce says: “Mr. Vig is 82. His ‘old ambition is to create something enduring’ and to that end he has decided to give his estate, Hesbjerg Castle, to a Russian Orthodox religious order. As the film begins, Sister Ambrosija arrives to evaluate the property. They converse in English since she speaks no Danish and he speaks no Russian. She is a no-nonsense type of nun and finds Vig’s ethereal demeanor, poor housekeeping skills, and questionable personal hygiene somewhat off-putting. Indeed, his hair is unwashed, his teeth are missing and cobwebs adorn far too many castle locations. Until his encounter with Sister Ambrosija, Vig has always thought nuns were obedient and docile. After several months the order accepts Vig’s offer, and Sister Ambrosija establishes her priorities. A battle begins as to who is in charge and how work will progress. Vig tells the Sister, ‘You destroy everything.’ She is not afraid to draw a few bitter truths to get her way.
“THE MONASTERY: MR. VIG AND THE NUN is a very strange little film. There is only a thread of a story but Pernille Rose Grønkjær manages to develop her central character more along the lines of a narrative film rather than a documentary. Through the course of the film we gradually get a sense of how Vig has evolved into such an eccentric human being.
“Vig loved his father more than anything he has ever known in spite of his cantankerous ways, always cross, nothing ever good enough. He remembers his mother kissing him only once; she cried a lot. His mother had an unattractive nose, his father a good one. Consequently, Vig is obsessed by noses (and ears, too) as a result of his early comparisons. As an aged adult he feels he is deformed in some way, a man with a one track mind. Vig has never had a romantic entanglement and expresses his ‘revolutionary view’ that sex is solely for reproduction. He avoids ‘misery through abstinence.’ When asked ‘What about love?’ he replies, ‘Just a word.’ 3.5 cats”