The discomfiting tale of a heroin addict turned nun
Languorous shots of fields drenched in snow: a Belarussian winter scene from Mother Vera
She Makes Productions
A stirringly beautiful documentary
Mother Vera
DIRECTORS: CÉCILE EMBLETON AND ALYS TOMLINSON
A black-and-white film about a Russian Orthodox nun is the kind of counter-cultural event that doesn’t divert media outlets from their usual runnels. But it is a great shame Mother Vera got so little attention (although it did get a BFI award), because it is a remarkable documentary in many discomfiting ways.
Filmmakers Cécile Embleton and Alys Tomlinson were inspired by a photograph Tomlinson had taken in a Belarussian convent of a nun, perhaps in her late 30s but, circled by her Orthodox headdress, appearing ageless and raw. They returned to the convent to meet her – and made this film about Mother Vera. From the first languorous shots of fields endlessly drenched in rain or snow, one might think this was a folksy tale of old-fashioned piety: the truth turns out to be very different.
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