3.5/5

Review by John P. Harvey.

Sister Lucie (Marilou Berry) has been a nun for 20 years.  Under the stern supervision of her Mother Superior, Mother Henriette (Isabelle Nanty), she and her religious sisters find little opportunity to enjoy themselves in even the most trivial ways, and they know little of the modern world.

But one day, during their biennial outing for medical checkups, Lucie is shocked to see the face of her teenage sweetheart, Sébastien (Marc Ruchmann), and to find that he’s accused of a violent crime.

So certain is Lucie that Sébastien is incapable of violence that she determines to help him prove his innocence.  This entails first finding him — not an easy task, as Sébastien is on the run.

Lucie’s rebellion against the confines of her order leads her to discover the wonders of the 2020s.  It also leads her to means by which she might find Sébastien before the police do.  Along the way, of course, her unfamiliarity with the latest in modern life has hilarious consequences.

Holding God in higher regard than she does the police or the law, Lucie becomes a force to be reckoned with.  Perhaps more pertinently, others, including the police, are inclined to treat her with kindness.

Placing an innocent, sheltered, but courageous nun in challenging situations we can relate to, A Nun in the City provides plenty of amusement without using unkindness or — barring a tongue-in-cheek miracle — over-stretching our credulity.  Marilou Berry plays the part of Lucie with a pleasing mix of astonishment, principles, and resolve.  And, in her role obstructing Lucie’s essential goodness, Isabelle Nanty offers in Mother Henriette a gentle caricature of routine rectitude that appears, at least, to overlook the human reality of Lucie’s mission.

A lighthearted escapade, A Nun in the City is sure to give you a good laugh.

Screening at Palace cinemas.