I thought Meryl
Streep (and Shanley, the film's writer-director) achieved something much more interesting in the final moments than in the play (where the doubt had centered on the priest's relationship with the boy). Streep's doubt seemed to be a deep crisis of faith...as in, if the old boys' network of priests could so successfully shield the suspected priest, then how could/would/will she continue in service as a nun to an institution so impenetrable and so inimical to its women-workers. Her doubt was about her connection to such a Church, and, as such, had deeper, more personal repercussions for the Mother Superior. Streep's choice made the play bigger than I'd thought it onstage.
I could not tell from the film is P.S. Hoffman's priest was "guilty", which is the way the script is designed, but, if pressed, I'd've guessed him innocent. Onstage, the O'Byrne priest had seemed guilty.
The mother was different, for me, in the play and film. Onstage, Adriane Lenox's mother was very deeply wise and seemed accepting of her son's being gay and much more practically judicious about the benefits of the priest's attentions. It was a very surprising scene, and very true. Miss Davis' interpretation had the mother so overwhelmed with emotion, a kind of helpless despair, that, despite the very similar script, the film mother seemed incapable of the original thinking of Lenox's character, and, though the tears were impressive, I thought the self-pity clouded the ideas of the scene. But she must've been Shanley's choice over Lenox, for whatever reason. |
