Black Narcissus

[2Rebecca]

Is going too OTT on the woo and melodrama for my tastes.

I think it’s okay, not mind blowing but okay. I’m surprised by the comments about “enjoying the scenery”. It’s all so CGI, it doesn’t look spectacular at all to me.

But the scenery isn't CGI?
Unlike the original film which was filmed in a studio, this was actually filmed on location.

Tonight some of it was definitely CGI, I thought. It was a bit slower tonight- nothing has really happened. I agree about the banging doors and shutters - and it’d be freezing with them always flapping open.

I'm really getting into it!

Mr Dean is fit

I can't remember seeing the original film, or if I did it was years ago. I'm thoroughly enjoying this, especially the air of tension. No way you'd get me up those steps to ring that bell though!

I think the interiors and palace were all filmed at Pinewood, and the rest on location. That was supposed to be part of the point of this remake, because the Powell and Pressburger film famously was shot entirely at Pinewood, with a couple of scenes in a garden somewhere in the Home Counties because the owner had Indian plants and trees.

You’d have put a fence round that bell tower as one of the first jobs, surely!

no breath on the cold air....that's why the shots don't look real...

Reading the first episode blurb it seemed to be billed as a ghost story. Now it seems that none of the nuns are capable of controlling themselves around a drunken man

It's the spirit of the seraglio corrupting them, LadyTired

No Health and Safety then Honeyroar

No but you’d think they’d have the common sense to think someone died falling off there, let’s put a rope across!

There’s not enough wind on their clothes either in some shots and the mountains looked blurred, could’ve been through a window and therefore a studio shot perhaps .

I was at an all girls senior school late 70s year 7&8. Apart from those who had brothers or had come from co-ed junior schools, the hysteria around anything vaguely male was freakishly overwhelming. A shock to then go to a co-ed school and find that boys were human(and very funny).... So yep - can completely understand the freaking out around men.

Still enjoying it but I can't help thinking it would have been better as a feature length drama rather than a three-parter. The whole point is the relentless building of tension, ramping up and ramping up; and I think it loses momentum with the breaks.

Mr Dean is very fit.
His brooding smoldering looks at that sister!

Hmmm, well if it WAS filmed on location that’s even worse because they’ve managed to make it look like cheap CGI.

I have been to Jomson in Nepal where the location filming was done. I can confirm it it is very cold, dry and windy. The altitude begins to tell on you and you do cough at night. The mountains are beautiful and real. But It's above the tree line so no pine forests.

@TellingBone

Still enjoying it but I can't help thinking it would have been better as a feature length drama rather than a three-parter. The whole point is the relentless building of tension, ramping up and ramping up; and I think it loses momentum with the breaks.

Agree - there isn't enough for three hours of brooding nun-ness.

Still enjoying it, though.

Ever since I read an interview with Gemma A, where she described herself proudly as having "a ridiculously small nose", I find myself staring at her nose when she appears.

I'm impressed that Gemma shaved her head for filming! (shallow, I know!). The tension between Clodagh/Ruth/Mr Dean is building nicely... some touching gradually happening.

Correction. I've just been reading that they didn't shave their heads. Good wigs/bald caps.

I'm enjoying it

I haven’t read the book or seen the original film, so nothing to compare it to, but I’m quite enjoying it.

My vertigo rages when they go up that bell tower, though. That sheer drop, CGI or not 😫 Good grief!

Dh and I both commented that it's weird, nothing really happens but the hour flies by and we're both hooked!

The whole thing strikes me as completely bonkers - quite enjoyable, but mad. Those nuns could definitely have done with appointing someone to be in charge of health and safety. It manages to be less racist than the book, which is something - the book is horribly colonial, with the Indian characters treated as either exotic or a bit simple. In the book, Sister Ruth does physically beat Kanchi, not just threaten her, so I can see why they dispensed with that.

I'm quite enjoying it. Not as good as the film, which is one of the all-time greats, but watchable.

I've never seen Mr Dean in anything before, but that's possibly because he looks totally different without his beard and he's American - which I hadn't guessed, as his accent is impeccable. He may have picked it up from his wife, Emily Mortimer. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alessandro_Nivola He's excellent in this.