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Bookmark this pageAnchoress (1993)
Director: Christopher Newby
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
This directorial debut convinces in its exploration of spiritual ferment, but fumbles the task of assembling a coherent narrative. In a medieval community, a peasant (Morse) becomes obsessed with the local chapel's statue of the Virgin, and, pronounced a holy anchoress, is walled up in the building with the object of her passion. With only a small window to the world, the girl creates a rich interior domain for herself, but in the process becomes something of a tourist attraction and longs for freedom. The film is most powerful during the cell-bound mid-section, contrasting the heroine's innocence with the machinations of Church and State. Aided by lustrous b/w cinematography, Newby delineates the textures of her pastoral surroundings to hallucinatory effect.Author: TJ
Cast & crew
Director: Christopher Newby
Producer: Paul Breuls, Ben Gibson
Cast: Natalie Morse, Julie T Wallace, Eugene Bervoets, Peter Postlethwaite, Toyah Wilcox, Christopher Eccleston full cast
Duration: 107 mins
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