NOVITIATE (2017) Movie Trailer: Melissa Leo & Margaret Qualley’s Religious Journeys Intertwine

Novitiate Trailer

Margaret Betts‘ Novitiate (2017) movie trailer stars Margaret Qualley, Melissa Leo, Morgan Saylor, Dianna Agron, and Julianne Nicholson. Novitiate‘s plot synopsis: “Spanning over a decade from the early 1950s through to the mid-60s, NOVITIATE is about a young girl’s first initiation with love, in this case with God. Raised by a non-religious, single mother in rural Tennessee, a scholarship to Catholic school soon finds Cathleen drawn into the mystery and romanticism of a life devoted to the worship and servitude of God.

With the dawn of the Vatican II era, radical changes in the Church are threatening the course of nuns’ lives. As she progresses from the postulant to the novitiate stage of training, she finds her faith repeatedly confronted and challenged by the harsh, often inhumane realities of being a servant of God. Cathleen finds herself struggling with issues of faith, sexuality, and recent changes in life of the Church.”

FilmBook writer Drew Stelter saw Novitiate at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival and had this to say about the film:

The film’s most effective and mesmerizing scenes take place in the weekly meetings held by the Reverend Mother as she demands the young novitiates step forward into a circle to confess their imperfections. The abusive corrections inflicted by the Reverend Mother challenge a collective sense of decency that the younger generation insists mustn’t be lost in a life and devotion of being married to Christ. Rather, they argue, it is because of their religious convictions that a collective sense of decency must be cultivated and celebrated. It’s a natural and riveting setup that pays off magically.

You can read the full review for Novitiate here.

Novitiate also stars Liana Liberato, Denis O’Hare, Maddie Hasson, Marco St. John, Kamryn Boyd, Rebecca Dayan, Ashley Bell, Chelsea Lopez, and Chris Zylka.

Watch the Novitiate Trailer. Leave your thoughts on it below in the comments section. Readers seeking more movie trailers can visit our Movie Trailer Page, our Movie Trailer Twitter Page, our Movie Trailer Facebook Page, and our Movie Trailer Google+ Page. Novitiate will be released through Sony Pictures Classics on October 27, 2017. Want up-to-the-minute notifications? FilmBook staff members publish articles by Email, Twitter, Tumblr, Google+, and Facebook. This trailer was brought to our attention by The Film Stage.

Novitiate Trailer