Black Narcissus

Black Narcissus is a 1947 Technicolor religious Drama film by the British writerproducerdirector team of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, based on the 1939 novel by Rumer Godden. It is a psychological drama about the emotional tensions of jealousy and lust within a convent of nuns in an isolated valley in the Himalayas where nuns are tormented by the areas sacrilegious seduction, and features in the cast Deborah Kerr, Kathleen Byron, Sabu, David Farrar, Flora Robson, Esmond Knight, and Jean Simmons.

A group of Anglican nuns travel to a remote location in the Himalayas the Palace of Mopu, near Darjeeling to set up a school and hospital for the local people, only to find themselves increasingly seduced by the sensuality of their surroundings in a converted seraglio high up in the mountains, and by the local British agent Mr Dean David Farrar. Clodagh Deborah Kerr, the Sister Superior, is attempting to forget a failed romance at home in Ireland. Tensions mount as Deans laidback charm makes an impression on Clodagh, but also attracts the mentally unstable Sister Ruth Kathleen Byron, who becomes pathologically jealous of Clodagh, resulting in a nervous breakdown and a violent climax. In a subplot, the Young General Sabu, heir to the throne of a princely Indian state who has come to the convent for his education, becomes infatuated with Kanchi, a lower caste dancing girl Jean Simmons.While much of the films dialogue is taken verbatim from the novel, the film does not follow the novel exactly. In particular the film does not include Mr Deans rejection of Sister Clodaghs design for the chapel, in favour of his own design of an opensided building without door, located at the top of the ridge, above the Holy Man. Additionally, the imminently departing Sister Philippa is not replaced by Sister Adela, a stern nun who is horrified at the dereliction of duty by the original nuns. ........

Source: Wikipedia