Anticipation.
Alys Tomlinson’s directorial debut made in the black-and-white style of her photography.
Enjoyment.
Olga’s honesty is complimented by a beautiful cinematic rendering of her environment.
In Retrospect.
The film’s spare atmosphere lingers in the mind long after viewing.
Cécile Embleton and Alys Tomlinson’s arresting portrait of a former drug addict turned Orthodox nun with a deep love for horses.
Inner turmoil and spiritual crisis, set against the austere black-and-white backdrop of the monastic environment, provides the context for Cécile Embleton and Alys Tomlinson’s intimate documentary portrait. Mother Vera — formerly known as Olga — has lived for 20 years in a hidden Orthodox monastery surrounded by the deep snow of a Belarusian forest, devoting her life to the service of others.
In confessional-style voice-over narration, Olga tells us of the turbulent past which brought her to the convent. The frankness and vulnerability with which she discusses heroin addiction and mental health struggles lend a great deal of humanity to the film’s stark visuals, providing truly unique insight into the woman beneath the habit. But Mother Vera is equally powerful in everything it leaves unsaid — Embleton and Tomlinson embrace silence and a slow-paced, drifting narrative, pausing with Olga to enjoy the solitude and peace that she finds in meticulously grooming the monastery’s horses with remarkable tenderness.
Get more Little White Lies
Mother Vera is visually striking; the camera closes in on Olga’s hands holding rosary beads, monochromatic bare winter trees, and the convent’s imposing religious iconography. The film resists easy resolution, offering instead a complex and highly affecting opportunity to step into the inner world of a woman constantly searching for spiritual freedom.
