Dark Habits

Dark Habits

This incredibly bizarre film by Spanish director Pedro Almodovar follows Yolanda (Cristina Sanchez Pascual), a heroin-dealing nightclub singer who hides out in a convent after a deal goes badly and she becomes wanted by the law and rival gangs. The mother superior of the convent (Julieta Serrano) is a fan of Yolanda's singing and a lesbian heroin user, so before long she and Yolanda start shooting together. Another of the nuns (Marisa Paredes) takes LSD and hallucinates encounters with Jesus, while yet another (Chus Lampreave) writes trashy romance novels under a pseudonymn. There's also a pet tiger in the garden, and a dope-smoking priest. When the convent's main benefactor dies and his rich widow cuts off their contributions, the nuns pool together to try to raise money to support their habits. Facing the closing of the convent and the arrival of the stoic, dour head mother, the crazed girls throw a final party at which Yolanda sings a provocative song to her heartbroken mother superior. This gleefully blasphemous farce would make an interesting double bill with Whoopi Goldberg's SISTER ACT, which came out years later. Cecilia Roth (star of ALL ABOUT MY MOTHER) has a small role as one of the superior's former lovers.