Showing On 28, 30 September, 1 October
Monday 6:00pm, Wednesday 4:00pm and 6:30pm, Thursday 6:00pm
Watch The Trailer
Storyline (warning: spoilers)
Holy Days feels like a hit comedy from 1947, missing only the periodic musical numbers where nuns do soft-shoe with local children and then giggle at their own naughtiness.
Sister Agnes (Judy Davis), Sister Mary Clare (Jacki Weaver), and Sister Luke (Miriam Margolyes) live in a ramshackle convent, the only holdouts from a once-bustling past. They are elderly, and Sister Luke is experiencing the onset of dementia, but they care for one another and their flock. Behind their backs, the hypocrite priest (Jonny Brugh), with a taste for alcohol and gambling, teams up with the greedy bishop (John Bach) to sell the property to a developer, forcing the nuns out. The nun trio comes up with a plan to resist that involves a madcap road trip to New Zealand’s South Island, where they bring along a small local boy named Brian (Elijah Tamati) on a quest of his own.
Since the nuns are played by heavy-hitting actresses like Davis, Weaver, and Margolyes, women who are damn near institutions, there is powerful subtext, whether the script allows room for it or not. Watching these three play around with the predictable material is the main pleasure of Holy Days.
Why the nuns pile into the car they “borrow” from the priest, and why Brian tags along, is not really important. They are on a journey, and there’s no time to waste. Along the way, there are little pitstops and adventures, culminating in a hallucinatory snowstorm sequence. When the nuns bust out of their accepted roles, it is hilarious because the setup is so absurd. Absurdity is crucial to the humour. person.