The film opens at St. Anne’s Academy, a California Catholic school in 1968, where a young girl named Deloris Wilson (Isis Carmen Jones) is scolded for wisecracking and disobeying rules.
The setting then changes to the present day, where Deloris Van Cartier (Whoopi Goldberg) is a lounge singer working in a casino called The Moonlight Lounge, located in Reno, Nevada run by her boyfriend, Vince LaRocca (Harvey Keitel), a mobster.
After Deloris witnesses Vince executing a chauffeur, Vince orders his men Joey (Robert Miranda) and Willy (Richard Portnow) to kill her too. Deloris flees Vince’s casino to the local police station where Lieutenant Eddie Souther (Bill Nunn) suggests she testify against Vince if he can be arrested and tried, but for now, she should go into witness protection until the time comes.
Deloris is taken to St. Katherine’s Roman Catholic Church in a seedy run down neighborhood of San Francisco, where Souther suggests she disguise herself as a nun. Both Deloris and the Reverend Mother (Maggie Smith) object, but are convinced by Souther and Monsignor O’Hara (Joseph Maher) to go ahead with it. Deloris becomes a nun and is given the name “Sister Mary Clarence.”
Mary Clarence objects to following the simple lives of the nunnery, but comes to befriend several of the nuns, including the forever jolly Sister Mary Patrick (Kathy Najimy), quiet and meek Sister Mary Robert (Wendy Makkena), and the elderly deadpan Sister Mary Lazarus (Mary Wickes).
After sneaking into a nearby bar, Mary Clarence is punished by Reverend Mother and put into the choir, which she has seen to be dreadful. The choir nuns, having heard Sister Mary Clarence has a background in music, elect her to take over as choir director, which she accepts, and she rearranges them to make them better singers.
Director: Emile Ardolino
Year of Release: 1992
Character to watch: Whoopi Goldberg as Deloris Van Cartier and Sister Mary Clarence.
Journal your answers to the following questions after you watch the movie.
- How does this particular character’s journey compare with yours?
- Did the character develop certain characteristics during the movie that you have or that you would like to have? If so, what are those characteristics?
- What obstacles did this character face? What was his or her biggest challenge?
- What would you have done differently if you had been in the same position as the character?
- Is this character the type of person you would be friends with? Why or why not?