The confusion of faith and the threat of sexuality are the dominant rhetorical string in December’s filmic version of Doubt. Adapted for the screen by director and playwright John Patrick Shanley — Shanley’s stage version of Doubt won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the Tony Award for Best Play in 2005 — Doubt presents an extremely evergreen concept with both a simple plot and emotionally intense characters.
The film begins with — what else? — Father Flynn (played uncomfortably by Philip Seymour Hoffman) giving a sermon to his Bronx congregation about doubt. He speaks to the little, everyday doubts that fill our minds and cause us to question our faith and commitment to the Lord our God. Cut to a shot of Sister Aloysius, played by the ever-sharp and dramatically pleasing Meryl Streep, stalking the church aisles and remonstrating young children who are giggling or napping instead of listening intently to Father’s homily. It’s stereotypically Catholic imagery, which continues throughout the film but in a vibrant and illustrative, rather than invasive, way.
But getting back on track, the film ultimately details a power struggle between Father Flynn and Sister Aloysius. While the sister is the principal of the rectory school, Father Flynn is obviously the buddy to the Irish-Italian boys who populate it. The scenes with the nuns are oppressive; sitting silently at dinner, chewing almost motionlessly, the nuns look bland, scared into submission by Sister Aloysius, who asks everyone to be on the lookout for any misdeeds on the part of Father Flynn. The father, on the flip side, sits at dinner with the cardinal and a fellow priest, guffawing and gnawing at meat while exchanging dirty jokes and quips. It is a staggering male/female juxtaposition that continues as Father Flynn and Sister Aloysius fight for power in the parish. There is a pecking order, with nuns on the lowest rung and clergymen holding all the church’s reins.
To be brief, Doubt chronicles Sister Aloysius’ investigation of Father Flynn’s interactions with Donald Miller — the sole black student in the school and an altar boy. When Father Flynn calls Donald for a meeting in the rectory during class, the meeting and Donald’s actions afterwards — touching his face, putting his head down on the desk — spark suspicion for innocent little Sister James (played convincingly and endearingly by the talented Amy Adams). Sister James tearfully recounts this to Sister Aloysius, who uses it as the crime she needs to remove Father Flynn from the parish.
What ensues is one of Meryl Streep’s best scenes to date. As she and Father Flynn begin a heated debate in her office about the supposed incident and Father Flynn’s integrity, power shifts ever so delectably from one to the other; Father Flynn deftly steps behind the principal’s desk, threatening to remove Sister Aloysius from her position, while she looks mournfully out the window. Suddenly, the tension shifts as she slips the clincher in: She has called his previous parish and spoken to another nun about his past misdeeds. It’s all over from there — not only is Father Flynn furious that Sister Aloysius blatantly disregarded the pecking order — speaking to a mere nun rather than the priest — but he is also trapped. Streep is at her finest, swelling up and filling the entire scene with her fierce desire to discover the truth. But at what price?
The film stays brilliantly true to its roots as a play. Each scene is shot as if it were on the stage, with long, single shots and back-and-forth dialogues. You can almost read the screenplay: “Stage Left, Father Flynn stares at his long fingernails and vehemently denies any wrongdoing. Cut to Stage Right, Sister Aloysius storming to Stage Center, slamming rosary onto table.” Leaving the movie theater felt like leaving a theatre, playbill in hand and curtains drawn.
So did Father Flynn do it? Ah, that graying shadow of doubt. The evidence is in: the long fingernails, the close friendship with Donald, the loving looks the boy gives him, the fact that he did resign after that fateful showdown with Sister Aloysius. But with the final lines of the film, Sister Aloysius cries out in confession to Sister James, “I have such doubts.” Doubt, which will never part from human nature, will never truly be fulfilled.
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