The camera pans out across the room. The nuns are seated on benches, all eating porridge and talking to one another. Various phrases rise and fall in the general hubbub and noise.
"So I said to the bishop, I said..."
"The county took a tax assessment of this property last month. They want five thousand dollars."
"What is that?"
"A progressive convent? Sounds awful. I liked my convent in Vancouver. Out in the woods. It wasn't all modern like some of these new-fangled convents. We didn't have electricity. Bare feet, cold water. They were nuns."
"O Lord, oure Lord, thy name how merveillous"
"A ghost is an emotion bent out of shape. Can bend to repeat itself, time and time again."
"Pride is not been burnt out of me. When I succeed in obeying the rule, I fail at the same time because I have pride in succeeding."
"Everyone is afraid of you."
"How do you solve a problem like Maria?"
"God will be there for all who need. He is your protector."
"Dominique the mighty warrior was a soldier of the Lord. His armour was devotion and the gospel was his sword."
"Yes. It's not a very good name is it."
"Who is she Sister Beatrice, do you recognise her?"
"Rachel? Well, Rachel has a home and parents who love her. She's a follower, not a leader. She can be guided."
"Hasn't it been enough for one day?"
"I've seen bullet wounds. I've been a missionary."
"So it's lazy people you don't like?"
"I have doubts. I have such doubts."
"For many years, more years than I care to remember, I have had a secret love. In fact not just one, but dozens. Since I have been thirteen years old I have been in love... with the films."
The camera finishes its slow pan by focusing on the Mother Superior, looking out over the room.