‎Dark Habits (1983) directed by Pedro Almodóvar • Reviews, film + cast • Letterboxd

Dark Habits

1983 ‘Entre tinieblas’ Directed by Pedro Almodóvar

A nightclub singer seeks refuge with gay nuns on dope in a Madrid convent.

Cristina Sánchez Pascual Julieta Serrano Marisa Paredes Chus Lampreave Carmen Maura Lina Canalejas Mary Carrillo Manuel Zarzo Cecilia Roth Laura Cepeda Will More Miguel Zúñiga Eva Siva Marisa Tejada Pedro Almodóvar Ángel Sánchez Harguindey Rubén Tobías Mariela Serrano Agustín Almodóvar Miguel Molina Flavia Zarzo

Alternative Titles

Černá roucha, 나쁜 버릇

comedy drama

114 mins More details at IMDb TMDb Report this film

Popular reviews

Review by Matt Fisher ★★

I just can't help but feel that a movie about heroin-shooting lesbian nuns providing refuge to a showgirl on the run from the mob should've been more entertaining.
Review by Kern ★★½

Feels like Almodovar came up with the concept and didn't really put much effort into building a compelling narrative around it. Pretty disappointing because there are some really interesting characters and it the premise is initially intriguing, but really didn't come together in any meaningful way for me.
Review by Dan Gaertner ★★½

I wish Pedro Almodovar's "Dark Habits" was more than just irreverent. Sure, it's fun seeing nuns shoot-up and smoke dope, but you crave a little bit more... The great man would make better films in just a few years.
Review by Evan ★★★

I like all of the themes, characters, and actors that Almodóvar is playing with here, but it somehow just doesn't come together -- too muted? Too long?
Review by DJ_Keyser ★★★

Almodóvar’s third feature is a playful and delightfully twisted romp, following ex-club singer Yolanda as she seeks refuge within the sisterhood of the Redeemed Sinners. It’s not long before the peculiarities of the nun’s belief system start to manifest, the sisters frequently indulging in hard drug use, trafficking, sado-masochism and extortion, amongst other things. The blasphemous behaviour is encouraged by the Mother Superior, sin itself a catalyst for the most divine act of all, the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

The premise could easily be the set-up for a rather dark and bizarre outing, but Almodóvar makes light work of it. It’s a heavily character-driven film, with little plot to really speak of, so the success of the film…
Review by Vincent Lao ★★★½

Included in the list:
The Director Series III (2017): Cinema of Pedro Almodóvar

In his third film Dark Habits, Pedro Almodóvar finds his footing in this dark comedy about a group of wild, eccentric nuns who took a distressed nightclub singer under their tutelage. These nuns headed by a magnificent Julieta Serrano, who played a lesbian Mother Superior, are something out of the normalcy. They smoke, shoot heroin, write pornographic novels, shelter wild animals, just as you expect from an Almodóvar character. Dark Habits is again, a provocative, anti-establishment piece where morals are thrown out of the window, while the taboos are exerted and embraced. Although still not focused and purposeful in terms of narrative quality, Almodóvar paints an interesting,…

Recent reviews

Review by Matt Thomas ★★★½

Almodovar and nuns. What's not to like?!!

It's all a little on the nose (like the title) but the dialogue is mischievous and the setup used reasonably well.
Review by rmc_london ★★★½

On paper, Dark Habits is the oddest thing, as it follows nuns running about with their deviances as if they were not at all out of the ordinary. But, with queer-glasses, everything makes sense - this film suddenly becomes an insight into sisterhood found within queer “families” not unlike the backstage, larger-than-life, frenemy relationships seen in RuPaul’s Drag Race. Of course, there wasn’t such a reality television show in 1983, and so this film would have been ahead of its time in portraying such a microcosm even if by stealth. Dark Habits has several laugh-out-loud moments, with a couple of memorable musical numbers - one of them obviously lip-synced (!!).
Review by AlasdairBayman ★★★

The dopest nuns known to cinematic history
Review by Joel ★★½

I think part of why I find Pedro Almodóvar such an interesting film-maker is because of how long it took him to find his stride. We can watch him learn and improve as his films do. His films before Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, his first really great film in my opinion, all seem to have tons of passion and excitement and verve, but no discipline or coherence. La Movida Madrileña is defined by its irreverence and taboo-breaking, and I get it, for a man like Almodóvar, the end of the repressive and fascistic Franco regime, and the freedom of expression in all forms that signified, must have been a euphoric moment, an expression of which is…
Review by Jon Gordon ★★

With the new Almodovar coming up, it seems like time to go through a bit of his back catalogue. He's always been someone I've liked a great deal whilst necver quite fakling in love with his high camp, primary hued transgressive film making.

Dark Habits is not the film that was ever going to change my mind. It is a film that attacks the catholic church in a silly kind of way with a bunch of nuns who reflect the problems of wider society through their crack smoking, their acid dropping, their writing of salacious stories.

The eye popping style is not quite there yet and the filmic artistry is still in development. But t still looks pretty good in…
Review by creamy ★★★

Pedro Almodóvar has never been a stranger to controversy, as evinced by Dark Habits, his early comedy-drama about a pop singer seeking redemption from a convent of nuns.

As suggested by the smartly titled film, the plot unfolds to call into question who really needs redeeming; the question being a necessary and controversial critique on religion and the suitability of its advocates.

The film is therefore quintessentially steeped in ideas of irony and deception, delivered through a lighthearted filter - an archetype of later, and more accomplished, efforts by the director.

Visually, Dark Habits is very well made, using contrasting colours to signify dichotomies between its characters, economic and striking framing of its scenes, and effective usage of religious iconography and props to dress its sets.

In hindsight, it's no wonder Almodóvar went as far as he did, because it's all right here at the start.
Review by Chelsea Scott ★★★

"Aren't you a nun?"

"No, I'm a whore."
Review by sheenavb ★★★½

Wow! Nuns on heroin and acid. Tiger in the convent. Loved it
Review by Sarah ★★★

okay i like this and i wasn’t expecting to at all??? i can see why it doesn’t hit the spot one for some folx but different strox