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06/10/1976 Drama 0h 37m
67
User score

Overview

In this American Film Institute-subsidized short subject, Fionnula Flanagan plays a sharp-tongued but compassionate nun, while Peter Lempert is cast as a sullen, emotionally disturbed boy. The title refers to the "thawing" process that occurs when the nun attempts to break through Lempert's wall of silence. Winner of the Oscar for "Best Short Film, Live Action". Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2012.

  1. Peter Werner

    Director, Writer

Top billed cast

  1. Peter Lampert

  2. Fionnula Flanagan

  3. View more

Full Cast & Crew

Reviews

A review by CinemaSerf
Written by CinemaSerf on 2025-12-05
“Sister Irene” (Fionnula Flanagan) is a nun throughly immersed in the Shakespeare that she teaches to her students, but she’s not perhaps the most approachable of women. One afternoon she is introduced to the quite thought-provoking “Allan” (Peter Lampert) whose eccentric behaviour has seen him shunted out of his history class and into her reluctant path, and who is much less inclined to take her interpretations of the bard as gospel. After a fairly intense start, he is soon something of a gadfly as he seems completely unaware of any concept of her personal space - he isn’t quite a...read the rest
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Status
Released

Original Language
English

Budget
$0.00

Revenue
$0.00

Keywords