1960s Quebec. On the banks of the Richelieu River, Mother Augustine runs a convent where she tries to transfer her passion for music onto her pupils. When her niece Alice joins the school, it gets not just a new piano prodigy, but also a nonconformist young woman who reminds Mother Augustine of a past she thought she had put behind her long ago. And while the government institutes a public education system that threatens to tip the balance of the establishment, Mother Augustine tries to maintain order in her convent...

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Critically acclaimed since the mid 80’s for her films about strong women in life-changing situations, Swiss-Canadian director Léa Pool teams up again with Céline Bonnier, her lead from 2008’s successful Mommy is at the Hairdresser's, for a story about nuns who are less austere than the setting of Quebecois convent they run. With strong energy, some welcome bits of humor and well-fleshed-out secondary characters, La Passion d’Augustine paints a portrait of an isolated world suddenly caught up in the political and social realities of 1960s Quebec, as it strives to offer entertainment for a wide audience. The script is therefore efficient, although simplistic and predictable, with a few classic side plots. The movie rests nicely on the shoulders of Bonnier, who plays the mother superior with great conviction, and those of young Lysandre Ménard; they both make this film touching, despite its somewhat formulaic character.