Artful in its simplicity and crushing in its effect, this is a top shelf “crisis of faith” movie. Just before taking her vows and earning her black belt in Catholicism, a young Polish nun in the 1960s visits her aunt (and only living relative) and learns unexpected things about her own heritage and about the outside world. Lead actress Agata Trzebuchowska has the kind of striking face that holds us even when it’s expressionless in scene after scene. One smile or twitch of an eyebrow is a turning point in the story. She’s quiet when the rest of the world—jazzy nightclubs, country homes of people with dark wartime secrets—gets loud. Director Paweł Pawlikowski tells us everything we need to know through beautiful screen composition while our nun shares very little with us directly. Her thoughts are none of our business. Those are between her and God. This isn’t a religious film, but Pawlikowski respects our nun’s ways because that’s where the drama lies. And sometimes “God” is simply what’s within us, that little internal candle-flicker of purpose that lights up some hard decisions and that shows us where the wind blows.