The 1947 British film Black Narcissus is many things: an allegory of the end of empire, a chilling ghost story with nary a spook in sight, a psychological romance, and a meditation on the nature of the divine. Its weirdness is as undeniable as it is difficult to locate. On the surface, the story is straightforward: five nuns are tasked with opening a convent in the former seraglio of a dead potentate in the Himalayas. But on a deeper level, there is a lot more going on, as Phil and JF discover in this conversation touching on the presence of the past, the monstrosity of God, the mystery of the singular, and the eroticism of prayer, among other strangenesses.REFERENCESMichael Powell and Emeric Pressburged (dirs.), Black Narcissus (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0039192/)Rumer Godden (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rumer_Godden), author of the original novelStanley Kubrick, The Shining (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0081505/)Gilles Deleuze, [Difference and Repetition](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DifferenceandRepetition)Tim Ingold (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Ingold), British anthropologist -- lecture: "One World Anthropology" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iEWS89dd9nM)Jonathan Demme (dir.), The Silence of the Lambs (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0102926/)Pierre Bourdieu (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre_Bourdieu), French sociologistBruno Latour, On the Modern Cult of the Factish Gods (https://www.dukeupress.edu/on-the-modern-cult-of-the-factish-gods)Don Barhelme (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Barthelme), American short story writerPaul Ricoeur (https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/ricoeur/), French philosopherWeird Studies episode 16 (https://www.weirdstudies.com/16): On Dogen Zenji's GenjokoanThe King and the Beggar Maid (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_King_and_the_Beggar-maid)Gillo Pontecorvo, [The Battle of Algiers](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TheBattleofAlgiers)_“Painting with Light,” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tuwU_f42dUk) featurette on the Criterion Collection DVD of Black Narcissus