A novitiate is a period of training, prayer, and discernment lasting one to two years, where candidates (novices) prepare for temporary vows within a religious order. This formative, often cloistered, stage involves intense spiritual study and shared community labor, as detailed by sources like Our Lady of Dallas - Cistercian Abbey Breaking In The Habit School Sisters of Notre Dame Life at the Novitiate - School Sisters of Notre Dame
Margaret Betts demonstrates remarkable control in her directorial debut. She avoids sensationalism. The convent is shot by cinematographer Katelin Arizmendi as a world of : long, tiled hallways, stark white walls, iron beds, and black habits. The color palette is deliberately desaturated—whites, blacks, greys, and the occasional pale blue of a veil. Novitiate
The film is anchored by two intersecting contexts: A novitiate is a period of training, prayer,