The Monastery: Mr. Vig and the Nun

The Monastery: Mr. Vig and the Nun
Directed by	Pernille Rose Grønkjær
Produced by	Sigrid Dyekjær
Music by	Johan Söderqvist
Cinematography	Pernille Rose Grønkjær
Editing by	Pernille Bech Christensen
Distributed by	Koch-Lorber Films
Running time	84 min.
Country	Denmark
Language	Danish

The Monastery: Mr. Vig and the Nun is a 2006 Danish documentary film directed by Pernille Rose Grønkjær.^[1]

1 Plot Summary
2 Awards
3 References
4 External links

Plot Summary

Jørgen Laursen Vig owns a Danish estate, with a ramshackle castle, on the island of Fyn. He dreams of turning his castle into a Russian orthodox monastery.

After a visit to Russia negotiating with the Russian patriarchate, a delegation of nuns headed by Sister Amvrosija come to Denmark in order to assess whether Vig's castle is fit to serve as a monastery. The nuns approve the castle, but at the same time they demand extensive repairs to it. When the nuns leave again for Russia, Vig sets out to do the repairs all by himself.

The following summer sister Amvrosija and the other nuns return and Vig's dream seems about to come true. The nuns move into the castle, and slowly they take over the daily work and introduce new routines.

Vig's life changes: all his life he has lived by himself with no women around, now he has to share his home with the strong-willed Sister Amvrosija and her sister nuns. And they demand more and more necessary repairs. As a solution to the problem, the Russian patriarchate offers to pay for all future repairs to the castle, but on the condition that Vig leaves his castle to them by will.

Vig has serious doubts: should he leave his castle to the Russian church by will and thus carry out his dream of a monastery? Or should he keep his castle to himself and continue his lonely life as a bachelor? Vig, who has never known love, is facing many conflicts with the apparently difficult Sister Amvrosija, but she does strangely enough not want to leave him and his castle, even if she will be the last and only nun left.

Today the monastery is run by Nun Amvrosija. The Russian Orthodox priest Hegumen Theofan, Dean of the St. Alexander Nevsky Parish in Copenhagen, often comes to carry out the services. The Russian Patriarchate and the Hesbjerg Foundation are now negotiating the future plans for the monastery, and an agreement is well on its way.