The Novices is a 1970 French-Italian comedy film directed by Guy Casaril and an uncredited Claude Chabrol.
Sister Agnes (Brigitte Bardot) yearns for life outside her convent and runs away during a beach outing. After stealing some civilian clothes and a bike and picking up a stray mutt that she names Stoopy, she finds her way to Paris, where she meets the streetwise but kind hooker Mona Lisa (Annie Girardot). The two become roommates, but Agnes has trouble finding a job to earn a living. After Mona Lisa's suggestion to take up prostitution doesn't work out, Agnes manages to get a job driving an ambulance, giving Mona Lisa the idea to use it to attract clients.
Tropes:
- Auto Erotica: Mona Lisa gets the idea to use the ambulance to pick up johns while Agnes drives, the logic being that the cops wouldn't suspect such a vehicle.
- Bookends: The movie opens on a religious ceremony attended by Agnes and led by a young, handsome priest who seems rather distracted by her. The movie ends with an identical ceremony led by the same priest, who's now distracted not only by Agnes, but also Mona Lisa.
- Canine Companion: As Agnes begins her adventure, she briefly cuddles with a stray dog and he decides to follow her. She tries to make him go away, but he won't budge, so she names him Stoopy and he follows her around for the rest of the movie. During Agnes' stint as a prostitute, he even saves her from a pervert.
- Clean, Pretty Childbirth: When Agnes and Mona Lisa are on the lam, they are stopped by two cops, but it's so they can take a woman about to give birth to the hospital. She gives birth in the ambulance and there's no mess whatsoever, with the baby looking totally clean.
- The Door Slams You: While looking through the row of changing rooms at the beach to find some clothes to steal, Agnes is startled by the sight of a couple making out and runs down the row. A woman then comes out of her room and Agnes slams into the door.
- Establishing Character Moment: Agnes is introduced during a religious ceremony at her convent looking bored and distracted as she fails to keep pace with the other nuns.
- Flirtatious Smack on the Ass: Agnes gets arrested for getting in an accident. When the cops let her go, one of them smacks her ass, much to her shock.
- Fugitive Arc: Mona Lisa accidentally picks up Agnes' boss, who rats them out to the cops for using an ambulance for prostitution. The two become wanted by the authorities and have to flee to the countryside, ultimately hiding out in the convent Agnes escaped from.
- Hard-Work Montage: There's a montage of Mona Lisa training Agnes in the ways of seduction to prepare her for work as a prostitute. It's set to marching music.
- Hooker with a Heart of Gold: Mona Lisa is quite a selfless prostitute considering she lets a complete stranger like Agnes stay in her apartment indefinitely without paying rent, all because Agnes was incidentally kind to her by giving her a cigarette. She also tolerates Stoopy, despite complaining about what it costs to feed him.
- Naughty Nuns: Sex symbol Brigitte Bardot as a naive nun who runs away from her convent and briefly becomes a prostitute. Then she brings back her hooker friend to become a nun herself when they're forced to hide in the convent in the end.
- This Bed of Rose's: Agnes doesn't have a place to stay or a penny to her name when she first arrives in Paris. Fortunately for her, Mona Lisa lets her stay at her apartment out of the kindness of her heart, which is how Agnes finds out she's a hooker and eventually gets involved in the business in various capacities as a way to pay her share of the rent.
