On Christmas Eve, they jealously watch a fellow pupil leave to spend the holidays with her family before getting prepared to enact the midnight Nativity scene, where villagers will arrive to offer donations in exchange for prayers.

While getting dressed, the nuns turn on the radio to listen to the news bulletin about the war, and order the girls to stand in a line; however, they are soon distracted by needing to leave the room to attend to an ill child, and Serafina takes the opportunity to break away to retrieve a part of her costume that she'd dropped.

She asks for prayers for her boyfriend, who is having an affair, and in exchange she offers a large custard cake (Zuppa inglese), which the nuns view as a disgusting frivolity during the wartime scarcity, which is leading many Italians to starve to death.

[12] Noel Murray of Los Angeles Times asserted, "It’d be a sin to spoil what happens next, but suffice to say this charming and surprisingly suspenseful film shares with Rohrwacher’s other work a puckish sense of humor and a deep understanding of how sometimes, in the name of righteousness, people can be awfully wicked.

"[14] Sarah Williams of InReviewOnline said, "Rohrwacher's amoral fable, though a delightfully rare higher-profile mid-length film dropped into an era of silver screen epic versus glorified TikTok binarism, could arguably benefit from a lengthier study of the institution its narrative is held within.

Though the somewhat underbaked narrative is limited to that of the letter, the cultural rise of a Mussolini-era fascist Italy lurking in the background, paralleled with the authoritarian religious state of the Catholic school, reflects a maturation of Rohrwacher's typical themes.

"[15] Joly Herman of Common Sense Media gave Le Pupille a grade of 5 out of 5 stars, complimented the educational value, and praised the positive messages and role models, citing loyalty and kindness, stating, "Character strengths include compassion and self-control.