Suzanne, a young woman in a wedding gown, prepares to take her vows of chastity, obedience, and poverty and make herself a nun.

Suzanne attempts to, which is made easier by Mme de Moni's encouragement, and does not utter more words but her body language reveals all.

The lawyer, who becomes her biggest advocate against the religious orthodoxy enslaving her, informs her that while the case is pending, she will have to stay with Sister Sainte-Christine and endure the resulting persecution, but that either she will win or be transferred.

A smart looking woman takes her to her home, but Suzanne does not understand it is a brothel and joins the girls who are dressing to entertain clients at a masked dinner party.

Elliott Stein, an American journalist living in Paris, reported in the British film magazine Sight and Sound that Le Monde ran a day-to-day feature, 'L’Affaire de La Religieuse', to which one opened as if to a daily horoscope or weather report".

Finally, in 1966, after a year of acrimony, the Minister of Culture André Malraux allowed La Religieuse to be shown at the Cannes Film Festival, where it received critical acclaim and a nomination for the Golden Palm Award.

[2] The praise allowed for a theatrical release in France, where it was met with much anticipation, despite earlier sentiment towards the subject matter.

In 2000, on 14 November, for the first time via home media, the film was released on VHS in the United States by Kino Lorber.

In 2018, L’Immagine Ritrovata Laboratory in Bologna, Italy, performed a 4K restoration from the original camera negative and re-released the film into select theaters in Europe and North America.

In 2019, on 28 May, the 4K restoration of the film was released in the United States by Kino Lorber on Region 1 DVD and Blu-Ray.