The German documentarist Philip Gröning waited patiently for 13 years before the Carthusian monastery of the Grande Chartreuse (in the French Alps, near Grenoble) agreed to his suggestion to make a film about their lives.

They laid down conditions that there should be no artificial light, no music (other than their own Gregorian chants), no interviews, no commentary and no accompanying crew. Gröning lived in a cell of his own for a total of four months, communicating with the monks through letters.

The movie captures the feeling of silence, of timelessness, of contemplation, of spiritual discipline, of communion with God and the rejection of the material world.

Image above: Detail of still from 'Into Great Silence' Credit Soda/Source BFI.