It took 16 years between the time film director Philip Groning asked to shoot a documentary on the Grand Prior of the Carthusian Order high in the French Alps, and the time he received permission from the Order. The result is worth the wait.

"Into Great Silence" is an often stunningly simple and also stunningly beautiful look at life inside the Great Charterhouse inhabited by the monks in this ancient monastery. For more than 2 1/2 hours, Groning relies on little more than straight-ahead images of the monks, their daily routines and the beauty of nature surrounding them.

Very little is spoken aloud at this monastery, and Groning followed the rules, with no voiceover commentary and no interviews. Instead, life simply unfolds, and with sizable beauty. Whether Groning frames a shot of a wood door ajar or snow in the tress, of a monk washing dishes or quietly praying, those images resonate. "Into Great Silence" takes its place among the masterpieces of purely visual cinema, from the equally quiet "Baraka" to the plot-driven but visually kinetic "Days of Heaven."

Nearly three hours of quiet beauty may not seem like engaging matinee fare, but it is easy, and a privilege, to experience that through "Into Great Silence."

A

"Into Great Silence"

Director: Philip Groning

Studio: Zeitgeist Films

Rated: NR

RT: 164 minutes