alarming misery.

Born in 1933, the daughter of a baker living in the suburbs of Brussels, music was a cherished escape for Deckers during a difficult childhood, writing her own songs and playing guitar.

Cecile de France (right) in Sister Smile.

Source: Ocean Films

Confused about her sexuality and seeking an escape from controlling parents, Deckers, in a strange fit of rebellion, decided to give everything up, entering the Missionary Dominican Sisters of Our Lady of Fichermont nunnery in Waterloo at the age of 25. Well, she didn’t quite give everything up.

Known as something of a rebel in the suffocatingly cloistered environment, in which the hot-headed Deckers struggled to play by the rules, she continued to play guitar, entertaining her fellow nuns, and then the local community, with her concerts. It wasmassive success worldwide, including number one in Australia, the sickly sweet MGM movie followed three years later, though Deckers branded director Henry Koster’s tale largely “fiction”. Between this, her appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show and even a Grammy Award, Deckers suddenly found herself an unlikely megastar.

Recommended Sister Smile Review Repression and liberation collide in the troubled tale of the price of fame.

This newfound and short-lived fame was a heady brew, with a mixture of personal ambition and hubris finding her unpopular back at the convent, though jealously on the part of her fellow nuns may have played its part in her increasing unhappiness and bewilderment. In the meantime, ‘Dominique’ and Deckers’ debut album made a fortune for the record label, with her share going directly into the