After waiting 16 years for permission to document life in the Grande Chartreuse, one of the world’s most ascetic monasteries, German filmmaker Philip Gröning spent six months filming the daily rituals of Carthusian monks. He elected to present the resulting film—shot sans crew and artificial lighting—without narration or musical score. The usual artifice employed by moviemakers is totally absent, allowing Into Great Silence to attain a transcendent quality, which makes watching it a truly spellbinding experience.

Shelf Talk: Winner of both a special jury prize at the Sundance Film Festival and the Prix Arte at the European Film Academy award ceremony, Into Great Silence earned uniformly glowing reviews, and it’s truly a unique film. Unfortunately, it’s also one with limited mainstream appeal. Special efforts to market it to religious communities and organizations might yield fruit, but otherwise, Gröning’s masterpiece will have trouble breaking out of the arthouse niche.