Cecilia, a young, deeply religious American woman, becomes a nun and enters a convent in Italy. And no, this isn't going to be Audrey Hepburn in "The Nun's Story" or Julie Andrews in "The Sound of Music". Or even Whoopi Goldberg in "Sister Act". You can tell it isn't when Cecilia discovers that she is pregnant. Upon being questioned, Cecilia swears blind that she is still a virgin and has never had sex with a man. The church authorities seem surprisingly quick to accept Cecilia's assurances, and hail her as the new Virgin Mary, who will give birth to the Second Coming of Christ.
Of course, there is something nasty in the woodwork. It transpires that Cecilia has been deliberately impregnated by a fanatical group within the Catholic Church who are hoping to bring about the Second Coming using a Holy Nail relic in the convent's chapel; they believe that this relic still contains samples of Christ's DNA. Or are they(as Cecilia comes to suspect) trying to bring about the advent of the Antichrist. I won't set out the plot any further, but you can take it from me that it gets not only extremely gory but also extremely silly.
I should point out that I am not a Catholic and that I have no objection to the cinema or other media being used to voice criticism of organised religion. We certainly do not want a return to the days of the Production Code which forbade any criticisms of the churches or the clergy. I would, however, prefer it if such criticisms were made by those who know what they are talking about, which the makers of "Immaculate" patently do not. To take a few points:-
The expression "Immaculate Conception" does not refer to the Virgin Birth of Christ, as the film presupposes. It refers to the Catholic doctrine that the Virgin Mary was herself free of original sin from the moment of her conception.
The birth of Christ is, in Christian theology, a unique event. Any woman who claimed to have become pregnant without having sex would doubtless be dismissed by the Church as a liar, however much she insisted she was telling the truth. Any group of Catholics who tried to claim her as a "second Virgin Mary" would be disowned by the mainstream Church and their claims regarded as blasphemous.
According to the Bible, the timing of the Second Coming is known only to God the Father himself. It is therefore inconceivable that a group of Catholics, however fanatical, might believe that they could force God's hand by monkeying about with ancient DNA supposedly found on a Holy Nail relic. (And today even the Catholic Church would admit that not all these nails are genuine).
A film whose plot revolves around a series of theological absurdities like these cannot be regarded as making a valid critique of Christianity or of Catholicism. I suspect, however, that the film-makers were less concerned with theological accuracy than they were with using religion as a peg on which to hang a crude and tawdry little shocker of a horror film. This is a film which gains a certain frisson by depicting nuns and priests, more often portrayed in the cinema as peaceful and benevolent, as cruel, violent and evil, but which fails to convince us that they are anything like that in real life.
There have been films in recent years- "Priest", "The Magdalene Sisters", "Philomena"- which have made valid and pertinent criticisms of Catholicism, but these films were all grounded in reality. "Immaculate" is founded in nothing but the unlovely history of the "nunsploitation" film, a genre which has frequently been a vehicle for bigotry and prejudice. I had recently heard of Sydney Sweeney, who stars here as Cecilia, as a promising and upcoming young actress, but I had not seen any of her other films. Seeing "Immaculate" made me think that she desperately needs a new agent. 2/10.
Of course, there is something nasty in the woodwork. It transpires that Cecilia has been deliberately impregnated by a fanatical group within the Catholic Church who are hoping to bring about the Second Coming using a Holy Nail relic in the convent's chapel; they believe that this relic still contains samples of Christ's DNA. Or are they(as Cecilia comes to suspect) trying to bring about the advent of the Antichrist. I won't set out the plot any further, but you can take it from me that it gets not only extremely gory but also extremely silly.
I should point out that I am not a Catholic and that I have no objection to the cinema or other media being used to voice criticism of organised religion. We certainly do not want a return to the days of the Production Code which forbade any criticisms of the churches or the clergy. I would, however, prefer it if such criticisms were made by those who know what they are talking about, which the makers of "Immaculate" patently do not. To take a few points:-
The expression "Immaculate Conception" does not refer to the Virgin Birth of Christ, as the film presupposes. It refers to the Catholic doctrine that the Virgin Mary was herself free of original sin from the moment of her conception.
The birth of Christ is, in Christian theology, a unique event. Any woman who claimed to have become pregnant without having sex would doubtless be dismissed by the Church as a liar, however much she insisted she was telling the truth. Any group of Catholics who tried to claim her as a "second Virgin Mary" would be disowned by the mainstream Church and their claims regarded as blasphemous.
According to the Bible, the timing of the Second Coming is known only to God the Father himself. It is therefore inconceivable that a group of Catholics, however fanatical, might believe that they could force God's hand by monkeying about with ancient DNA supposedly found on a Holy Nail relic. (And today even the Catholic Church would admit that not all these nails are genuine).
A film whose plot revolves around a series of theological absurdities like these cannot be regarded as making a valid critique of Christianity or of Catholicism. I suspect, however, that the film-makers were less concerned with theological accuracy than they were with using religion as a peg on which to hang a crude and tawdry little shocker of a horror film. This is a film which gains a certain frisson by depicting nuns and priests, more often portrayed in the cinema as peaceful and benevolent, as cruel, violent and evil, but which fails to convince us that they are anything like that in real life.
There have been films in recent years- "Priest", "The Magdalene Sisters", "Philomena"- which have made valid and pertinent criticisms of Catholicism, but these films were all grounded in reality. "Immaculate" is founded in nothing but the unlovely history of the "nunsploitation" film, a genre which has frequently been a vehicle for bigotry and prejudice. I had recently heard of Sydney Sweeney, who stars here as Cecilia, as a promising and upcoming young actress, but I had not seen any of her other films. Seeing "Immaculate" made me think that she desperately needs a new agent. 2/10.