A baby is born, and is believed to be the new messiah. The sister of the child, tells everyone she is the mother and that she is a virgin (which she is). Soon after, the baby grows to a child, and she starts she sells blessings to strangers, all of which become true. The sister gets corrupted with power and decides to make love with the bishop's son (Ralph Fiennes). The child doesn't like this and the consequences change everything.
Greenaway always surprises, and this film is no different. This film couldn't have been directed by anyone else. He's a director which is as far away from Hollywood as possible. A director which focuses on the strange, with detail on the performances, and the costumes. Half-way between Avant-Garde and surreal, Greenaway is the only auter in Britain.
This film is the worst out of the films I have seen by Greenaway. There's no Nyman soudtrack which is a pain, but the film has an overall depressing tone. Perhaps it's because, similar to 'Week-end', and 'Natural Born Killers', you hate the main characters. This film goes a step further and makes you hate ALL the characters. The mythical world Greenaway has created, couldn't be more unpleasant as he has purposely made the film detestable. Even the cinematography makes the audience angry, with every shot featuring the colour red. The colour of anger. Not sure the reason for any of this.
The story is incredibly thought-provoking, even if the film peaks at the half way point. It shows the disgusting trait of human desperation, which every other film has avoided. There's a reason why they avoided it, because it's not pretty.
The Church are presented as monsters, taking the child for themselves, and selling off parts of it, then forcing the mother/sister to be *** 208 times. The film feels like it has to say more about humans than god, but making up lies about The Church is pointless and offensive. The only time the child is seen with the power is in the stable, therefore the mother is the only person to know of his power. The response by society and The Church is disturbing and comments on the worst part of human corruption. It's a very depressing way to look at society, which I find sad and demoralizing.
If the film opens and closes with a guy with cerebral palsy on a swing, the film's not going to be great. It has some really shocking parts, namely the stable scene. Good luck forgetting them any time soon. Despite all of these reasons, this film is a primarily a Greenaway film.
This film doesn't have flaws, but reasons why everyone should hate it. I don't know if Greenaway is a master for being as Anti-Hollywood as you can get, or a twerp wanting to annoy everyone.
TO CONCLUDE
There are plenty of reasons to hate this film. Strictly for die-hard Greenaway fans.
SCORE
60
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