Immaculate (2024)

7/10

Sydney Sweeney’s entry into the horror genre [edit: until I heard about Nocturne], Immaculate has an ingenious premise that raises important questions about religion and women’s oppression. While one can debate the script’s scientific plausibility—to the point that it arguably represents a significant plot hole—many viewers will look at the Virgin Mary and her motherhood of Jesus differently after watching this film.

Sister Cecilia (Sweeney) is a young novice who becomes a nun after Father Sal Tedeschi (Álvaro Morte) invites her to join a Roman Catholic convent in Italy, which cares for dying nuns. Soon after arriving, she finds herself pregnant, even though she is a virgin. Nuns and male clergy alike proclaim her pregnancy to be a miracle. As Cecilia experiences a series of strange and increasingly unsettling incidents, she begins to doubt what the priests and nuns are telling her.

Immaculate is rich in atmosphere. Director Michael Mohan creates a palpable sense of dread in scenes where Cecilia is walking around in the dark lit only by candles. Of the supporting cast, Morte makes the biggest impression as a priest with a friendly demeanour that masks a darker core—followed by Benedetta Porcaroli as Sister Gwen, whose irreverence and skepticism make her a convincing foil as she gives voice to Cecilia’s own latent suspicions.

But this is clearly Sweeney’s film, with her producing as well as playing the lead role in a longtime passion project. Having first auditioned for a part in Immaculate when she was 17 years old, Sweeney ably moves through a range of emotions over the course of the film: from wide-eyed piety and innocence, to alarm and confusion, to righteous anger and vengefulness.

Playing a nun is a clever career move for rising star Sweeney, given her sex-symbol status. Her long-term support for this script by Andrew Lobel shows a savvy creative instinct. For all its plot holes, Immaculate explores important issues on how society and religions treat women, with political ramifications most evident in the struggle for abortion rights.

Spoilers ahead.

Tedeschi provides the first big hint early on when he reveals that he studied biology, particularly genetics, before becoming a priest. The second is when the Mother Superior (Dora Romano) shows Cecilia the covenant’s holy relic: its Holy Nail, said to be one of those used to crucify Christ. Eventually, Cecilia—and we the audience—learn that Tedeschi used DNA samples from the Holy Nail to impregnate nuns, with the hope of creating a new saviour.

On a purely thematic level, this is a brilliant concept for a horror film—a genre that exists to speak to our deepest real-world fears. Cecilia’s feelings mean nothing when she becomes pregnant; she is purely a vessel for bringing a baby into the world. Whether they admit it or not, this is the view of “pro-life” activists, who deny the right of women to control their own bodies.

The most transgressive aspect of Immaculate is its implicitly raising this question over the Virgin Mary. According to Christian teachings of the Annunciation, the archangel Gabriel told Mary that she would conceive and bear a son through a virgin birth and become the mother of Jesus Christ, saviour of humanity. Thankfully, Mary is totally OK with this. But what if she wasn’t? That would mean God forced Mary to give birth to his son. It’s a question the Bible never dares to raise.

We shouldn’t be surprised that texts written thousands of years ago might not have the most progressive views on women’s rights. Cecilia in Immaculate presents us with a woman who is faithful and devoted to God, but who never consented to become pregnant. The ending—surely to be debated for a long time—speaks to whether women are human beings with agency and control over their bodies, or mere vessels to bear children, as Cecilia makes a decision that is an implicit rebuttal to anyone who believes the latter.

These questions raise Immaculate above your average horror film and compensate for numerous plot holes. It’s never explained, for example, precisely how the doctor and priests made Cecilia pregnant, how much the other nuns know about the genetic project, or why Cecilia loses a tooth at one point and a fingernail at the other. Is her body deteriorating due to the impregnation procedure? These questions don’t appear to be answered. Still, I appreciated the film for its atmosphere, Sweeney’s performance, and the thought-provoking story.