Directed by: Michael Mohan
Distributed by: Neon
Written by Michael Clawson
60/100
Sydney Sweeney has caused quite a stir in pop culture discourse as of late. Since she appeared in the rom-com “Anything But You,” the comic book tentpole “Madame Web” (critically eviscerated), and took hosting duties for an episode of SNL, think pieces and hot takes have bubbled up left and right about the “Euphoria” actress’s ever-rising status as a Hollywood starlet. The buzz will likely help generate turnout for Sweeney’s latest, “Immaculate,” a convent-set horror movie that Sweeney also had a hand in producing. But aside from its sought-after lead and some hot-button material, “Immaculate” is mostly standard-issue, an efficient and marginally entertaining riff on giallo, religious horror, and “Rosemary’s Baby,” without many scares and thrills of the movie’s own invention.
Sweeney plays Cecilia, a pious young woman from small-town USA, who’s invited (read: lured) to a convent in the Italian countryside years after surviving a near-drowning accident. Kindly received by the handsome Father Tedeschi (Álvaro Morte) and the rebellious Sister Gwen (Benedetta Porcaroli), a series of unsettling episodes soon leaves Cecilia in way over her coif: she sees nuns with branded signs of the cross on their feet, is startled by a nun popping up at her bedside to scissor a strand of hair from her head, and is shaken by a terrible nightmare. Then, Cecilia becomes pregnant. Hallelujah! A miraculous conception, for Cecilia is a virgin. She becomes the obsessed-over focal point of the convent’s hope for the second coming of Christ, from which the need to escape becomes desperate.
Director Michael Mohan nicely varies the film’s tone with moments of levity. “Immaculate” has a lightly knowing sense of humor (“God Dammit,” Cecilia mutters when her water breaks at the wrong time), but is smart enough to mostly play things straight rather than be cheeky. It’s the movie’s methods of excitement that are simply unextraordinary. There are jump scares, spurts of blood, and spooky, candlelit tip-toes through the convent’s halls at night, but none of it leaves an impression. One exception comes from actress Betty Pedrazzi, who gives a brief but wonderfully chilling performance as a nun who denies Cecilia’s urgent plea for help.
Bodily autonomy and fanaticism are the heart of the film’s politics, which have already fed back into and furthered the conversation about Sweeney. For a hot second, her popularity and confidence in her own physical figure was championed (co-opted?) by conservative viewers as an indication of the decline of “wokeness.” Now, “Immaculate” has irked those same viewers for its perceived anti-religion and pro-abortion stance. As for Sweeney herself in this movie? Like the film overall, her performance is solid, but unmemorable. In general, Sweeney’s acting comes off as deliberate rather than instinctive. It was perfectly suited for a movie like Tina Satter’s “Reality,” which essentially relied on a high-stakes performance-within-a-performance. In “Immaculate,” she capably presents as innocent, fearful, and overwhelmed, but the execution can feel studied. Sweeney’s fame will surely persist, but “Immaculate” hardly seems like a new calling card.
“Immaculate” Trailer
Michael Clawson is a member of the Seattle Film Critic Society you can follow his passion for film on Letterboxd.