The Monk (1990 film)
| The Monk | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Francisco Lara Polop |
| Produced by | Francisco Lara Polop & Muir Sutherland |
| Written by | Francisco Lara Polop Matthew Gregory Lewis (novel) |
| Starring |
Paul McGann Sophie Ward |
| Music by | Anton Garcia Abril |
| Cinematography | Angel Luis Fernandez |
| Distributed by | Celtic Films/Mediterraneo Cine-TV |
|
Release date
|
1990 |
| Country | United Kingdom/Spain |
| Language | English |
The Monk (also known as The Final Temptation or The Seduction of a Priest) is a 1990 historical drama film directed by Francisco Lara Polop and starring Paul McGann and Sophie Ward. Based on the 18th century Gothic novel The Monk by Matthew Gregory Lewis, it was adapted for the screen by Polop, and employs the common depiction of the 18th century representing “the stately, the lavish, the sensuous, and even the lubricious.” In this way, The Monk can be seen as a heritage film, in which “the past is delivered as a museum of sounds and images, an iconographic display,” though these films are sometimes discredited as attempts to “transform the past into a series of commodities for the entertainment market.” The film was Lara Polop’s last as a director, and continues the themes of eroticism and horror found throughout his works.
The film begins in 18th century Spain, with Father Lorenzo (Paul McGann) and Mother Agueda (Isla Blair) being tried before the Spanish Inquisition, and Lorenzo agreeing to confess and tell his story in order to escape torture. The setting then turns to the past, where Lorenzo is a charismatic and admired priest. He listens to a confession by a young nun named Sister Ines (Aitana Sanchez-Gijon), who has become pregnant, and reports her to the covenant’s leader, Mother Agueda, despite the girl’s pleas for help.
After this, a young monk named Juan reveals to Lorenzo she is actually a woman, Matilde de la Venegas (Sophie Ward). Matilde is a wealthy orphan who fell in love with Lorenzo while attending one of his sermons, and entered his covenant in disguise in order to be near him. Lorenzo goes to report her and she threatens to commit suicide, claiming she does not care about the damnation this act would bring her.
Elsewhere in the covenant, the nuns are gathered and debating what to do with Sister Ines. Some of the nuns want to report to her the Inquisition, following protocol and ensuring the girl a fair trial, but Agueda, angered by Ines’s denials of her advances, convinces the nuns that the girl’s obvious guilt allows the covenant to deal with her themselves, and they imprison Ines in a cell beneath the monastery.
...
Wikipedia