The Monk (1990 film)

Last updated
The Monk
Directed byFrancisco Lara Polop
Written byFrancisco Lara Polop
Matthew Gregory Lewis (novel)
Produced byFrancisco Lara Polop & Muir Sutherland
Starring Paul McGann
Sophie Ward
CinematographyAngel Luis Fernandez
Music byAnton Garcia Abril
Distributed byCeltic Films/Mediterraneo Cine-TV
Release date
  • 1990 (1990)
CountryUnited Kingdom/Spain
LanguageEnglish

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. [1] Based on the 1796 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.” [2] 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,” [3] though these films are sometimes discredited as attempts to “transform the past into a series of commodities for the entertainment market.” [4] The film was Lara Polop's last as a director, and continues the themes of eroticism and horror found throughout his works. [5]

Contents

Synopsis

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.

Matilde continues to pursue Lorenzo, though he still wants her to leave, as he is attracted to her and afraid of breaking his priestly vows. She agrees to go, but as Lorenzo reaches into the garden to give her a goodbye rose, he is bitten by a snake. He recovers only to discover Matilde saved his life by sucking the venom from his wound, poisoning herself gravely ill in the process. Lorenzo is overcome by her love for him and they make love, breaking Lorenzo's vows.

Ramon (Mark Elstob), a young nobleman and Ines’ lover, coming looking for her at the covenant, but is turned away. When he later returns with a papal order for Ines’ release from the covenant, Agueda lies to him that Ines died from a sudden illness. Lorenzo becomes the confessor for an elderly member of his congregation, and impassioned by his regained sexuality, begins pursuing the woman's innocent daughter Angela (Sophie Linfield). He becomes distant from Matilde and confronts Angela, but she denies him and he is thrown out of the house. Matilde convinces Lorenzo to continue after Angela, saying she will do anything to make him happy, and reveals she knows black magic. Lorenzo agrees to her plan, and in a Satanic ritual Matilde creates a potion that will leave Angela helpless to Lorenzo. That night Angela's mother discovers Lorenzo administering the potion to her sleeping daughter, and Lorenzo kills her to keep her from crying out. Matilde appears to Lorenzo in a demonic form, and instructs him to cover up the murder by making it appear as though she committed suicide.

While Lorenzo is attempting to rape Angela in the bedchamber of the covenant, Ramon arrives with the Inquisition and discovers Ines imprisoned in the basement. Needing to hide from the Inquisition, Matilde attempts to kill Angela but is stopped by Lorenzo, who regrets aloud conspiring with Matilde in the first place. The inquisition discovers them in the act and the story returns to the present, where Lorenzo is still being tried before the Inquisition. Agueda is imprisoned for life for her illicit confinement of Ines, and Lorenzo is convinced of devil-worship, and is burned at the stake.

Cast

Paul McGann (Father Lorenzo Rojas)
Sophie Ward (Matilde de la Venegas/Juan)
Sophie Linfield (Angela Dauphin)
Isla Blair (Mother Agueda)
Freda Dowie (Sister Ursula)
Mark Elstob (Ramon de Madeira)
Aitana Sanchez-Gijon (Sister Ines)
Laura Davenport (Dona Elvira Dauphin)
Marina Saura (Jacinta)

Variance from source text

There are a number of differences between the film and the original novel. Lorenzo is named Ambrosio in Lewis's novel, and Angela is named Antonia. The film version leaves out multiple subplots, such the bleeding nun and Lorenzo's sister, and has Lorenzo burned at the stake, omitting the majority of the book's conclusion, which has Lorenzo instead sell his soul to the Devil in order to escape the Inquisition, only to be denied repentance and condemned to eternal torment.

Other adaptations

Le Moine , Ado Kyrou, (1972). Luis Buñuel and Jean-Claude Carrière attempted to film a version of The Monk in the 1960s, but the project was halted due to lack of funds. Buñuel's friend, the Greek director Ado Kyrou, used this script as the basis for his 1972 film version. Le Moine (English: The Monk) boasted an international cast with Franco Nero in the title role. The film also starred Nathalie Delon, Eliana de Santis, Nadja Tiller and Nicol Williamson.

See also

Related Research Articles

<i>Un Chien Andalou</i> 1929 film

Un Chien Andalou is a 1929 French- Spanish surrealist silent short film directed, produced and edited by Spanish filmmaker Luis Buñuel, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Spanish surrealist painter Salvador Dalí. Buñuel's first film, it was initially released in a limited capacity at Studio des Ursulines in Paris, but became popular and ran for eight months.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Luis Buñuel</span> Spanish-Mexican filmmaker (1900–1983)

Luis Buñuel Portolés was a Spanish filmmaker who worked in France, Mexico, and Spain. He has been widely considered by many film critics, historians, and directors to be one of the greatest and most influential filmmakers of all time. Buñuel’s works were known for their avant-garde surrealism which were also infused with political commentary.

<i>The Monk</i> 1796 novel by Matthew Lewis

The Monk: A Romance is a Gothic novel by Matthew Gregory Lewis, published in 1796. Written early in Lewis's career, it was published before he turned twenty. In one letter, he claimed to have written it in ten weeks, but other correspondence suggests that he had at least started it, or something similar, a couple of years earlier. It is a prime example of the type of Gothic that specializes in horror.

The alumbrados were the practitioners of a mystical form of Christianity in the Crown of Castile during the 15th–16th centuries. Some alumbrados were only mildly heterodox, but others held views that were clearly heretical, according to the contemporary rulers. Consequently, they were firmly repressed and became some of the early victims of the Spanish Inquisition.

<i>El derecho de nacer</i> (1981 TV series) Mexican TV series or program

El derecho de nacer is a Mexican telenovela produced by Ernesto Alonso for Televisa in 1981. Based on the Cuban radionovela of the same name written by Félix B. Caignet adapted for TV by Fernanda Villeli and directed by Raúl Araiza.

<i>Goyas Ghosts</i> 2006 biographical drama film by Miloš Forman

Goya's Ghosts is a 2006 biographical drama film, directed by Miloš Forman, and written by him and Jean-Claude Carrière. The film stars Javier Bardem, Natalie Portman, and Stellan Skarsgård, and was filmed on location in Spain during late 2005. The film was written, produced, and performed in English although it is a Spanish production.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sophie Winkleman</span> English actress (born 1980)

Sophie Lara Winkleman, styled as Lady Frederick Windsor, is an English actress. She is married to Lord Frederick Windsor, the second cousin of King Charles III and son of Prince Michael of Kent.

<i>Tristana</i> (film) 1970 film by Luis Buñuel

Tristana is a 1970 drama film co-written, directed and produced by Luis Buñuel, and starring Catherine Deneuve, Fernando Rey, and Franco Nero. The screenplay by Buñuel and Julio Alejandro adapts an 1892 realist novel of the same name by Benito Pérez Galdós. It is a Spanish-French-Italian co-production filmed in Toledo, Buñuel's one-time home, and represents his return to his native country after several years living and working abroad. It earned positive acclaim from critics, and was nominated for Best Foreign-Language Film at the 43rd Academy Awards.

<i>The Decameron</i> (film) 1971 film by Pier Paolo Pasolini

The Decameron is a 1971 medieval erotic black comedy anthology film written and directed by Pier Paolo Pasolini, based on the 14th-century allegory by Giovanni Boccaccio. It is the first film of Pasolini's Trilogy of Life, the others being The Canterbury Tales and Arabian Nights. Each film was an adaptation of a different piece of classical literature focusing on ribald and often irreligious themes. The tales contain abundant nudity, sex, slapstick and scatological humour.

<i>Él</i> (film) 1953 film by Luis Buñuel

Él (1953), by Luis Buñuel, is a Mexican film based upon the novel by Mercedes Pinto. It deals with many themes common to Buñuel's cinema, including a May–December romance between a woman and her obsessively overprotective bourgeois husband, and touches of surrealism. The film was entered into the 1953 Cannes Film Festival.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andrea Palma (actress)</span> Mexican actress (1903–1987)

Guadalupe Bracho Pérez-Gavilán, known professionally as Andrea Palma, was a Mexican actress. She was considered the first major female star of the Mexican cinema after her role in the Mexican film La Mujer del Puerto (1934).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Matilda of Boulogne, Duchess of Brabant</span> Duchess of Brabant

Matilda of Boulogne was the younger daughter of Matthew, Count of Boulogne, and Marie I, Countess of Boulogne. Matilda became Duchess of Brabant by her marriage to Henry I, Duke of Brabant.

<i>Sparrow</i> (1993 film) 1993 film by Franco Zeffirelli

Sparrow is a 1993 Italian drama film directed by Franco Zeffirelli. It is an adaptation of Giovanni Verga's novel Storia di una capinera and was filmed in Sicily in 1993. It stars Angela Bettis, and premiered at the Tokyo International Film Festival in October 1993. It was the final film performance of Valentina Cortese.

<i>Aurora</i> (TV series) American TV series or program

Aurora is a Spanish-language telenovela produced by the United States-based television network Telemundo. It starred Sara Maldonado, Eugenio Siller, and Jorge Luis Pila. As part of the 2010–11 season, Telemundo aired the series from November 1, 2010 to May 20, 2011 weeknights at 8pm/7pm central, replacing El Clon. As with most of its other telenovelas, the network broadcasts English subtitles as closed captions on CC3.

<i>La Mansión de Araucaima</i> 1986 film

La Mansión de Araucaima is a 1986 Colombian drama film directed and co-written by Carlos Mayolo. Its genre has been described as "Tropical Gothic." It is based on the tale of the same name by Alvaro Mutis.

<i>The Monk</i> (2011 film) 2011 French film

The Monk is a 2011 thriller drama film directed by Dominik Moll. It is an adaptation of Matthew Lewis's 1796 gothic novel of the same name, and chronicles the story and downfall of a Capucin Ambrosio, a well-respected monk in Spain. An international co-production between France and Spain, it was partially shot in the barri vell of the city of Girona in Catalonia.

<i>Revenge of the Musketeers</i> (1994 film) 1994 French film

Revenge of the Musketeers is a 1994 French swashbuckler adventure film directed by Bertrand Tavernier and starring Sophie Marceau, Philippe Noiret, Claude Rich, and Sami Frey. Set in the seventeenth century, the film is about the daughter of the renowned swordsman D'Artagnan who keeps the spirit of the Musketeers alive by bringing together the aging members of the legendary band to oppose a plot to overthrow the King and seize power. Revenge of the Musketeers was filmed on location at the Château de Biron in Biron, Dordogne and the Château de Maisons in Maisons-Laffitte in France and in Portugal with a budget of $9.1 million.

<i>Yo compro esa mujer</i> Mexican telenovela

Yo compro esa mujer is a Mexican telenovela produced by Ernesto Alonso for Televisa in 1990. Based on the novel "The Count of Monte Cristo" by Alexandre Dumas, created by Olga Ruilópez and adapted by Liliana Abud.

<i>The Song of Sister Maria</i> 1952 film

The Song of Sister Maria is a 1952 Spanish drama film directed by Rafael Gil and starring Dominique Blanchar, Francisco Rabal and María Dulce.

References

  1. The Monk , IMDb.com
  2. Robert Mayer, "Is There a Text in the Screening Room?" Eighteenth-Century Fiction on Screen (2002), p. 1.
  3. Andrew Higson, "Re-Presenting the National Past: Nostalgia and Pastiche in the Heritage Film," Fires Were Started: British Cinema and Thatcherism, ed. Lester Friedman (Minneapolis: University of Minneapolis Press, 1993), p. 115.
  4. Christopher Orr, "The Discourse on Adaptation," Wide Angle 6 (1984), p. 73.
  5. Francisco Lara Polop, IMDb.com

The poster image was created by Imago for the then distributors of the film, to be launched at Cannes. The image was a three part composite (pre computer graphics) and featured Gail McKenna as the female model with Terry Waeland as the monk figure, whose face was supplanted by a supplied portrait of Paul McGann. The fiery background was created at Lower Austin Lodge farm using heavily yellow and magenta filtering on the camera lens. The whole composition was photographed by Rodney Compton and composited by Dennis Nowak.