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Lupita Nyong’o in “Us”, Toni Collette in “Hereditary” and now Sydney Sweeney in “Immaculate”. They are all part of a small group of modern horror performances that grab you without ever letting go. While genre can be overlooked when it comes to awards at the end of each year, all of these artists prove that they are the real deal. For Sweeney, it’s further proof that, after films like the unseen drama “Clementine” and the minimalist thriller “Reality,” she is one of the most talented actresses of her generation.
She first rose to fame for her role in the HBO series “Euphoria,” but now it is in “Immaculate” where she emerges, reborn, as a terrific screen presence who feels like she is just getting started with what she can do. Bringing to life a vision of horror that wouldn’t have the same power and potency without her at the helm, Sweeney has never been better than she is here. What a darkly beautiful yet brutal, bloody and audacious film this is for her.
The film, which had its world premiere Tuesday at Austin’s Paramount Theater as part of the 2024 SXSW Film and Television Festival, begins with a spectacular but ominous opening. We see a woman trying to escape from a convent under the cover of darkness. She steals some keys and manages to get out through a chained door before a nun’s hand stops her. The woman’s leg is brutally broken before she is buried alive, screaming in terror as the darkness of her final resting place consumes her.
We are then introduced to young American expatriate Cecilia (Sweeney) as she attempts to start over in this same remote convent hidden in the Italian countryside. Not knowing that something may be wrong, Cecilia just wants to give her life to her faith, since she believes that God saved her from her when she almost drowned when she was a child. As she soon discovers, the decision to come here may not have been entirely hers.
Just when it seems she is getting used to the routine of this new life, Cecilia is called in for questioning by the male leaders of the convent. We learn that she became pregnant despite remaining a virgin (hence the title) and is placed on a pedestal as a miracle. She no longer has to do housework or worry about anything other than giving birth to this child. This is not so easy, since her life has been defined by her existence as a vessel for all the hopes, dreams, and prayers of an entire community.
Just as dark forces seem to lurk in the night, the day when your every move is monitored and you can no longer leave is equally chilling. Although she still lives among countless people, it could also be that she is held captive in another realm from which she may never be freed.
Working from a script by Andrew Lobel, director Michael Mohan sets the table with a variety of distinct but no less dynamic scares that are often defined by harsh, sudden cuts. While this could easily be reduced to being called “jumping,” that doesn’t fully capture the way they intertwine in the nightmarish world that Cecilia is constantly being crushed by. Everything the film does is deeper because of the way it keeps building the dread, drawing on everything from a terrifying shot during a confession, when it seems like distance itself is being unleashed, to a sudden burst of violence just as you think things could change. finally be safe.
This is what guarantees the subsequent step to an experience much closer to body horror. Every detail of the convent, be it the small talk about someone who is a scientist, to the glimpse of the burns on an elderly woman’s feet, makes it clear that something immense is happening here in terms of the years it has taken and the beliefs that support it. . The more it is realized that Cecilia has been chosen, the more suffocating the film becomes. What was once a place that could have offered a shred of salvation now only harbors immense suffering. The movie is really terrifying and devastating.
There is never a wasted moment as everything gets darker and darker. Will Bates’ musical score fits perfectly with cinematographer Elisha Christian’s stark visuals. Bates and Christian previously collaborated with director Mohan on his 2021 film “Voyeurs,” which also starred Sweeney, though it seems like everyone is operating on another level. Christian, who has done great work on everything from “Columbus” to “The Night House,” is equally outstanding with everything that looks and feels trapped in time. About halfway through, a scene in a car opening onto a field becomes unsettling in his hands.
Of course, all of this falls to Sweeney to carry the weight of it all on his shoulders. As a new actress and producer, she has a clear passion for the project that makes her work hard. Not only does she do it with ease, capturing the overwhelming fear that crystallizes into grim determination, but she also makes the entire film sing in the small moments. Just as the convent members declare that Cecilia is what they’ve been waiting for, you see fear in Sweeney’s sharp, expressive eyes as she searches for a way to ensure she doesn’t become a dead miracle at the altar of her fanaticism. .
As felt in a haunting shot of someone falling from a great height and the way the camera lingers on her face as she takes it all in, the devastation of death is becoming more present than life here. To escape is to overcome an institution that seeks to control her and her body for her own purposes.
This makes the last stretch of the film, where everything changes, even more magnificent. Without warning, Cecilia must take matters into her own hands, as it is clear that she will soon be abandoned once she gives birth. It is in these moments that Sweeney achieves something transcendent, becoming almost unrecognizable. Part of this is due to her face becoming increasingly covered in blood, but there is also a primal energy that she is able to channel to remarkable effect.
The final, uninterrupted shot brings it all together into one more crushing moment in which Sweeney screams at the top of his lungs and silences any sense of hesitation one might have had about his performance. Just as she was the one who gave life to the film, she is also the one who has the same power to erase it with one last blow. How clear and true it sounds.
Neon will release “Immaculate” in theaters on March 22.
