Le moine

Extraordinary film that I didn't even know existed. I always new that Bunuel had wanted to make this film and had heard that he had scripted it, but that the Greek, Adonis Kyrow, a writer on surrealism, had actually got it together in 1972 comes as a revelation. it has, of course to turn out to be a bit of a let down but certainly has a lot going for it. It stars, Franco Nero, Nathalie Delon and Nicol Williamson and all are fine, Nero has been criticised but i thought it a strong performance, Delon too, although maybe she looked just a little too gorgeous, especially if she has been mistaken for a guy and Williamson is a delight, although he just might be sending up the proceedings! Extreme and without a shred of morality, this is a major attack upon the notion of self sacrifice, the supposed wonders of chastity and all of organised religion, the Catholic Church in particular. My print, in English was a little dark and erratic quality dub but is so different a film, so startlingly Sadean that it is an essential view for anyone interested in film on the edge.

There is a fascinating movie waiting to be made from The Monk the classic 18th Century Gothic novel by Matthew Lewis,but neither this ,nor a subsequent remake starring Paul McCann is it.It tells of the downfall of the devout Ambrosio,who fulminates about sins of the flesh in hellfire and brimstone sermons only to be seduced by a sorceress masquerading as a monk From there its an out of control libido,leading to murder and fornication and the attentions of the Inquisition.Oh,and there is a cannibalistic nobleman played in archly camp style by Nicol Williamson,who appears to be subtly sending it all up It really is a dreadful mess and I can't help but feel it was edited down from a longer original because at times its incoherent Franco Nero is dull,and upon the inadequacies of the other cast members I will not dwell,since I am in charitable mood Its a powerful book and it cries out for some director to adapt it for the cinema with the respect it merits

This defies description. It is like Branded to Kill, in that it is so unlike anything else you have ever seen, it compels you just to watch it. Nicol Williamson gives a dazzling performance as a cannibalistic nobleman, the inquisition make a surprise appearance, sex and black magic how can it go wrong. It is hard to take this film seriously, ie when the monk makes a confession. What does it all mean, who know? It seems anti clerics, in that the clerics seem to be even more repugnant than the devil worshipping villains, who at least seem to be enjoying themselves. Watch and enjoy.

Co-scriptwriter Luis Bunuel being my favorite film-maker, this is one of the Cinema's greatest cases of what could have been – were he to have directed it himself (as was the intention originally and a personal lifelong dream for him)! As for myself, the resulting film was so rare that I despaired of ever being able to catch it and, in fact, had even purchased the classic source material by Matthew Gregory Lewis to make up for this loss…though, being quite voluminous, I have kept postponing its reading ever since!

However, while in Hollywood in early 2006, I happened upon a DVD rental store which specialized in cult, hard-to-find titles and, sure enough, a copy of THE MONK (in English with unremovable Greek subtitles) was readily available, and which I promptly checked out. Eventually, I tried to obtain a copy for myself but I could only muster an unsubtitled version in French (the film was an international co-production between France, Italy and West Germany). Recently, though, I came across others in Italian and English – naturally, I opted for the latter (since, in all probability, that is how it was shot anyway) but it turned out to be an exceedingly dark edition (which unfortunately obscured much of the detail)!

Anyway, the film is good-looking, thematically intriguing, and typically scathing of virtually all institutions and classes – but, for a variety of reasons, it does not quite pull as much punch as it should have. To be fair to its director (a former movie critic who had actually authored one of the first and most renowned studies of Bunuel's work!), its ultimate failure has a lot to do with the fact that Ken Russell's THE DEVILS (1971) had practically just touched upon most of its concerns, and with such a sledge-hammer attitude that the essentially inexperienced Kyrou's treatment comes across as altogether restrained (though, clearly, not without its moments of power)! Even so, a later Anglo-Spanish version was shot in 1990 and, reportedly, a Franco-Spanish one (starring Vincent Cassel and Geraldine Chaplin) is currently in production.

As for Bunuel himself, he had already dealt with the notion of a holy man (here a somewhat out-of-his depth Franco Nero, from the Spanish Surrealist's own TRISTANA [1970]) being tempted by Satan in the guise of a luscious female (Nathalie Delon) in his last Mexican venture i.e. SIMON OF THE DESERT (1965). Incidentally, the two leads' heavy accent makes the dialogue fairly unintelligible at times; with this in mind, Nicol Williamson relishes his part of a debauched aristocrat (a paedophile with, possibly, cannibalistic tendencies!) and easily walks away with the acting honors.

Needless to say, for all its faults, the film contrives to keep intact the numerous delightful Bunuelian touches found in the script (which the latter penned in conjunction with his regular collaborator Jean-Claude Carriere, who would return to much the same subject more than 30 years later for Milos Forman's GOYA'S GHOSTS [2006]): Williamson's charges enacting a Good Friday procession; a priest having a heart attack after listening to the misguided monk's confession (held in awe up till then by one and all for his inveterate piety – when he denounces a pregnant novice, she curses him with the hilarious "May your cock dry up and shrivel like parchment!" – and fervent pulpit rhetoric); a pubescent girl whom the monk lusts after and seduces, with the aid of black magic, metamorphosing into her disillusioned mother (whom, in his confused state, he stabs) and back again; similarly, the Devil-woman goes from friar's habit (nobody seems to notice her sex before she literally reveals herself to the hero, eventually growing jealous of his attentions for the underage commoner!) to elegant clothing as Williamson's companion to being brought in chains (along with Nero himself) before the Inquisition and, after having symbolically emasculated the latter, reverting to her lady-like demeanor for the finale; this coda, then, is surely among Bunuel's most perverse (amusingly, the crowd scenes inserted at Nero's unheralded Pontification – it is interesting that the Italian star would feature that same year in a film where a woman unaccountably rises the ranks to become Leader of the Catholic Church, POPE JOAN – are probably stock footage of recent vintage showing people anxiously waiting for the solemn announcement!).

P.S. I preceded this viewing with Kyrou's absurdist 1961 short THE HEAD OF HAIR, in which Michel Piccoli obsesses romantically over an ancient wig and ends up institutionalized.

Father Ambrosio (Franco Nero) is so absorbed by his faith that he can't even tell the difference between a man and a woman. And clearly he is not alone, for none of the other monks seem to have noticed that Brother John is actually a beautiful woman, Mathilde (Nathalie Delon). When Mathilde reveals herself to Ambrosio, and declares her love for him, he quickly forgets about his vows of chastity and begins a clandestine affair with the woman. His urges fired up, Ambrosio finds himself drawn to beautiful fifteen-year-old Antonia (Eliana De Santis). Mathilde, actually an emissary of the devil sent to tempt Ambrosio, says that she can make the girl his, but to do so he must take part in a black magic ritual. Of course, Mathilde cannot be trusted, her ultimate goal being to claim Ambrosio's soul for her master.

The Monk is twisted tale of temptation and immorality that illustrates how men of the cloth can be corrupted just as easily as any other person, often using the cloak of Christianity/Catholicism to hide their deviancy. If that isn't enough to ruffle some feathers, the story also throws in a depraved Duke (in cahoots with Mathilde) who has a liking for underage girls and who might possibly be a cannibal. Towards the end of the film, the Inquisicion shows up (unexpectedly, of course) and arrests Ambrosia, condemning him to torture and death. His only way out... to make a deal with the devil. The final shot is a hilarious attack on the very heart of the Catholic church.

Fans of shocking cinema might feel like The Monk pulls its punches at times, and it is true that certain scenes could easily have been stronger in terms of sex, violence and general deviancy - one wonders what it might have been like in the hands of another, more daring director (Luis Buñuel was originally going to direct); that said, it is still a very worthwhile movie, and a must-see for anyone who likes their horror to tackle sensitive subjects.