Immaculate Review: Sydney Sweeney Makes You Root For The Nun
Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)
Cecilia, a beautiful, doe-eyed, optimistic young American woman arrives in Italy to join a centuries old convent where aging nuns are taken care of. The ornately crafted convent stands hauntingly picturesque against the lush greenery of the sunlit Italian countryside, concealing dark secrets that soon wrap their evil claws around Cecilia.
Created by Michael Mohan (director) and Andrew Lobel (writer), the 2024 horror film Immaculate stars Sydney Sweeney as Cecilia, a young woman who believes she is destined for a higher purpose after surviving a fatal drowning. However, her faith and naivety are cruelly exploited by the sinister convent, but to their surprise, she transforms from a pliant sacrificial lamb into a determined fighter. Yet, escape seems impossible in a place eerily reminiscent of the iconic Hotel California lyric: ‘You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave.’
As far as horror goes, except for one or two jump scares, Immaculate rarely delivers spine-chilling terror. Unfortunately, much of the story was predictable, partly because I saw The First Omen before Immaculate, even though the former came out a few weeks after the Sydney Sweeney flick. Both movies have eerily similar plots, the same kind of atmospheric settings, and follow a young nun’s traumatic experiences in a new convent. And in another similarity, both also feature a ‘cool’ nun, who befriends the new one, although the character arcs are very different.
The biggest mystery in the film is the period it is set in, even though Cecilia arrives in a flight, then takes a car to the isolated convent, at its premises, everybody uses candles. This is both comedic and bizarre, unless it was a deliberate plot device to serve as a metaphor for the retrogressive state of affairs at the convent. The world has moved on, but the older nuns seem to live frozen in time, as if they’re still in the 1700s. Although the story is either taking place in the 1980s or 90s, and the cinematography builds a pleasantly gothic, eerie mood through the runtime.
Italian actor Benedetta Porcaroli plays Sister Gwen, a fun, not-too-religious, smoker nun who quickly becomes close with Cecilia. Both of them become wary of the creepy events that start to unfold at the convent, and both suffer devastating consequences for questioning authority. One wishes there were a few more scenes of sisterhood between Gwen and Cecilia in Immaculate, as Benedetta Porcaroli is immediately likable in her cameo.
Sydney Sweeney shines as Cecilia, convincingly portraying her transformation from a cheerful novitiate to a terrified nun trapped in a sinister, cult-like convent. Immaculate parallels the horrors of a world where women lack autonomy over their bodies, making Cecilia’s struggle for survival deeply compelling, even though she makes some rookie mistakes. While the film follows a predictable path, it surprises with a bold and divisive climax. Cecilia’s story concludes definitively, avoiding the clichéd “open to interpretation” ending, although the door remains ajar for a sequel should the writers choose to explore one.
Rating: 3 on 5 stars. Stream “Immaculate” on Prime Video.
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