Sydney Sweeney, of Euphoria fame, is a delightfully mean surprise in her latest feature film, one that she saw enough value in to produce herself when it was stuck in development hell years after her casting. We’re glad she did; Immaculate is a wild allegory about bodily autonomy that deserves to be seen.

In Immaculate, Sister Cecilia (Sweeney), whose Michigan church has closed due to low attendance, moves to Italy to fill a position at a convent that provides end-of-life care to elderly nuns. Sister Cecilia takes the veil amid a picturesque rural landscape, but the beautiful quickly gives way to the eerie and then the terrifying. After the very devout Cecilia begins to have bouts of nausea, a pregnancy test reveals that she is a virgin mother-to-be. Rather than with concern, the majority of the convent reacts to this news with religious zeal, especially Father Sal (Álvaro Morte, El Profesor from Money Heist). But can they be trusted?
Religious horror has been having a moment. This past month alone both Immaculate and The First Omen were both released. Just a year ago, The Pope’s Exorcist schlocky fantasy account of the real-life figure Father Amort graced the screen, though rather than criticize religion it opted to absolve Catholicism of its crimes. (It was all the Devil’s fault; you can read my review of Russell Crowe’s Italian accent here.) Immaculate is not schlocky, and while it may have some campy elements, it is stylistically and artistically above last year’s offering. Some reviews have criticized the choice to make the time period mostly unidentifiable—at least until someone pulls out a cell phone. However, this choice directly supports the film’s message about bodily autonomy.
*Some spoilers incoming.*

Unlike The Pope’s Exorcist, Immaculate does criticize Catholicism, in proper nunsploitation fashion. Cecilia’s body is used as an incubator for the believed next coming of Christ without her knowledge or permission. She knows something is not right with the fetus, but her concerns are dismissed as long as the pregnancy continues as planned. As things escalate and Cecilia is losing teeth in the sink, she plots her escape. It becomes evident that no one cares about her body beyond its ability to bear this child; we wonder what their plan is for her once it comes. The unclear time setting becomes a message about the perpetual control the church has had over women’s bodies. Is it the 1950s? Is it 2024? Doesn’t seem to matter when it comes to women having control over their own bodies. Some have also criticized Cecilia as not a fully fleshed-out character, but this is also a universalizing choice (much in the way it is in Piggy): Cecilia could be any woman.
It’s a unique role for Sweeney, who is typically cast in media that places her in revealing clothing. As a nun, she is modestly covered for the entirety of the film. It’s refreshing, and she has confidence in herself and in her acting without the constant sexualization. Despite how she’s dressed, she’s violated anyway. Not in an expressly sexual way, but still, used for her body. As someone who was raised Catholic, there was an internal reckoning that occurred while watching this film. The Virgin Mary had been a symbol of a woman giving the ultimate gift to the world and God, but this film gives another interpretation: a woman stripped of her bodily autonomy in the name of religion.The most important woman in Christianity was violated.

The horror here isn’t supernatural. Cecilia is impregnated using DNA found on one of the nails that were used to crucify Jesus, a long-planned project that saw Father Sal forced out of his previous career, as a scientist, for ethical violations. There are many parallels between Immaculate and Rosemary’s Baby, but where they differ is important. In Rosemary’s Baby, the husband offers up his wife’s womb to the Devil to advance his career. In Immaculate, Father Sal’s violation of Cecilia and her womb is a means to his own mad scientific ends, and he uses religious fervor to protect his actions, calling attention to the way that men use and violate women, forcing them to have and care for their children while they pursue their ambitions, and the way that religion gives them the support they need to subjugate women and reduce them to this role. Cecilia approaches Father Sal and insists that everything about the pregnancy is wrong, that it cannot be the work of God. Father Sal replies, “If this is not the work of God, why does He not stop us?”.
The final scenes are extremely visceral. Watching a woman give birth to a baby she’s been forced to carry is deeply disturbing. Though wickedly brutal, the last shot of Cecilia holding a boulder over her head, and the sound of it crashing down, is in some ways empowering, a big “fuck you” to all the religious people who want to force women to carry unwanted fetuses. Immaculate, and credit where credit is due, Sweeney, pulled off one of the most daring and nasty endings we’ve seen in awhile.