Review of The Baby of Mâcon (1993) by Eric B — 11 Mar 2011

This is a wild one -- perhaps best described as the document of a "snuff play" being staged in the 1600s? The enclosed play concerns a hideous old woman who gives birth to an improbably beautiful son. The woman's virginal daughter (Julia Ormond) passes off the child as her own, and proclaims him a messiah-like miracle. He is worshipped for a time, but eventually, the people turn against him and his mother.

This rather simple story is lavishly obfuscated and complicated with director Peter Greenaway's usual baroque treatment. The sets and costumes are spectacular and, as always, there is plenty of frontal nudity (yup, Ralph Fiennes shows his wee-wee). Three particular scenes are grotesquely violent and bound to turn off many viewers, but if you can get past the first few minutes -- where a naked, twitching, undead lunatic sputters some opening lines so laboriously that you won't even understand all the words -- you'll probably be able to stomach the rest of the film without any real trouble.