Review of The Baby of Mâcon (1993) by Tristan G — 27 Nov 2007

Not for the religious or the fain-hearted, THE BABY OF MACON is Peter Greenaway's most disturbing and shocking film yet. It's about a baby born of a deformed woman in a disease ridden village. The villagers go berserk due to the fact that the mother is so grossly deformed, and soon a different woman claims the baby as her own and pretends that she is still a virgin to gain the town's approval!!! Her parents detest, so she locks them up.

She tries to seduce a man that she is in love with, but the man is killed by the baby in the process. What occurs afterwards is nothing short of horrifying. I'll just say that some truly disgusting events transpire, and the film ends in a hollow and empty climax.

I felt that the film was effective in demonstrating it's views and certainly was grueling, but the appeal of the film is what makes it so hard to really review. Who on earth would want to watch this? People who want to see a good movie maybe, but they will no doubt be put off by the subject matter.

Fans of independent cinema will probably appreciate it, but most likely won't rush to see it. Everyone else will probably not find much appeal in this kind of storytelling. But that's kind of what's so cool about Greenaway.

He is able to create film in a way that most cannot. He's in a class of Chaotic cinema where any sort of personification is possible and signature themes are easier to put to light than a real story.

I found the film moving, but unless your a big fan of set design, i'm going to have to recommend it to Greenaway fans only.