The Little Hours Dvd

The Little Hours is a 2017 American medieval black comedy film written and directed by Jeff Baena. The film is loosely based on the first and second stories of day three of ten of The Decameron, a collection of novellas by Giovanni Boccaccio, an Italian writer during the Middle Ages. It stars an ensemble cast featuring Alison Brie, Dave Franco, Kate Micucci, Aubrey Plaza, John C. Reilly, and Molly Shannon.

Set in the 14th century, the film is told in an anachronistic style with contemporary dialogue and behavior. The plot jointly follows the lives of three nuns at a convent in the countryside who try to fornicate with a young gardener posing as a deaf-mute after he escapes from being punished by his lord for adultery with the man’s wife. The film held its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on January 19, 2017, and was released on June 30, 2017, by Gunpowder & Sky [Wikidata]. The film received positive reviews from critics, with praise for the cast’s performances.

Plot

In the year 1347 in Garfagnana, Italy, a convent of nuns is led by Father Tommasso. The three nuns at the center of the story are: Alessandra, who wants a better life for herself but is held at the convent due to her father’s support of the church rather than her own bidding; Ginevra, a gossip who is later revealed to be a Jewish lesbian; and Fernanda, an emotionally unstable and violent woman. The three of them routinely assault the friendly gardener Lurco, who quits in disgust. Meanwhile, in Lunigiana, a young servant named Massetto gets caught having sexual relations with his master’s wife. While on the run, he discovers Father Tommasso, who has gone to sell some embroidery but has instead gotten drunk and lost his possessions in the river. Massetto helps him return home and the two arrange to have Massetto work as a gardener while pretending to be a deaf-mute, in hopes that this will dissuade the nuns from giving him trouble.

Fernanda’s friend Marta appears and encourages Alessandra and Ginevra to get drunk off the sacramental wine while explaining how being with a man is the greatest possible pleasure. Fernanda takes Ginevra back to her room where they have sex. Massetto and Alessandra begin to form a closer bond while Ginevra begins to have feelings for Fernanda.

Later, Fernanda kidnaps Massetto at knife-point and takes him into the forest, where she meets up with a coven of witches. She attempts to perform a fertility ritual with Massetto but is stopped by the arrival of Alessandra and Ginevra. Ginevra, under the hallucinogenic effects of belladonna, takes off her clothes and begins dancing and steals the convent’s donkey. Massetto reveals that he is not a deaf-mute while trying to free himself. They return to the convent, and all of their secrets are revealed in the presence of the visiting Bishop Bartolomeo. Father Tommasso is sent away to become a monk after it is discovered that he and the Mother Superior are in love and have a secret relationship. Massetto is returned to his master and is held in a jail cell with the impending threat of torture and death until the three nuns (who have reconciled and formed an even stronger friendship) help him escape. While Alessandra, Massetto, Ginevra, and Fernanda each run hand-in-hand back to the convent, the Mother Superior and Father Tommasso have met up in secret under the pretense that the Mother Superior has gone to retrieve the donkey. They hide as the nuns and Massetto run by. Fernanda stops and stares in puzzlement at the once again freed donkey that she herself used as an excuse so many times to escape the convent, until Ginevra pulls her away. With the group gone, Father Tommasso and Mother Superior embrace and smile at each other.

Cast

Alison Brie as Sister Alessandra
Dave Franco as Masseto
Kate Micucci as Sister Ginevra
Aubrey Plaza as Sister Fernanda
John C. Reilly as Father Tommasso
Molly Shannon as Mother Marea
Fred Armisen as Bishop Bartolomeo
Jemima Kirke as Marta
Nick Offerman as Lord Bruno
Lauren Weedman as Francesca
Paul Reiser as Ilario
Adam Pally as Guard Paolo
Paul Weitz as Lurco
Jon Gabrus as Guard Gregorio