!!!Trigger warning: mentions of child loss, inappropriate/illegal relationships/intimacy, stupidity
I watched a possession movie on Netflix called “Agnes” in order to get inspiration for this blog post and it did not work as expected. This movie is infuriating. I will never be the person I was before this movie. The two young nuns begin to be possessed once they become intimate with a man (a very unfunny comedian and former teacher ((huh!?!)) of Agnes, the first possessed nun). There is no explanation, proper conclusion, or catharsis for the characters or viewer whatsoever.
I will now describe the demon through Cohen’s Monster Culture. This demon always escapes, the priests were all too dumb (i am being very serious) to exorcise it. The monster’s body is a cultural body, from what I can gather, demonic possession as portrayed in this movie is something akin to the loss of innocence (or perhaps the spread of STIs???). The monster is the harbinger of crisis, in this case, the stereotype of a repressed nun partaking in rebellious behavior like smoking and seeking sexual pleasure, which also fits into the monster as a kind of desire thesis. This monster polices the borders of the possible as the movie portrays the consequences of virtuous women engaging in “bad” behaviors, Mary, the main character, loses her child she conceived as a teenager and Agnes becomes possessed for smoking (I guess???) and remaining emotionally attached to a man outside of the convent. The director’s attitude is intolerable and contributes to my frustrations with this portrayal of demonic possession.
This sounds... insane. I'm so insanely curious about this - especially the STD?? Allegory?? There's nothing I love more than a genuinely terrible movie. I might have to watch this.
ReplyDeleteFirst paragraph made me audibly laugh, and a quick google search shows the reviews of this movie perfectly align with how you feel about it. I’m surprised how the movie does align with Cohen’s ideas behind monsters, especially with the sexual and STI themes… that’s odd. Anywho, this movie sounds like the director was also smoking something while writing it, and one thing you should know about these kinds of movies is the characters will never make a normal logical decision.
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