Released in 2017, The Little Hours is a unique and uproarious comedy that defies easy categorization. Directed and written by Jeff Baena, the film takes the bare-bones narrative framework from the first story of the third day of Giovanni Boccaccio’s 14th-century masterpiece, The Decameron , and injects it with a distinctly modern, foul-mouthed, and stoner-comedy sensibility. The result is a film that feels both ancient and anarchic, a period piece where nuns gossip like mean girls, curses fly with abandon, and the sacred and the profane collide in a convent walled off from the Black Death-ravaged world outside.
Upon release at the Sundance Film Festival (where it was almost rejected for being "too weird"), The Little Hours earned mixed-to-positive reviews. It holds a 76% on Rotten Tomatoes. The Little Hours
Most comedies feel the need to teach a lesson. By the end of The Little Hours , everyone is worse than they started. They have committed murder, arson, and blasphemy. And they ride off into the sunset laughing. It is nihilistic, refreshing, and honest. Released in 2017, The Little Hours is a
This creative choice serves a dual purpose. First, it makes the comedy accessible and immediate. Second, it subtly underscores the universality of human emotion. The frustration of a woman stuck in a life she didn't choose, the confusion of sexual awakening, and the pettiness of small-community politics are just as relevant in 1348 as they are in 2017. The film suggests that underneath the habits and history, people haven't really changed. Upon release at the Sundance Film Festival (where
The characters speak in full 21st-century slang: "Did you just fucking fart?" "That’s so shady." "I’m not a goddamn nun." This should be jarring, but it works. It reminds the audience that these women are not historical artifacts; they are us —trapped, hormonal, angry, and bored.