The Little Hours (2017)

Jeff Baena’s medieval farce, The Little Hours, arrives as a surprisingly sharp piece of cultural detritus. It is a film that trades deep historical immersion for a very modern sensibility. We find ourselves in 14th-century Garfagnana, Italy, a setting where the primary conflicts involve the carnal desires of three young nuns and a resourceful servant. The cast is overwhelmingly white, a demographic limitation that seems entirely secondary to the film’s comedic ambition. The narrative is less interested in the plight of the common person or the machinations of the feudal system, as in a traditional period piece. Instead, it operates through a highly stylized lens of contemporary language applied to a historical moment, a structural choice that serves the absurdity of the premise.

The film places its progressive sensibilities primarily on the level of personal freedom, rather than on any cohesive social critique. The central focus is the exploration of female impulse, a pursuit that sometimes brushes against contemporary progressive themes, even when it is presented through a bawdy, slapstick mechanism. While some character interactions touch upon queer themes, these moments are never afforded the space of an earnest ideological statement. They are instead packaged as a comedic flourish within a highly indulgent framework. The film offers no commentary on the global climate, nor does it engage with racial justice. The concerns of the characters are entirely localized to the convent walls and the immediate pursuit of pleasure.

This is a work that prioritizes comedic anarchy over ideological rigor. The anachronisms are not a subtle commentary on history, but a deliberate stylistic choice to make the period feel like a fever dream. The film makes no attempt to lecture its audience or offer any moral summation of its characters' chaotic lives. It exists purely as a vehicle for ensemble performance and sharp, improvised wit. It is a charming, if slightly indulgent, exercise in genre subversion.