Explaining the ending of Syndey Sweeney’s violent new horror movie ‘Immaculate’
Unless you’ve had your head stuffed under several pillows for about two years, you will likely know full well about Sydney Sweeney, Hollywood’s latest prized talent. Surging to fame following the success of the HBO young adult series Euphoria, where she appeared alongside Zendaya, Jacob Elordi and Hunter Schafer, Sweeney has now taken to starring roles in such movies as Immaculate, a horror tale steeped in grisly gore.
Having appeared as the leading star before in 2020’s Nocturne and 2023’s idiosyncratic biopic Reality, Sweeney has certainly earned a leading role of this size and scope, playing the pious nun Sister Cecilia in Michael Mohan’s horror flick. The second time the pair have worked together following the success of 2021’s The Voyeurs, Immaculate is an altogether different beast.
Also produced by Sweeney, Immaculate tells the story of Cecilia, a woman who found religion after narrowly surviving a near-death experience in which she almost drowned in a frozen lake. Her life becomes far more complex, however, once she ventures to a Roman convent in a remote town, where she soon finds out that she is mysteriously pregnant despite being a virgin.
This miraculous, godly act kicks Immaculate into fifth gear, with the revelation causing a domino effect of other disturbing events.
How did Cecilia become pregnant in Immaculate?
So, this is where things take a dark turn. Cecilia was impregnated against her will by Father Sal Tedeschi, played by Álvaro Morte, in hopes that she would give birth to the second coming of Christ in some shape or form. Sweeney’s protagonist is merely the first in a long line of failed attempts actually to be able to carry the baby, with the whole convent being in on the plot to bring about a new kind of Messiah.
Realising that she had been raped and impregnated against her will to host the supposed son of God in accordance with the beliefs of an unhinged convent, Cecilia sets fire to Tedeschi’s laboratory. She uses a crucifix to kill Mother Superior, played by Dora Romano. Thankfully, she manages to escape through the network of catacombs after dispatching her greatest foe, Tedeschi, by impaling him with a nail.
Here’s where things get even more unpalatable. Once she’s escaped from the tunnels and has resurfaced outside of the convent, she gives birth during a grisly sequence and uses her teeth as rudimentary scissors to tear off the umbilical cord. Although the baby itself is blurred, it’s clear that it’s not quite the immaculate conception the convent had hoped for, with Cecilia grabbing a rock and smashing the newborn before the movie timely cuts to black.
Quite what the child was is unknown, but considering that it was created using the supposed DNA from the rusted nail of Jesus’ crucifixion, it could have, indeed, been an unwelcome being beyond human understanding. One thing’s for certain is that considering the sinful origin of the pregnancy, it certainly wasn’t the second coming of Christ.
Revealing some insight into how the ending was done, Sweeney told Entertainment Weekly: “We shot it multiple ways. What you see is actually the first take that we shot, and then we did two more that covered our bases in case we wanted to show different angles, but our instinct was always to never show it, and so we went with our first take.”
What is the meaning of the end of Immaculate?
Just like any great horror movie, Immaculate has a deeper meaning attached to it. Ultimately, it’s a tale about the oppressive nature of the patriarchy, with the toxic masculinity of Tedeschi manipulating the life of the protagonist. In placing the modern conversation of toxic masculinity in a religious setting, Mohan is drawing parallels between how such biblical scriptures and saintly tales across the world often involve some sort of female control and coercion.
The meaning of the title in and of itself is a reference towards the Immaculate Conception, a reference to the pure origin of Mary in the bible story. Meanwhile, the Virgin Birth, which is closely related to this figure, refers to Jesus, who was birthed by Mary despite her having never engaged in sexual intercourse.
When it comes to Sweeney’s Cecilia, she is not willing to sacrifice her life to be the puppet of a religious institution, especially as she had previously narrowly avoided death earlier in her life. Taking control of her own body and agency, Cecilia flees the convent. She demolishes much of its identity in the process, with the baby within her being the last piece of the evil which is left to be destroyed.
