''The Passion of Darkly Noon'' is a 1995

psychological horror Psychological horror is a subgenre of horror and psychological fiction with a particular focus on mental, emotional, and psychological states to frighten, disturb, or unsettle its audience. The subgenre frequently overlaps with the related subge ...

drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has b ...

film written and directed by Philip Ridley. The film stars

Brendan Fraser Brendan James Fraser ( ; born December 3, 1968) is an American-Canadian actor known for his leading roles in blockbusters, comedies, and dramatic films. Having graduated from the Cornish College of the Arts in 1990, he made his film debut in '' ...

Ashley Judd Ashley Judd (born Ashley Tyler Ciminella; April 19, 1968) is an American actress. She grew up in a family of performing artists: she is the daughter of the late country music singer Naomi Judd and the half-sister of country music singer Wynonna ...

, and

Viggo Mortensen Viggo Peter Mortensen Jr. R (; born October 20, 1958) is an American actor, writer, director, producer, musician, and multimedia artist. Born and raised in the State of New York to a Danish father and American mother, he also lived in Argenti ...

. The protagonist's name and film title come both from a passage in the ''

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus ...

'',

1 Corinthians 13 1 Corinthians 13 is the thirteenth chapter of the First Epistle to the Corinthians in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. It is authored by Paul the Apostle and Sosthenes in Ephesus. This chapter covers the subject of Love. In the ori ...

: ''"Now we see through a glass, darkly..."''. For the film Ridley was awarded the Best Director Prize at the Porto Film festival.

Plot

Darkly Noon (

), whose name comes from a

passage, is a young man who has spent his entire life as a member of an ultraconservative Christian cult. After a violent incident in which the cult is dissolved and Darkly's parents die, a disoriented Darkly wanders into a forest in the

Appalachian region Appalachian may refer to: * Appalachian Mountains, a major mountain range in eastern United States and Canada * Appalachian Trail, a hiking trail in the eastern United States * The people of Appalachia and their culture ** Appalachian Americans, e ...

North Carolina North Carolina () is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 28th largest and List of states and territories of the United ...

. He is rescued from exhaustion by a coffin transporter named Jude (

Loren Dean Loren Dean (born July 31, 1969) is an American actor. He has appeared on stage and in feature films. Early life Loren Dean Jovicic was born July 31, 1969, in Las Vegas, Nevada. His parents divorced when he was a small child. His mother won custo ...

) and his friend Callie (

). Jude leaves Darkly in Callie's care. As Callie nurses him back to health, Darkly becomes frustrated by the conflict between his religious past and his attraction to his new companion. His frustration intensifies when Clay (

), Callie's mute boyfriend, who builds the coffins Jude sells, returns home after being away for a few days. Darkly's inner turmoil further builds after he encounters Clay's mother, Roxy ( Grace Zabriskie), who despises the relationship between Clay and Callie. Roxy tells Darkly that she believes that Callie is a witch bent on destroying Roxy's family. Despite his detached behavior, Darkly becomes good friends with Jude. One day, Darkly discovers a bizarre giant shoe on the river, and when Roxy's dog dies, they place the body in the shoe and set it on fire as a floating funeral pyre. Jude proposes that he and Darkly move away to live together. Darkly agrees, and Jude leaves with plans to return for Darkly. Overcome with loneliness, Roxy commits suicide. After finding Roxy's body, Darkly hallucinates that his dead parents are telling him to kill Callie. Now thoroughly unhinged, Darkly wraps himself in barbed wire, paints himself red, and arms himself with one of Clay's chisels. He bursts into Callie and Clay's house, intent on murdering the couple, whom he discovers having sex. During the horrific attack, a fire starts, which quickly burns down the house. Jude arrives and sees the inferno. Rifle in hand, Jude enters to rescue Callie and Clay. When Callie tells Darkly that she loves him, Darkly hesitates, giving Jude the opportunity to shoot him. "Who will love me now?" are Darkly's last words as he dies in Callie's arms. The next morning, while Callie, Clay, and Jude view the ruins of the house, a family of circus people arrive. They claim to have lost all their supplies and ask if anyone had seen their giant shoe. The group decides to go for help together. One of the children gives Callie a shoe which resembles the giant shoe.

Cast

as Darkly Noon *

as Callie *

as Clay *

as Jude * Lou Myers as Quincy * Grace Zabriskie as Roxy

Critical reception

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular ...

'' called ''The Passion of Darkly Noon'' "an unintended comedy with a scorcher of an ending", citing poor acting, over-the-top dialogue and implausible plot twists. Conversely, ''

Fangoria ''Fangoria'' is an internationally distributed American horror film fan magazine, in publication since 1979. It is published four times a year by Fangoria Publishing, LLC and is edited by Phil Nobile Jr. The magazine was originally released ...

'' magazine praised the film, citing especially the performance of Brendan Fraser. Leading UK film critic

Mark Kermode Mark James Patrick Kermode (, ; ; born 2 July 1963) is an English film critic, musician, radio presenter, television presenter and podcaster. He is the chief film critic for ''The Observer'', contributes to the magazine '' Sight & Sound'', pr ...

has raved about the film calling it "One of my favourite cinematic experiences of recent years" and also citing it as " idley'sgreat unsung work." Like Ridley's previous film ''The Reflecting Skin'' it has developed a cult following and in 2014 made the top 10 in

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was f ...

's list of the 50 most underrated films of all time.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Passion of Darkly Noon 1995 films 1995 drama films 1995 horror films 1990s horror drama films 1990s psychological films 1990s psychological drama films 1990s psychological horror films British drama films British horror films British horror drama films British psychological films British psychological drama films British psychological horror films German drama films German horror films Belgian horror drama films 1990s English-language films English-language German films Films about religion Religious horror films Films about cults Films directed by Philip Ridley 1990s British films 1990s German films