REVIEW: Consecration [2023]

February 2, 2023

3–4 minutes

Christopher Smith, Consecration, IFC Midnight

Rating: R | Runtime: 91 minutes
Release Date: February 10th, 2023 (USA)
Studio: IFC Midnight / Shudder
Director(s): Christopher Smith
Writer(s): Christopher Smith & Laurie Cook

Luckily, I have only two sins. Cake and coffee.

Father Romero (Danny Huston) and Mother Superior (Janet Suzman) repeat the words “There is but one God and his shadow” like a mantra throughout Christopher Smith’s Consecration (co-written by Laurie Cook). Our assumption, of course, is that they’re speaking about the Catholic God and Satan since the film takes place on Vatican-owned land in Scotland amongst a convent of religious zealots who would take out their own eyes if ever they believed they had spied a demon.

Like most things concerning faith, however, assumptions are bred from indoctrination. Just because one believes in Good vs. Evil doesn’t necessarily mean they know which side is which. They only think they do because they wish to be known as the former no matter what evil they must commit to fool the world.

It’s the age-old conundrum: are evil deeds truly sinful if they are performed in the name of God? We know what the church says. This is an establishment that sold pieces of paper to both fill its coffers and its army by promising any soldier who fought in the Crusades would have a place in Heaven regardless of their actions in that role.

It’s a religion that allowed centuries of abuse to go unchecked, believing the pain and suffering of its parishioners was a justifiable cost to keep the lights on. So, who’s to say these men in black cloth and women in white gowns are truly operating with mankind’s best interests at heart? Who’s to say they haven’t been fooled by the Devil since the first words of the Bible were written down?

What then actually happened the night Grace’s (Jena Malone) brother died on that convent’s grounds? Some say he killed a renowned priest before committing suicide. Some say he was possessed by Satan and ultimately strong enough to throw himself over a nearby cliff before harming anyone else.

Grace believes he was murdered by the nuns who tell it both ways. She’s never been religious herself despite her brother embracing the cloth—not after witnessing her adoptive father murder her adoptive mother. Grace devoted herself to science instead. She’s helped a lot of people in that vocation and tried hard to distance herself from her past until this tragedy has it all flooding back into focus.

Smith does a nice job ensuring that focus is perhaps stronger than it should be with memories making way towards hallucinations and blackouts. The nuns begin to whisper and you have to wonder if maybe whatever they say possessed her brother has now taken hold of her too. Or maybe things have escalated even further to a point where she was always the one harboring the darkness they fear.

The more we learn about her history, the more plausible this reasoning sounds. And when unexplainable acts of self-harm run rampant, you wonder when Father Romero will begin his exorcism (Huston says he’s always wanted to play a priest and that he decided to wear the same glasses Max Von Sydow wore in The Exorcist to pay homage).

No matter how dark things get, Consecration does well to remind us of that mantra: “There is but one God and his shadow.” By listening to the words spoken by the church and watching their actions, it becomes our duty to reconcile the two and wonder if they’re righteous in their assertive desire to spill blood to save souls or violent for the sake of sanctimonious superiority.

Malone helps us discern the difference by never allowing Grace to fully give into anger and always finding genuine empathy for those who come to harm (even if they do so as a result of trying to harm her). Who then is bathed in light and who has been deceived? An answer will come—one some viewers might not like. Because life is built upon mirrors. Your demons are another’s angels. And faith unfortunately demands you’ll never be able to accept the truth if you’re eventually proven wrong.