The - Little Hours Better

The Little Hours is streaming on Prime Video, Hulu, and AMC+. It is 90 minutes of blasphemous, beautiful, screaming chaos.

Here is the bait-and-switch that makes The Little Hours brilliant. It is, quite faithfully, an adaptation of Giovanni Boccaccio’s The Decameron , a masterpiece of the early Italian Renaissance. The Little Hours

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. The Little Hours is streaming on Prime Video, Hulu, and AMC+

Forget everything you know about polite, chaste nuns. The Little Hours takes place in a convent in Garfagnana, Italy, circa 1347. The clergy is corrupt, the locals are superstitious, and the nuns are... unhinged. It is, quite faithfully, an adaptation of Giovanni

The story is set in motion when the convent’s handsome, young, and perpetually terrified handyman, Massetto (Dave Franco), is forced to flee after being caught in an affair with the powerful Lord Bruno’s (Nick Offerman) wife. Seeking refuge, Massetto ends up at the convent, where a friendly local priest, Father Tommasso (John C. Reilly in a dual role as both Mother Superior and the priest—a deliberate, absurdist choice), suggests he hide there by pretending to be a deaf-mute gardener named “Brother Alexander.” The logic, as Father Tommasso explains, is that a deaf-mute can neither hear the nuns’ confessions nor gossip about them, posing no threat to their vows of chastity.

. The film features an ensemble cast, including Aubrey Plaza and Alison Brie, playing sexually repressed nuns in 14th-century Tuscany who become obsessed with a young servant posing as a deaf-mute. Critics highlighted the film's modern, profane dialogue and its blend of screwball comedy with traditional, picturesque Italian backdrops. For a detailed look, see The Guardian

On the surface, The Little Hours sounds like a premise dreamed up during a riotous game of Hollywood mad-libs: a medieval nunnery, a sex-crazed gardener, foul-mouthed sisters, and a dash of Satanic panic. But beneath the vulgarity and the slapstick lies a surprisingly faithful adaptation of a 14th-century literary classic, a showcase for some of the most talented comedic actors of their generation, and a poignant exploration of boredom, desire, and faith.