The Monk

1990 • 106 minutes

About this movie

The Monk is a 1990 historical drama film directed by Francisco Lara Polop and starring Paul McGann and Sophie Ward. Based on the 1796 Gothic novel The Monk by Matthew Gregory Lewis, it was adapted for the screen by Polop, and employs the common depiction of the 18th century representing “the stately, the lavish, the sensuous, and even the lubricious.” In this way, The Monk can be seen as a heritage film, in which “the past is delivered as a museum of sounds and images, an iconographic display, ” though these films are sometimes discredited as attempts to “transform the past into a series of commodities for the entertainment market.” The film was Lara Polop's last as a director, and continues the themes of eroticism and horror found throughout his works.