The Little Hours


The Little Hours is a 2017 black comedy film written and directed by Jeff Baena and loosely based on stories from the third day of The Decameron, a 14th-century collection of novellas by Giovanni Boccaccio. It stars an ensemble cast featuring Alison Brie, Dave Franco, Aubrey Plaza, Kate Micucci, John C. Reilly, Molly Shannon, and Fred Armisen.
Set in the 14th century, The Little Hours uses modern dialogue – in the spirit of its source material – improvised by the actors based on Baena's detailed outline. It focuses on the sex lives of its characters, including nuns at a convent in rural Tuscany, a local coven of witches, and a young servant who ends up pretending to be a deaf-mute gardener at the convent after running away from his master.
It premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on January 19, 2017, and was theatrically released by Gunpowder & Sky, the company's first such distribution, on June 30, 2017. Muted complaints from Catholic groups did not negatively affect the film's release; it received generally positive reviews from critics, featuring praise for the cast's performances.

Plot

In 1347 Garfagnana, Sister Fernanda returns to her convent with their donkey after missing Lauds. She curses out the friendly groundskeeper Lurco; Sister Ginevra, who shows sycophantic devotion to Fernanda, joins in. Sister Alessandra gets to meet with her father Ilario, impatiently asking when he will take her out of the convent so she can marry. Ilario says this will not happen, as despite being wealthy he cannot afford a dowry for her. The three nuns encounter Lurco outside, who smiles at Fernanda. When she and Ginevra shout at him again, Alessandra – in a foul mood after Fernanda antagonized her about her conversation – joins in even more abusively. Lurco leaves the convent because of this, stopping Father Tommasso to tell him as Tommasso is leaving to sell embroidery.
In Lunigiana, Lord Bruno is lecturing to his bored wife Francesca about the evil of Guelphs. Francesca takes servant boy to bed; Bruno goes to check on her, seeing Massetto leave through the window. In the servants' quarters, Bruno identifies Massetto by his fast heartbeat and, in the dark, shears off some of his hair to mark him. Come morning, all the men are missing hair and Bruno lets them go. He talks about Guelphs again at breakfast, prompting Francesca to seek out Massetto in the grounds. Bruno sees their interaction from the castle walls and Massetto is driven out by his guards.
Tommasso becomes drunk on his journey and loses the embroidery in a river. Massetto, crossing the river at the same time, offers to help him fix his crashed cart, and returns to the convent with him. The men get drunk on sacramental wine and Massetto confesses to his adultery; Tommasso offers him shelter and work at the convent as a gardener on the condition he pretend to be deaf-mute, in the hopes that if the nuns cannot rile him up they will leave him alone. In the courtyard, Massetto smiles at Alessandra, who returns the gesture; though Fernanda initially abuses him too, when Mother Marea informs the nuns he is deaf-mute, she tones down her behavior. Alessandra is implored to embroider at a faster rate due to Tommasso's losses, and in frustration damages her frame. She takes it to Massetto to repair, confiding in him; the other nuns watch her leave.
Marta, "an especially wayward nun" from elsewhere who knows Fernanda, sneaks in. She guides the three nuns to have a party in Alessandra's quarters; though Ginevra is wary of Marta, Alessandra has become nihilistic and pressures Ginevra to get drunk on sacramental wine. Marta tells the pair about the pleasure of sex with a man, then, after Alessandra has fallen asleep, makes out with Fernanda. When Fernanda takes Ginevra back to their quarters, they have sex. Having enjoyed Massetto's company, Alessandra visits him in the garden, where they begin to have sex until getting interrupted. Ginevra tries to talk to Fernanda about their relationship, but Fernanda dismisses it and then leaves to go to Marta in the woods. Ginevra watches from a distance as Fernanda and Marta prepare a fertility ritual using belladonna, then ambush Massetto and have a threesome.
Bishop Bartolomeo surprises the convent to check their sales accounts. Massetto sneaks into Alessandra's quarters to have sex with her, also interrupted. Ginevra, unhappy with Fernanda, tells Marea that Fernanda has been lying and then sneaks out to the woods, incorrectly taking Fernanda's potion and falling under belladonna's psychoactive effects. Alessandra is trying to talk to Massetto when Ginevra goes to accost him, and both nuns end up hiding together when Fernanda arrives to kidnap Massetto and take him to the woods where Marta's witch coven are planning to complete the fertility ritual. The pair follow them, and a hallucinating Ginevra interrupts the coven, causing Massetto to reveal he can hear and speak as he tries to escape. The four return to the convent, awakening Bartolomeo as they try to accuse each other, who then discovers Tommasso and Marea are having an affair. Bartolomeo judges their sins with a penitential and sends Tommasso away.
Massetto is returned to Bruno, who describes how he plans to torture him. Alessandra wants to free him and enlists help from Fernanda and Ginevra, who have bonded over embracing their carnal desires. They distract the guards using turtles with candles and break Massetto out, returning to the convent in two couples. Tommasso and Marea meet by a bridge.

Cast

Development and writing

came up with the idea for The Little Hours after having a discussion while high and watching DOGTV with a filmmaker friend, Joe Swanberg. In the conversation Baena explained his collegiate studies of sexual transgression in the Middle Ages and Giovanni Boccaccio's The Decameron, and his long-standing desire to make a "medieval combat nun movie", and Swanberg encouraged Baena to make a film with this concept. The next day, Baena called Liz Destro, who had produced his previous films, to pitch the idea; Destro had an investor who had long requested for a film to be made at locations they had in Lucca, Italy, which would be suitable for Baena's pitch, and Baena went to scout them within a few months.
While visiting potential locations, Baena did not explain that the film was an adaptation of The Decameron, due to the book remaining controversial in Catholic areas of Italy. He wrote a twenty-page film treatment rather than a screenplay, primarily based on the first two tales of the third day in The Decameron. Parts of the film surrounding Marea and Tommasso's affair were also based on the second tale of the ninth day. Baena felt that the stories were still humorous despite their age. In adapting the medieval work, he aimed to "achieve the spirit of the original story" through keeping its sense of humor and reflecting the social and political dynamics utilized by Boccaccio. Actresses Aubrey Plaza and Alison Brie were pleased with the character journeys for the three main nuns developed through the story, with Brie describing that " became a symbol for each of to discover something else within them."
Plaza, Baena's partner, was raised Catholic and attended Catholic school. She was involved in the development from an early stage, contributing to the research for specifics of convent practices, and Baena incorporated elements inspired by Plaza in his story. Baena also consulted religious scholars while researching. The film was originally jokingly called Nunz, before Plaza suggested changing it to refer to Little Hours, a term Plaza recalled after looking for the specific prayer the priest would recite in a certain scene. The film was Plaza's producing debut. She produced alongside Destro and Destro Films, with StarStream Media and Bow and Arrow Entertainment executive producing along with Productivity Media, and Exhibit Entertainment and Foton Pictures. Dan Romer composed the film's score.

Casting

The film's casting directors were Nicole Daniels and Courtney Bright. In April 2016, it was announced that the film would star Alison Brie, Dave Franco, Kate Micucci, Aubrey Plaza, John C. Reilly, Molly Shannon, Fred Armisen, Jon Gabrus, Jemima Kirke, Nick Offerman, Adam Pally, Paul Reiser, Lauren Weedman, and Paul Weitz. Many of these actors had previously worked with Baena; he had also asked Garry Marshall to return for a role, but Marshall was too ill to travel and died a few months later. Local Italian people were cast in supporting roles.
Plaza, who helped to assemble the ensemble cast, was the first actor to join. Baena then approached their friend, Brie, to pitch her the film. Brie "unofficially signed on" and Baena told her he wanted Franco, Brie's partner, to play across from her in the film. Micucci and Reilly then joined the cast before Baena reached out to another friend and frequent collaborator in Shannon. Franco, hesitant to act in something so heavily improvised, was "slowly... massag" into agreeing by Brie and joined after the main cast of women were attached. Kirke signed on after Baena came up with her character when they were "just hanging out ". Brie and Franco signed on to the film from Baena's pitch of a contemporary sex comedy about 14th century nuns, which they found original and exciting, while Micucci and Shannon liked the project as both had personal interests in playing nuns.
Shannon was also excited to join a cast of strong women, which she compared to Rosalind Russell films, and praised Plaza for her strong support of talented and funny women. Baena had been aware that his film Joshy, shot shortly before The Little Hours, "had a lot of masculine energy", and wanted to consciously feature more women.