Afouotos Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

AnhartLinkin This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

Kinley This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

Logan By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

dfle3 If you could give a movie 10/10 for a single scene, this movie would qualify and it would be for the notorious rape scene. The movie is otherwise pretty dull and has delusions of grandeur-in other words, you could describe it as pretentious. It's been many years since I've seen this film, but I do remember coming into the cinema a pico-second after the movie started and feeling hopelessly lost with regard to what was happening in the movie...yes, it's that kind of film.But I do remember the rape scene. This scene is, I think, the greatest scene in all movie history. Now, you may be shocked by this scene, but I think if you can get past this reaction, you will have a feeling of "Enlightenment". I don't want to say too much on this scene, so as not to spoil it for you, but the 'right' way to view this scene, I think, is to imagine you are sitting behind yourself in the cinema watching you watching the movie.There is definitely a 'wrong' way to see this scene, I think. That was magnificently demonstrated when an SBS TV journalist, Helen Vatsikopolous (I think) interviewed the director, Peter Greenaway. Her question was so staggering in its naivete that Greenaway had to talk to her like Jesus to a child.Yes, the movie is disturbing and the rape scene is very confronting. But if you see it for what it REALLY is, it is very rewarding-this is Art at its best.This scene is right up there with other favourite scenes of mine in movies...including a scene in A Clockwork Orange, which I've just posted on today.Again, The Baby of Macon is a rather boring movie, with a 10 out of 10 scene. If the scene makes you angry, it's just a sign of how good its art is.

allan-marsden A great film, with the richness of texture we have come to expect from Greenaway, but in a context - the medieval church and court - which better suits this richness than some of his earlier offerings. Looking through the comments on this film, I am surprised that no-one has picked up on the pivotal nature of one specific scene in the film, that in which the girl tries to seduce the Bishop's son in the 'stable', against the wishes of the child. This scene to me is the heart of the tragedy which is the principal plot line of the film, and is excellently put together and acted. As such, it is far more important than the rape scene, which is merely an acting-out of the inevitable consequences of the split between the girl and the child, and is less significant than, for instance, the dismemberment of the child. I'd also just like to say how well the device of the separate voice for the child works for me.

HumanoidOfFlesh Peter Greenaway is one of the most unique directors at work in cinematic arthouse today.He made several truly original movies like "The Falls"(1980),"A Zed and Two Noughts"(1985),"The Pillow Book"(1997) etc."The Baby of Macon" is pretty demented with the scenes of cannibalism,incest,rape and gore.The film is difficult,challenging,brutal and darkly beautiful.A baby is born from a supposed virgin woman,so a chain of hysteria about divine intervention in the birth takes place.The scene when stunningly beautiful Julia Ormond is gang-raped is really hard to watch-it is not graphic,but her agonizing screams are quite convincing.Highly recommended if you want to see totally challenging piece of art.

tedg Spoilers herein.For art to be real, worthwhile, it has to be more than a mere political statement. It has to be `open,' producing rewards beyond what the artist might have had in mind. Greenaway is the richest artist working in film and this film has bottomless rewards.The key dimension here is exploitive mercantilism: the irresistibility of the personality, expectant generation of miracles, and the engineering of these for profit. In other words, theater to support power.The key presentational mechanism is an incredibly deep self-referential nesting. Paintings within a play within a play within a movie, all shuffled. The Church is both within and without as is the power base of the artists and Medici scion. There is a phenomenal, long tracking shot during the rape that deliberately weaves through all these layers, following the main threads of the tapestry. It incidentally includes a disturbing scene; the effect is to give us no them-us boundary to retreat behind.As we watch and deconstruct this, so do the participants (whom we fancy we are better than) deconstruct the child. Every element, from disemboweling to some heavy disgust with priests, is beautiful.Any Greenaway project is an experience which impresses -- some are life-altering. This is great art in my opinion, but I prefer Greenaway projects that have broader ambition. This is like `Belly,' `Women' and `Draughtsman's' which each present a single metaphoric skeleton. The book (Pillow and Prospero) and counting projects (`Zed,' `Drowning,' `Falls') have fuller horizons. Where this is bottomless, those are bottomless in many directions.If you are looking for an `easy' beginning into Greenaway's imagination, this could be a good start.