A 1993 Historical drama directed by Peter Greenaway as a corrupt court deals with the birth of baby from a supposed virgin woman leading to hysteria.
The movie stars Julia Ormond, Ralph Fiennes, Philipe Stone, Jonathan Lacey, Don Henderson, Celia Gregory, Jeff Nuttall, and Jessica Hynes.
It was first released in May 17, 1993.
Tropes for the film:
- 2-for-1 Show: The movie does this by portraying the performance of a Renaissance-era play called The Baby of Macon, but blurs the line between the play and reality so much that the viewer sometimes can't tell where the play ends and reality begins, with rather horrifying results.
- From Beyond the Fourth Wall: Cosimo de'Medici acts as both an audience member to the stage production as well as a character. He occasionally steps onto the stage and interacts with characters, influencing the plot. Because he is an aristocrat, it makes sense that the players would adapt the play on the fly whatever Cosimo suggests. The film is all about the interaction between various layers of reality in an artistic work.
- No Fourth Wall: The movie heavily blurs the line between what is fictional and what is "real" within the film. The plot is sometimes a morality play performed before an audience, but sometimes it seems real. Sometimes members of the audience are just spectators, and sometimes they walk onstage and influence the plot. The viewer is frequently shown the actors backstage, and sometimes the actors conspire to make what happens on stage real. When the performers all make a curtain call, the lead actors, whose characters have died, remain dead. The living actors bow to the theatrical audience, and then the audience stands up and they all bow to the camera.
