# The Little Hours **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 30, 2017, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-little-hours/797664 "2017-09-30T18:53:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2017, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-little-hours/797664/1 "2017-09-30T18:53:05Z")
I searched for a thread on this movie but couldn’t find one, and am not sure whether to be surprised or not. My wife and I had a night without the kids last night, so we watched [The Little Hours](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5666304/). It’s exactly in our wheelhouse: set in a medieval convent and based on the Decameron, it’s a profane, ribald story about the Casanova who flees a murderous noble and takes refuge in the convent, and about the three horny nuns who try to seduce him with varying degrees of success. The setting and costumes are period, the music is vintage 1970s medieval music, and the language and accents are straight from modern sitcoms. Which is appropriate, since the nuns include Kate Micucci from “Garfunkel and Oates”, Aubrey Plaza from “Parks and Rec,” and Alison Brie from, well, you know Alison Brie, she’s a main reason we watched it. It’s not at all going to be to everyone’s taste, but if [this red band trailer](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dc_wqGyXCs8) does it for you, you’re probably gonna have fun :). Have any of y’all seen it? Did I somehow miss a thread on it? ---
**Author:** ![Arkcon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Arkcon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arkcon)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2017, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-little-hours/797664/2 "2017-09-30T19:12:54Z")
That was a pretty awesome film. I’m given to understand that most of it was improv, and I wouldn’t have guessed it. Dialog was very smooth, no parts seemed forced or stilted. A very worthwhile comedy. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2017, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-little-hours/797664/3 "2017-10-01T00:44:00Z")
> [@Arkcon](#): > > That was a pretty awesome film. I’m given to understand that most of it was improv, and I wouldn’t have guessed it. Dialog was very smooth, no parts seemed forced or stilted. A very worthwhile comedy. Heh–parts of it were stilted enough that I wondered if they were translations, but definitely there were sections that were…not stilted. Very interesting! ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2017, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-little-hours/797664/4 "2017-10-01T00:53:54Z")
[Just found an article that confirmed the improv bits](http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-the-little-hours-aubrey-plaza-alison-brie-molly-shannon-20170703-htmlstory.html): > [@LATimes](#): > > Brie: There was no script for this movie. There was a 20-page outline, so in a way, it was fully improvised. But it was really much more like collaborative dialogue, where we would spend our first couple takes improvising dialogue, and Jeff would come in and streamline what we were saying and direct it in the very specific direction that he wanted it to go. > > Shannon: You would have to remember not to say modern things, like “OK” or “cool.” > > Brie: We had a lot of rules. > > Shannon: That is a lot harder than when you’re improvising in modern day. > > Brie: You couldn’t say “like,” you couldn’t say “you guys.” So there was still a reverence for the way that these people were speaking. > > Aubrey Plaza: But you could say pretty much every curse word. > > Brie: Oh, yeah. > > Plaza: Those were encouraged. > > Brie: Jeff described [the approach to dialogue] as it should just sound normal to us. It should feel accessible, rather than us doing British accents, which wouldn’t make any sense, or trying to speak in old English or something. This is Italy, if we were going to go there we’d be speaking Italian. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2017, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-little-hours/797664/5 "2017-10-01T01:12:27Z")
I don’t know if any of you will be familiar enough with this comparison, but to me it felt like a vintage Italian porn movie, but without the porn. It had the odd little plot made up of excuses for sex scenes, the strange juxtaposition of modern and period, and an unexpected twist just so we get to see the cute ones naked. I liked it, though. It just needed a few more jokes from the nuns, as the funniest bits were by John C Reilly and Fred Armisen. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2017, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-little-hours/797664/6 "2017-10-01T01:15:49Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > I liked it, though. It just needed a few more jokes from the nuns, as the funniest bits were by John C Reilly and Fred Armisen. Really? The part that had me just about helpless was the blood-smeared Micucci seduction scene. God, she sold that. ---
**Author:** ![Arkcon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Arkcon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arkcon)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2017, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-little-hours/797664/7 "2017-10-01T22:39:47Z")
I like the way they transitioned from, “Oh, woe is us, we’re nuns and this is all so boring …” Random groundskeepers says “Good morning” The nuns go on a tirade of profanity, but since they’re nuns, they don’t know any dirty words except “Shit.” Then one calls him a “Jew” and that’s so insulting he quits. That’s just totally getting into the character of medieval nuns. Angry, pissed off, rebellious, … medieval … nuns. ---
**Author:** ![Olentzero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90ced4/32.png) [@Olentzero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Olentzero)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2017, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-little-hours/797664/8 "2017-10-02T13:04:02Z")
Oh God, I hope this gets released over here. I wanna see it. ---
**Author:** ![Icarus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icarus/32/72_2.png) [@Icarus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icarus)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2017, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-little-hours/797664/9 "2017-10-02T20:54:31Z")
I have always had a special place in my heart for Kate Micucci, so I enjoyed this immensely. ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2017, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-little-hours/797664/10 "2017-10-02T22:58:39Z")
This sounds vaguely familiar to a movie I saw in the early 90s. Some dude becomes injured and finds himself bedridden in a convent. Three of the nuns there fall for the guy. The nuns are trying their best to keep their feelings secret from each other, meanwhile, this gentleman is at the center of it all. Wish I could remember the name of that movie.