A convent in Bobbio, Italy, serves as the setting for the two stories that unfold in this haunting and uniquely crafted film. In the first, set in the 17th century, Federico, a young man-at-arms, attempts to restore his family’s honor after his twin brother, a priest, is seduced by a nun and commits suicide. The only way to right the wrong is to coerce the nun into confessing that she is actually in league with the devil. But Federico begins to fall under her spell, too. Fast-forward a few hundred years into the present and Federico, a tax investigator, visits the old convent-cum-castle with a Russian millionaire to persuade the estate’s elderly aristocrat owner to sell it. But the noble is in fact a creature of the night, who hid himself in the castle. Piergiorgio Bellochio remarkably performs the same Federico in three different stages. Sophisticated imagery and the way in which vampirism is juxtaposed to Catholicism make Blood of My Blood an intriguing film, particularly the film’s stunning, transcendental finale, which, akin to an exquisite hymn to love, traverses beyond the darkness of religion and leaves an unforgettable impression. (RHEE Soue-won)