The Coming of Sin

A superstitious servant girl with recurring nightmares about a naked man on horseback is taken into the care of a reclusive female artist who lives in a country chateau. The artist offers shelter and instruction, and as the girl settles into the isolated household their relationship shifts from caretaker and ward into something more intimate and fraught. The film follows the slow, tense development of their bond, mixing dreamlike sequences with everyday domestic moments. It stays focused on mood and character, keeping key revelations private while letting atmosphere and sexual tension build toward an unsettling, ambiguous climax.

Released in 1978, The Coming of Sin was directed by José Ramón Larraz and credited to creator Monique Pastrynn. Larraz, who had worked in European genre cinema, staged the piece with a small cast and a rural setting that emphasizes solitude and psychological unease.

There are no widely cited box office figures for the film; it did not play as a mainstream commercial release. Its screenings were limited to select European venues and specialized festivals or grindhouse circuits, so it found a modest, niche audience rather than broad theatrical success.

Critical reaction was mixed, and viewer ratings reflect that ambivalence. Many responses focus on the film's deliberate pacing, erotic undertones, and persistent dream imagery, noting how superstition and fear shape the characters' behavior. Themes include power and desire, the interplay of fantasy and waking life, and how isolation can intensify emotional bonds and suspicion.

While The Coming of Sin never became a mainstream touchstone, it has some recognition among fans of 1970s European erotic thrillers and Larraz's filmography. It turns up occasionally in retrospectives and private collections, and collectors and specialty programmers point to its atmospheric style and unsettling tone when discussing lesser-known continental genre pieces from that era.