This contained more than a hint of Gnostic misogyny. In a scene with eerie parallels to the Secret Book of John 13:12–14, a serpent tells Jesus that he created women as a trap for men. (Yaldabaoth’s serpentine form is described in Secret Book of John 6:6.)

Also, see Margaret R. Miles, Seeing and Believing: Religion and Values in the Movies (Boston: Beacon Press, 1996), chap. 2, for an exploration of how Scorsese’s overemphasis on sex, in addition to his rejection of politics, reflects the “fundamental conservatism” of Last Temptation of Christ.