The protagonist's name and film title come both from a passage in the Bible, 1 Corinthians 13: "Now we see through a glass, darkly..."[citation needed].

[1] Darkly Noon (Brendan Fraser), whose name comes from a Bible passage, is a young man who has spent his entire life as a member of an ultraconservative Christian cult.

He is rescued from exhaustion by a coffin transporter named Jude (Loren Dean) and his friend Callie (Ashley Judd).

His frustration intensifies when Clay (Viggo Mortensen), Callie's mute boyfriend, who builds the coffins Jude sells, returns home after being away for a few days.

Philip Ridley came up with the idea for The Passion of Darkly Noon during his time directing The Reflecting Skin as on the drive to and from set he'd pass a fenced off compound that belonged to a cult.

[2] Ridley wanted to give the film a feeling of being like a fairy tale with framed around American fears fueled by religious fervor.

[2] Entertainment Weekly called The Passion of Darkly Noon "an unintended comedy with a scorcher of an ending", citing poor acting, over-the-top dialogue and implausible plot twists.