Benedetta (2021)
Country: FR/BEL/NL
Technical: col/2.39:1 131m
Director: Paul Verhoeven
Cast: Virginie Efira, Charlotte Rampling, Daphne Patakia, Lambert Wilson, Olivier Rabourdin
Synopsis:
An order of nuns in 16th century Tuscany accepts as novice the daughter of a wealthy merchant. She grows up to be a model sister, albeit one prone to tumultuous visions, until sanctuary is given to an abused peasant girl whose carnal awareness finds a willing pupil in her cellmate and brings on new prodigies.
Review:
It is not every year that a release combines soft pornography with hagiographic satire, and one can sense the relish with which the director devoured the sources concerning this real-life Benedetta Carlini while fashioning his screenplay. Whereas in the 1970s this might have been the occasion for a pageant of guilty pleasures followed by a suitably grotesque putting to death, our times are ripe for the irony of an abbess who embraces shamelessly the Sapphic pleasures of her cell while apparently rejoicing in divine protection and a direct line to Jesus. Verhoeven cannot resist dwelling on the more graphic aspects of his tale, he is gamely seconded by his cast who impart their roles with due devotion and deprive it of the name of exploitation!
Country: FR/BEL/NL
Technical: col/2.39:1 131m
Director: Paul Verhoeven
Cast: Virginie Efira, Charlotte Rampling, Daphne Patakia, Lambert Wilson, Olivier Rabourdin
Synopsis:
An order of nuns in 16th century Tuscany accepts as novice the daughter of a wealthy merchant. She grows up to be a model sister, albeit one prone to tumultuous visions, until sanctuary is given to an abused peasant girl whose carnal awareness finds a willing pupil in her cellmate and brings on new prodigies.
Review:
It is not every year that a release combines soft pornography with hagiographic satire, and one can sense the relish with which the director devoured the sources concerning this real-life Benedetta Carlini while fashioning his screenplay. Whereas in the 1970s this might have been the occasion for a pageant of guilty pleasures followed by a suitably grotesque putting to death, our times are ripe for the irony of an abbess who embraces shamelessly the Sapphic pleasures of her cell while apparently rejoicing in divine protection and a direct line to Jesus. Verhoeven cannot resist dwelling on the more graphic aspects of his tale, he is gamely seconded by his cast who impart their roles with due devotion and deprive it of the name of exploitation!
Country: FR/BEL/NL
Technical: col/2.39:1 131m
Director: Paul Verhoeven
Cast: Virginie Efira, Charlotte Rampling, Daphne Patakia, Lambert Wilson, Olivier Rabourdin
Synopsis:
An order of nuns in 16th century Tuscany accepts as novice the daughter of a wealthy merchant. She grows up to be a model sister, albeit one prone to tumultuous visions, until sanctuary is given to an abused peasant girl whose carnal awareness finds a willing pupil in her cellmate and brings on new prodigies.
Review:
It is not every year that a release combines soft pornography with hagiographic satire, and one can sense the relish with which the director devoured the sources concerning this real-life Benedetta Carlini while fashioning his screenplay. Whereas in the 1970s this might have been the occasion for a pageant of guilty pleasures followed by a suitably grotesque putting to death, our times are ripe for the irony of an abbess who embraces shamelessly the Sapphic pleasures of her cell while apparently rejoicing in divine protection and a direct line to Jesus. Verhoeven cannot resist dwelling on the more graphic aspects of his tale, he is gamely seconded by his cast who impart their roles with due devotion and deprive it of the name of exploitation!