Benedetta

Benedetta

A 17th-century nun becomes entangled in a forbidden lesbian affair with a novice. But it is Benedetta's shocking religious visions that threaten to shake the Church to its core.

  • Released: 2021-07-09
  • Runtime: 127 minutes
  • Genre: Drama, History, Romance
  • Stars: Virginie Efira, Charlotte Rampling, Daphne Patakia, Lambert Wilson, Olivier Rabourdin, Clotilde Courau, Louise Chevillotte, Hervé Pierre, Guilaine Londez, Alexia Chardard, Quentin D'Hainaut, Jonathan Couzinié, Satya Dusaugey, Antoine Lelandais, David Clavel, Nicolas Gaspar, Gaëlle Jantet, Justine Bachelet, Lauriane Riquet, Eléna Plonka, Héloïse Bresc, Vinciane Millereau, Jérôme Chappatte, Ewan Ribard, Nicolas Béguinot, Pedro Radicic, Benjamin Penemaria, Frédéric Sauzay, Sophie Breyer, Célia Kaci, Alexia Chardard, Sébastien Chabane, Boris Gillot, Léa Lopez, Olga Milshtein, Pascal Le Corre, Raphaël Potier, Philippe Saunier, Fabrice Cals, Gaëlle Jeantet
  • Director: Paul Verhoeven
 Comments
  • thierrydewijn - 5 May 2024
    Thought provoking story about a lesbian nun
    Well, as some reviewers already suggest this movie is not for everyone. If you're from the dogmatic Catholic school, I would suggest skipp this one to prevent yourself dissapointment.

    However for free thinking people there is a lot to enjoy.

    First of all a strong performance of the main character the gorgeous Virginie Elfira. She plays the diversity of emotions going from pure devotion, erotic scenes to being possessed by demonic voices very convincing and with grace.

    The movie is not overly sexual as some may think. But as lesbian nuns in the 16th century where totally unheard of it adds to the sexual liberation wave we're still in.

    Some reviewers suggest that the acting in scenes where Benedetta has some spiritual experience is extreme. Having read biographies from famous sages and spiritual peopla I can assure that this is in my opinion not the case, but can be seen as realistic.

    And to wrap up this review: The story is easy to follow and acting, the scenes and the music are all good. So overall I give this movie an 8. (9 or 10 I leave for movies I will never forget)
  • jackiebernardi - 5 June 2023
    Unfortunately unconvincing
    We expected this film to be better as SBS is usually pretty good with its queer films. Unfortunately the film was quite disappointing. The sex scenes were unconvincing, and as it progressed it became apparent we were watching a film full of women from a very male perspective. If you're a guy who wants to watch some light weird porn then this is for you. If you're a woman, it will feel a bit off the mark. Hopefully in the coming years there will be a realization that a film like this ought to be informed by woman, or even better, directed by a woman. This film could've had potential but as it stands, it is a teenagers wet dream.
  • OMTR - 30 September 2022
    Are the ways of the Lord inscrutable?
    Paul Verhoeven recounts the life of Benedetta Carlini, a novice nun in 17th-century Tuscany who we wondered if she was a saint or a sinner, with a subtlety that leaves room for doubt in this biographical psychological drama, thanks to the exceptional performance of Virginie Efira, who sublimates herself with the insight and depth she brings to her role.

    Corruption, hypocrisy, manipulations, perverse games and plague ignite the convent of the city of Pescia, when Sister Benedetta, who has become an abbess, indulges in Sapphic pleasures with Sister Bartolomea.

    However, it is his religious visions that shake the Church to its very core.
  • lynnsalcambrodted - 17 June 2022
    Tempting
    The Italy of the Renaissance. Benedetta, the daughter of a nobleman, enters a nunnery at an early age. She is devoted to her role as a nun and obsessed with her worship of Mary as well as her belief that she is a bride (if not THE bride) of Jesus Christ. After some visions, she even sees herself as a chosen one and bringer of salvation. One night the stigmata (the wounds of Jesus Christ at the crucifixion) appears on her and the other Christian authorities in the small community of Pescia also start to take notice. While Benedetta comes closer to the status of saint, she also starts an affair with the nun Bartolomea and in the country around Pescia rages the plague ...

    I must admit that my expectations regarding Benedetta were quite low. I expected a monotonous erotic thriller - and was pleasantly surprised. Paul Verhoeven - from whom I have not yet seen one film that I could take seriously - managed to make a quite sophisticated drama, which, despite the ingredients of religious obsession, lesbian love, plague, and intrigues, is not even too much of a lurid film.

    Much of the film's refinement, however, is due to the performance of the cast, especially Virginie Efira. She breathtakingly personifies the delicate balancing act between religious passion and religious delusion, between selflessness and self-interest, that makes the character of Benedetta so enchanting and, at the same time, so ambivalent, with small sprinkles of irony and naivety.

    Go to bestlesbianmoviesever dot com for the rest of the review.
  • BandSAboutMovies - 16 April 2022
    Enjoyable
    When Jean-Luc Godard's Hail Mary came out in 1985, the Catholic Church was so upset they talked about it in my little church in Ellwood City and I'd never heard of Goddard before, so thanks for using indignation to make me discover art. In fact, I'd already been turning to the films rated "O" by the Pittsburgh Catholic as films to hunt down, like Dawn of the Dead, Carrie, Lemora: A Child's Tale of the Supernatural and many, many more.

    What does is say when Benedetta is beamed directly into my living room and presents a take on religion that seems to claim that it can exist hand in hand with sexuality and not a single protest happens? I demand more shock and upsetness!

    Well, The American TFP - as well as other Catholic groups - did protest and it was banned in Singapore, but in the 80s, they would have been crying at the altar over this.

    Benedetta Carlini was born into a family that seemingly led her into the life of Catholic mysticism, living a childhood filled with devil dogs that attacked her and nightingales - the symbol of carnal pleasure - singing at her command. Her family may have been too poor to pay the dowry - yes, Brides of Christ were literally brides then - and she finally joined a smaller ascetic order of sisters, where a statue was said to have fallen on her as she prayed to it.

    In 1614, Benedetta's life changed as she began to see visions of Jesus, who would battle snakes, scorpions and boars to protect her. The priests believed that she was either mentally ill, being consumed by demons or meeting the Divine, but leading to the former, even when she grew sick for two years and then had the visions return in 1617.

    Now, instead of Jesus, she was being attacked by a handsome young man who attacked her with chains and swords, demanding that she leave the monastic life. These visions told her that the Church could not save her soul. A year later, as there was a parade through town, she went into a trance where Mary gave her two angels to guard her and she could see Saint Dorothy. Three months later, she received the Stigmata and as a result, she was one of the few women - if any to be honest - able to give sermons within the Catholic Church.

    On March 21, 1619, one of the lead priests summoned Benedetta and told her: "Today is the day of St. Benedict, your saint's day, go in ecstasy at your pleasure, I give you permission." The next vision she recieved would be Jesus taking her heart and returning with a new one in three days for her. Nuns who felt her heart said that they could not detect it within her body. To maintain her pureness, Jesus ordered her not to eat meat, eggs and milk products and not to drink anything but water. And maintain her spiritual purity, the Son of Man assigned her a guardian angel, Splenditello, to let her know when she was sinning.

    On May 27, 1619 - a Feast of the Holy Trinity - Benedetta claimed that she was married to Jesus himself, as others heard her speak in a different voice. Now, here's where things get interesting. As stated before, women were to be kept silent at this time and most of all, quiet within the Catholic Church. By having these visions, she was able to have power, agency and voice.

    She was investigated by the church multiple times, supposedly died and was resurrected, then was accused of being possessed. Her parents were also said to be demonically taken at some point in their lives and it was also claimed that she was avoiding the diet Jesus had given her by eating salami and Cremonese-style mortadella. More damaging was the discovery that she was causing her own spiritual cuts and wounds, as well as sleeping with a fellow nun, Bartolomea, acts that her guardian angel would say were not a sin.

    No one is sure how Benedetta was punished, but the town of Pescia revered her even as she was kept within the convent for the rest of her life.

    Basing his movie on Immodest Acts: The Life of a Lesbian Nun in Renaissance Italy by Judith C. Brown, director Paul Verhoeven and co-writer David Birke offer no easy answers. We do see the striking visions of Jesus that Benedetta is given, but it's left to interpretation if what she sees is the madness of the divine. Virginie Efira is quite striking in the way that she can appear at once in charge and yet be pulled and pushed by the whims of God and man.

    The director would not make this movie with the writer who started the project, Gerard Soeteman. He was not involved in the rewrites and filming of the movie due to his growing dissatisfaction with the director's emphasis on sexual content. Soeteman saw Benedetta as being concerned with a woman's struggle for power in a male-dominated world, but was disappointed by how Verhoeven had instead concentrated on making a nunsploitation movie.

    I was intrigued by the stories of the other women in this movie, as Sister Felicita (Charlotte Rampling) has been the leader of the order with power that exists only inside the walls of their home. Bartolomea (Daphné Patakia) has left an abusive family and sees in Bendetta a partner to change her life and feels left behind - and is permanently damaged as a result of their relationship - as her lover's power changes her existence.

    For a movie that has a budget of every nunspolitation movie ever made all added together, this stays somewhat classy - I say that in full knowledge that a statue of Mary is carved into a phallus - and presents a world where its heroine can achieve both spiritual and carnal ecstasy. This idea remains incendiary two millenia after the church began. It's also a film that dares to have a violent and sexually inviting image of Jesus, attacking snakes and inviting the young nun to disrobe and embrace Him as he's nailed to the tree.

    "Sometimes it makes me tremble."