Directed by Paul Verhoeven
Starring Virginie Efira, Daphne Patakia, Charlotte Rampling, Louise Chevillotte, and Lambert Wilson

I feel sorry for Benedetta. I’m not just referring to the titular true-to-life character this film is based upon, but also to the film itself. Both have found themselves vulnerably exposed and improperly fondled in the debauched and downright dirty-minded hands of hit and miss writer/director, Paul Verhoeven (Elle, Basic Instinct, RoboCop).

Don’t believe for a moment that the true intention here is to creatively produce a genre-bending and boundary-pushing convent-romp period piece. Excuse my lame pun, but I’ll have nun of that! It’s clear as day the bizarre comical and horror touches applied are there as an attempt to even out its absurdity. 

Based on the 1986 book Immodest Acts: The Life of a Lesbian Nun in Renaissance Italy and inspired by real events, persecution is coming to the plague-surrounded Tuscan city of Pescia in the 17th Century. From a young age before her parents first brought her to live at the convent, Benedetta (a brave performance in an undoubtedly challenging role from Belgian actress Virginie Efira) shares a unique and special connection with the Virgin Mother. During her time there, Benedetta begins to experience lurid religious visions, which quickly becomes the talk of the town and casts doubt among some. Behind closed doors though, Benedetta and Bartolomea (Daphne Patakia), a new girl sent to the nunnery by her abusive father, begin an intensely intimate affair.

Any hint of genuine love, any sign of an inseparable bond, any whisper of forbidden desire between these two women is completely exorcised before it even existed.

Paul Verhoeven rapidly strips most conventional settings and substance from the two women and instead purposefully exploits possible, even hopeful yet very unlikely private bedroom shenanigans that are ostensibly fulfilling adventurous sexual fantasies above all else. At the very least, you will never eye a wooden Virgin Mary figurine the same way again! But what is also stripped away by this soft-porn approach is the opportunity to meaningfully include its intrinsic feminist elements and share a more remarkable (and undoubtedly truer) story about woman’s struggle for power in a male-dominated world. This is exactly why one of the early writers working on Benedetta left the project.

While I accept Benedetta can be credited for being provocative and not at all formulaic, I think the time, place, situation and subjects all warrant and are deserving of something with more class and subtlety to go with its dare and explicitness. Perhaps a more fiery Portrait of a Lady on Fire or Ammonite and akin to what director William Oldroyd executed in Lady Macbeth.

It’s only redeeming features that do keep it watchable throughout are the accumulation of lies, deceit and secrecy that also involve The Abbess (Charlotte Rampling) and her daughter Christina, another Sister at the convent. These build anticipation for the inevitable ramifications to follow and do broaden themselves into social and political grounds.

Benedetta is showing in selected cinemas across Australia from February 10th.

Moviedoc thanks Hi Gloss Entertainment and Vendetta Films for the screener link provided to watch and review this film.

Review by Leigh for Moviedoc

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