Benedetta (2021)

Directed by: Paul Verhoeven | 131 minutes | drama | Actors: Virginie Efira, Charlotte Rampling, Daphne Patakia, Lambert Wilson, Olivier Rabourdin, Louise Chevillotte, Hervé Pierre, Clotilde Courau, David Clavel, Guilaine Londez, Gaëlle Jeantet, Justine Bachelet, Lauriane Riquet

Stories about what goes on behind the high walls of a nunnery are a genre in their own right in cinema. What characterizes them is the controversial mix of religion and (latent) sexuality. In the mid-1960s, Jacques Rivette’s ‘La Religionuse’ (1966) caused a stir even before the film was released. The film touched on topics such as abuse of power, sadism and repressed sexuality within the faith community at a time when the Catholic Church was still firmly rooted in France. Five years later, director Ken Russel went the extra mile with ‘The Devils’ (1971), which featured exorcisms, torture and nuns masturbating to a statue of Christ.

Perhaps the scene from ‘The Devils’ in which Sister Jeanne gratifies herself with a charred bone inspired Paul Verhoeven to be the object that caused the most commotion in ‘Benedetta’ (2021). Like the two titles mentioned above, ‘Benedetta’ is a film adaptation of a book based on a historical event. In the seventeenth century, Benedetta Carlini entered the monastery of the Italian town of Pescia as a young girl. In middle age, Benedetta receives visions of Jesus and, in her own words, receives the stigmata, which led to her being elected abbess of the monastery. But is Benedetta a saint or is she a madman with an opportunistic streak?

In Verhoeven’s film, one of those encounters with Jesus is somewhat reminiscent of his film ‘The Fourth Man’. Jesus appears on the cross and asks Benedetta to take off his loincloth. We see a sexless Jesus who looks more like a woman. Again, the question is: is Benedetta just very naive or does her love for Christ merge with her repressed sexual preference?

In Judith C. Brown’s book ‘Immodest Acts: The Life of a Lesbian Nun in Renaissance Italy’ there is no trace of a statue of Mary transformed into a dildo, but of the fact that the use of an “instrument” could cause you as a nun ended up at the stake (which did not happen to the actual Benedetta), Verhoeven puts it to good use. The statue of Mary as a sex toy is a symbolic intensification of the tension between her life as the Bride of Christ and the sexual relationship Benedetta has with the novice Bartolomea. The ensuing conflict with the local Papal Nuncio and the conviction of Benedetta to be burned at the stake keeps things tense.

And with that ‘Benedetta’ not only fits well within the aforementioned genre, but it is also a real Verhoeven film again: heavy themes and food for thought packaged as a smooth thriller with an enigmatic woman (strong and fascinating but also dubious) in the lead role. . Occasionally he jumps through the story a little too easily, such as when Bartolomea, after being brutally tortured, skips around again, apparently unscathed. However, this does not alter the fact that with ‘Benedetta’ Verhoeven shows his seniority as a filmmaker and has made a strong film with relative simplicity.