Rent Benedetta (2021)

Overblown Unshocking Sex Drama About Nuns! - Benedetta review by GI

Director Paul Verhoeven, not unknown for his excesses, has tried to categorise this as historical drama mostly because it is allegedly based on a true story (this being his chief defence for allegations of blasphemy) but it's really a quite shallow sexploitation film wrapped up in a sort of friendly version of The Devils (1971). This was bound to rattle some nerves in religious fundamentalists who view such nonsense far too seriously so putting aside all the pretensions what are we left with? In short a story about a 16th Century nun who fakes miracles (or does she??) including the stigmata and in doing so ousts the Abbess (Charlotte Rampling) and gets the top job allowing her to have a lusty relationship with a novice. As you'd expect with Verhoeven there's some audacious sex, some bloody violence and horrible plagued infested corpses but it's a hollow film, lacking any gravitas and at times you want to laugh out loud. Unconvincing and nowhere near his great films whether they be his Dutch or American based ones.

Promised to be so much more than it turned out to be. A very dull turgid film - Benedetta review by TB

Paul Verhoeven making a film about lesbian nuns should be an instant winner. Not only is he fearless, but the film would be so much more than it's lurid premise, which was what I was most looking forward to. And after the phenomenal Elle, this was shaping up to be something incredible.

However, this film is really boring. There are lots of speeches about sin and miracle working. But it never is as scandalous as it likes to think it is. And when the much-hinted at and built upto sex scene arrives, it is fairly boring. Another example of this sort of film hype really not delivering.

Verhoeven may have been trying to make that point in a postmodern type of way, but it didn't work for me and fell flat. There are some plus points, the main one being that it's use of lighting, colour palette and cinematography is stunning: this really is a beautiful film to look at, hence the 2 stars. And Charlotte Rampling is suitably frosty & domineering as the head nun.

But these are small plus points in a film which in all honesty should have been so, so much more.

Vacuous nonsense - Benedetta review by PD

Oh dear. This could have been a serious indictment of religion, or even a workable black comedy, but ends up, sadly, being vacuous nonsense. The plot, such as it is, hinges on a Virgin Mary wooden figurine repurposed into a sex toy, which tells you everything you need to know.

Inspired apparently by Judith Brown’s “Immodest Acts: The Life of a Lesbian Nun in Renaissance Italy,” Verhoeven spins the (potentially intriguing) tale of Benedetta, a 17th-century nun in the plague-ravaged Tuscan city of Pescia, who seems to have a divine gift and suffers from disturbing visions. But unfortunately it all ends up in a 'frustrated lesbian-meets-madness' mess - in one vision, for example, she sees a crucified Jesus telling her to “Take off your clothes,” and if you don’t know whether to laugh or just look away, you’re not alone.

Virginie Efira as Benedetta is pretty one-dimensional throughout, with absolutely zero chemistry between her and Daphne Patakia (perhaps they were laughing too much to care), whilst Charlotte Rampling as mother superior gets full marks for attempting to give the film more gravitas than it deserves (and has some good lines: “No miracle occurs in bed, believe me,” she says). A local church dignitary sees in the apparently blessed nun an opportunity to rise up the chain of command and make Pescia a magnet for pilgrims like Assisi, but this and other any potentially interesting leads, such as a brave nun refusing to go along with all the mind games, are quickly dissipated, and we're left with the (rather disturbing) feeling that Verhoeven isn't in slightest bit interested in history, or the truth of this person. Meanwhile, the male voyeuristic eye is all-too dominant and not a little exploitative - the film wants to have a go at religious hypocrisy (fair enough) but for me all it reveals is the filmmaker’s: how for example does it help his mission exposing a corrupt system to show a horrific torture scene with a stripped-naked nun? There are perhaps some important themes raised amongst it all — “Who decides what is God’s will?” is one lingering question —but to find it you have to slice away all the tasteless excesses that are presumably intended to push buttons, like a 5-year-old testing her parents’ patience. And it takes a particular kind of chutzpah in 2021 for a man (and only a man could do this) to make a film purporting to champion female liberation in a rigid male hierarchy via exclusive female nudity and same-sex dry humping. The only blessing here, I'm afraid, is when it’s over. Such a pity.