An erotic lesbian nun drama by the director of “Basic Instinct,” “Showgirls” and “Elle” premiered at the Cannes Film Festival on Friday night to great fanfare — and viewers can’t quite find the words to describe the experience.
“Benedetta,” Paul Verhoeven’s latest sure-to-shock cinematic effort, stunned viewers after it debuted on the fourth night of the 74th edition of the prestigious festival.
The period drama — loosely based on the 1986 nonfiction book “Immodest Acts: The Life of a Lesbian Nun in Renaissance Italy,” by Judith C. Brown — centers on the steamy relationship between two nuns in 17th century Italy: Benedetta (Virginie Efira), who believes she is possessed by Jesus Christ, and Bartolomea (Daphne Patakia), who recently arrived at the convent.
One particular scene that has set Twittersphere ablaze shows a wooden statue of the Virgin Mary being used as a sex toy.
Douglas Greenwowe, a contributing editor for i-D, celebrated the film as “blasphemous, sapphic nun f— fest that’s horny, traumatizing, violent and unhinged.”
Fandango’s Brian Formo added that, even though “Benedetta” might not be one of Verhoeven’s best movies, it is “absolutely” one of his most subversive films. “‘Lesbian nuns’ is only the half of it,” he tweeted.
Jordan Ruimy, editor-in-chief at World of Reel, wrote that “you have never seen a movie quite like this one.” It is “erotic, violent, religiously sinful and absurdist...It’s a feminist take on Christ,” he added.
A review by Deadline’s Todd McCarthy called it a “medieval brew of religious fervor, illicit lesbian sex in a convent, Catholic church politics and — to incidentally add a contemporaneous touch — a plague sweeping the land,” he said, referring to a plague ravaging the land of Pescia in Tuscany.
Still, during a news conference, the 82-year-old director, rejected the idea that the movie’s steamy statuette sex scene is blasphemous.
“I do not understand really how you can be blasphemous about something that happened… You cannot basically change history after the fact. You can talk about that was wrong or not, but you cannot change history. I think the word blasphemy for me in this case is stupid,” Verhoeven said.
The film, which also premiered in French cinemas on Friday, is set to be released in the United States later this year.
———
