‘Benedetta’: Paul Verhoeven’s Bold Film About a Lesbian Nun Burns With Desire, and Holy Fury

Alci Rengifo

Acclaimed director Paul Verhoeven’s latest film, “Benedetta,” is a challenging probe into faith, hidden inside an over-the-top Renaissance melodrama about nuns engaging in a forbidden tryst. That it mostly works is a testament to the intense approach by Verhoeven, who visits again and again the themes that obsess him. Once a filmmaker of big budget sci-fi thrillers, Verhoeven now gets his funding in Europe for lower budget, yet freer arthouse films. Some may find “Benedetta” to be profane and odd, but there’s a certain admiration to be had for a film so bold. You would never see this movie made by any major studio in the United States. 

Verhoeven finds inspiration for his latest French production in a true story, specifically from the book “Immodest Acts: The Life of a Lesbian Nun in Renaissance Italy” by Judith C. Brown. The story of Sister Benedetta Carlini is, according to scholars, one of the earliest documented stories of a lesbian relationship in modern Western history. As the film opens, young Benedetta lives in 17th century Tuscany, where even a wealthy man like her father is at the mercy of rampaging lords. At the age of 9, Benedetta is taken to live at a convent in the village of Pescia. Years later, as a grown woman (played by Virginie Efira), Benedetta is a devout nun who keeps secret visions of Jesus that come to her whether out in the fields or in her chambers. One day, a young woman, Bartolomea (Daphne Patakia), rushes into the convent demanding sanctuary from a violent father. The Abbess (Charlotte Rampling) takes her in and soon there is an instant attraction between Benedetta and Bartolomea. Their desire grows along with Benedetta’s intensifying, mystical visions.

Verhoeven has never been a subtle filmmaker. Everything from his early work in the Netherlands to his famous American films like “Robocop” and “Total Recall,” or the infamous “Showgirls,” hurtles violence, sex and social commentary on the screen like wild paint splashes. But this is also why some of his better films, like the sci-fi satire “Starship Troopers,” endure and find new fan bases. A more personal spirit can be felt in “Benedetta,” however. Verhoeven has been open about his agnosticism and inner debates on faith. Few would imagine the director of “Basic Instinct” is also a member of the scholarly group Jesus Seminar. He has even authored a book on Jesus questioning the way the religious figure’s image has been shaped over 2,000 years. This is important information to know when approaching “Benedetta,” because while the tone of the film is manic and at times soapy, it also has the sincerity of an artist grappling with religion and questions of belief. 

The secret love affair between Benedetta and Bartolomea is the grabbing point of the film, yet it is also slightly rushed. Gradual sexual tension is traded for brisk pouncing where Bartolomea goes instantly for a kiss, or touches Benedetta beneath her robes during a choir performance. Of course there is great danger in doing any of these in an era when the Inquisition still runs a religious police state within the church and society. Verhoeven wants to be a provocateur with moments where Bartolomea carves a Virgin Mary figure into a wooden dildo, then inserting it into Bendetta. Such erotic moments don’t feel too exploitative. Instead it is Verhoeven challenging the very idea of religious icons, or how we as viewers feel about them. It is as if Benedetta and Bartolomea, in having a relationship condemned by the church, subvert its symbols by using them for pleasure. The effect is only dented by the pace and also by how Verhoeven casts two very attractive actors who look more like models than pious Christians making it through plague and persecution. At the same time, Virginie Efira brings a zealous force to her role. She’s afraid of her feelings while staying committed to a feverish religious conviction. This comes across even in moments of melodramatic fury between Benedetta and Bartolomea, which can feel like staged opera moments just lacking good arias.

Faith is what provokes the next level of tension in “Benedetta.” When Benedetta shows signs of stigmata, meaning bleeding from her hands and feet as if she had been crucified, or another voice emits from her body condemning doubters, the movie becomes a different kind of mystery. Moments have the surreal mania of Ken Russell’s brilliant “The Devils,” another true story about a French convent gone wild. Benedetta’s visions of Jesus and her stigmata divide the convent between those who doubt and those who believe without question. At times we are not sure exactly where Verhoeven himself falls. When the nun sees Christ (Jonathan Couzinié) approaching her in a field, or hallucinates him crucified, revealing a vagina beneath his cloak, the grand question is if Benedetta is crazy or genuinely experiencing some spiritual visitation. Like a true agnostic, Verhoeven seems to be leaving it up to the audience. When the Inquisition arrives in the form of Nonce Alfonso (Lambert Wilson, dripping with great malevolence), Benedetta faces the ultimate test, the worst of which is when Bartolomea is put under torture. But what’s really being put on trial? Her mystical visions or her exposed relationship with Bartolomea? For the church the implications are too much to contemplate. If Bendetta is both a lesbian and a visionary, then surely God approves of her love for Bartolomea. 

Verhoeven delights in exploring the period with much gusto. There is the threat of a terrible plague nearing the town. Nights get set aglow by the passing of a fiery red comet which everyone interprets as a sign of something to come. Yet beneath the spectacle, there are some ideas that make it through. Verhoeven may be called many things, but definitely not squeamish or shy. “Benedetta” follows his controversial “Elle” from 2016 where Isabelle Huppert played a rape victim who endures and carries out reprisals in ways that challenge the black and white sense of the world common in American cinema. “Benedetta” deals with issues of sex and religion with tinges of feminism, doubt and belief in a film strange but never dull. At its best it understands how free female sexuality always threatens a patriarchal order, even more when it challenges dogmas. This may not be a perfect film, but it’s good to see someone still attempting it.

“Benedetta” releases Dec. 3 in select theaters and Dec. 21 on VOD.