I've had this movie for a while and I've already watched it 3 times. It's yet another fantastic movie by my favorite director Paul Verhoeven and one of his best movies in a long time. The movie has French language and English subtitles is an option. The movie is based on a book by Judith C. Brown that tells the story of the nun Benedetta and is based on original documents from the 17th century documenting the trial against Benedetta.
The movie is a story about a lesbian relationship between the 2 Italian nuns Benedetta and Bartolomea, brilliantly played by Virginie Efira and Daphne Patakia. It is also a story of how Benedetta used religion to achieve power for herself and how Benedetta managed to become abbess, replacing the existing abbess Felicita played by Charlotte Rampling. Things don't stay like this for long however, because later in the movie Benedetta finds herself on trial with great risk of ending her days being burned at the stake by the Church.
Obviously there are many scenes with nudity and explicit sex, this is a Verhoeven movie after all, but the movie is much more than that. It is a great drama of how insane religion was and still is and what it does to people and society. The movie contains sex, trials, religion, power, politics, love, betrayal, the plague, torture, violence, you name it. It has a great pace and the story is easy to follow and enjoy.
The Blu-ray includes a great interview with Verhoeven and Efira. Some parts of the interview is in French, but it has English subtitles as does the movie itself.
Rating: 
Movie Title: Benedetta
Director: Paul Verhoeven
First Release: 2021
This Release: 2022
Movie Genre: Drama
RunTime: 131
Actors: Virginie Efira, Daphne Patakia, Charlotte Rampling, Louise Chevillotte, Lambert Wilson
Movie Format: Bluray
Movie Label: MUBI
Content Type: Movie Review
Language: 
Updated: 2022-10-09 20:13
Created: 2022-10-09 19:58
