Director Paul Verhoeven predicted US anger at his “very sinful” new lesbian “Nunsploitation” movie Benedetta.
“I don’t think Benedetta will be scandalous, at least in Western Europe,” said Verhoeven, who broke the “wall of dignity” of the mainstream movie in the scene across the legs of Basic Instinct.
The film tells the story of a 17th-century French nun embarking on a relationship with another sister.
Includes lesbian sex, remorse, nun kissing and nudity scenes, and a dream sequence where the protagonist makes friends with Jesus.
But iconic directors are afraid that they may face a backlash in the conservative United States, where more “Puritanism” exists, he said.
Director Paul Verhoeven predicted his “very sinful, absurd” new “Nunsploitation movie” Benedetta’s anger in the United States (pictured).
Verhoeven (taken in Cannes), who broke the “barriers of dignity” in mainstream movies in the cross-legged scene of the Basic Instinct, says he doesn’t think the movie will be scandalous, at least in Western Europe
Benedetta was acclaimed at the Cannes Film Festival yesterday, and critics described it as “erotic, violent, religiously sinful and ridiculous” and “the best film about Catholicism since Scorsese’s” silence “.” I dubbed it.
This year’s festival was touted by fans as “a reintroduction to the charm of the Hollywood red carpet” after a pandemic stopped watching movies and cost the movie industry billions of revenues.
Benedetta, which the director of the eighties called his masterpiece, experienced a “godly vision” and about the abbot of the same name in Renaissance Italy, where lesbians flew in her monastery while being greeted by a saint. Based on the true story of.
Benedetta is played by Belgian actress and former TV presenter Virginie Efira. Her lover is portrayed by another Belgian starlet, Daphne Patakia.
The film tells the story of a 17th-century French nun embarking on a relationship with another sister (pictured).
The cast of Benedetta is depicted from left to right: Clotilde Courau, Olivier Rabourdan, Virginie Efira, Paul Verhoeven, Daphne Patakia, Louise Schvilotte
The script was based on the understated act of historian Professor Judith C. Brown, published in 1986: The Life of a Lesbian Nun in Renaissance Italy.
Verhoeven told The Hollywood Reporter:
“Maybe Americans will see it differently. There is more Puritanism in the United States-I saw it in BasicInstinct, and even more in ShowGirls.
The trailer alone is startling, and the cinema is preparing for the protest.
In the video-less than -2 minutes- A young novice nun takes a shower and her humble “protection” is done only with the thinnest transparent gauze curtains.
When the movie’s protagonist-with habits and wimples-enters the “slip” of a young nun, Benedetta instinctively reaches out and barely touches the bare chest of a beginner before recoiling with pious embarrassment.
A producer working in one of Hollywood’s largest studios said of the film: ‘Benedetta is competing for the grand prize in Cannes, where it will be premiered in the world. It is the centerpiece of the festival.
“It’s certainly controversial, but sex is selling. At this point, the studio has to bring people back to the cinema. It’s a matter of survival.
“What’s better than a little exciting Nunsploitation?”
This movie (pictured) contains scenes of lesbian sex, remorse, nun kissing, and nudity.
A Hollywood PR told an email on Sunday:
“There are graphic sex scenes, nudity, whiplash, flickering. This is a basic instinct with wimples and a cross.
Verhoeven claims that his latest film “empowers” women.
He praises Benedetta as the right heroine for the #MeToo generation. Because she is a woman who embraced her sexuality when being a lesbian could burn her at the stake.
A source working with the director said: “Paul is a genius. This is his masterpiece.
“People criticize him right away, but his films are layered and very interesting.
Benedetta premiered at the Cannes Film Festival yesterday and was acclaimed
“Sure, people remember the ice smile because of nudity, but you can watch the movie today, which still holds up as a great filmmaking almost 30 years later.
“He’s an alter who takes risks and pushes the boundaries. That’s what every great artist does.”
Verhoeven’s last movie, Elle, released in 2016, was about a businessman playing a psychological game of a man, a cat, and a mouse who brutally raped her.
Critics loved it, and it won the Oscar nomination for starring actress Isabelle Huppert.
Senior executives at a major Hollywood studio said movies like Benedetta are essential to reviving the “stuck” industry.
“Hollywood studios are facing terrible problems. Pandemics have killed cinemas and people have become accustomed to seeing new releases of streaming services in the comfort of their own homes.
“It has cost the industry billions and continues to do so.
“We need to bring people back to the cinema to survive.
“We know that there are certain movies that bring back young viewers, for example, the heroes of Marvel Comics, but we need to appeal to a wider range of demographics. Movies like Benedetta can save Hollywood. I will.
“The next 12 months will be a success or failure for Hollywood, which is why such a movie is essential to our survival. We need to reintroduce the magic of going to the movies.”
Critics called Benedetta (left) “erotic, violent, religiously sinful, and absurd,” and “the best movie about Catholicism since Scorsese’s” silence. ” Benedetta is played by Belgian actress and former TV presenter Virginie Efira (right).
The story of Benedetta has gained a mythical status in Italy and has been passed down from generation to generation.
However, Professor Brown confirmed the credibility of the story by unearthing new documents in the State Archives of Florence, giving the story academic credibility.
Born in 1591, Benedetta Carlini grew up in a fine middle-class Italian family and entered the Monastery of the Mother of God in Pescia, Tuscany at the age of nine.
During the Italian Renaissance, middle-class families often “buy” their daughters to monastery sites because they were one-quarter of the cost of a marriage dowry and were respectful. Benedetta became an abbot at the age of 30.
She reported the “vision” that came to her, including what Jesus asked to take her as a wife.
The story of Benedetta (movies, photographs) has gained a mythical status in Italy and has been passed down from generation to generation.
Other visions were more graphic and sexual. She “talked” in the voice of an angel and had a mock wedding in the monastery. There she was the only one who could see her new husband, Jesus.
She swarmed to sensation for people to meet her and once showed stigmata in her hands – a bleeding wound similar to what the Bible says Christ received during the crucifixion.
Other nuns were so concerned about her increasingly disturbing claims that she reported her actions to the Pope’s Council in Rome and was ordered to lock Sister Benedetta in her room. ..
A young novice nun, Sister Bartolomea Crivelli, was assigned to watch over her.
However, he embarked on a lesbian case that ended when Bartolomea talked to another nun about their illegal romance.
Later, in a Pope’s investigation, Bartolomea gave a graphic testimony of how to have sex with Benedetta while she was obsessed with the spirit of a “male demon” called Splenditello.
Pope officials have determined that Benedetta’s revelation is the work of the devil, not God. “Devilish attachment”.
They stripped her class and she was in the “prison” of the monastery for the remaining 35 years of her life. She died in 1661.
