The coveted spot as Mother Superior is of great importance to three candidates who all yearn for such a position. Twenty minutes in Mother Julia must check between her niece's legs to see if she is a virgin. Sister Ciara, Mother Julia's secret lover, longs to have her vows revoked so she can leave the convent and not suffer emotional torment she currently endures.We see the cruelty of Catholic parents who force their daughters into the convent so that they will not run off with a boy they dislike. Mother Livinia, who many believes is first in line to the Mother Superior position has been gravely ill. Recently inducted into the convent against her will, Isabella and the young man she loves, Fernando, secretly court when time permits. There's a syrupy Romeo and Juliet romance between Isabella and Fernando. This is the time of arranged marriages and dowries so Isabella and Fernando's love is separated because of this.
In the NUNS OF SAINT ARCHANGEL, the theme very present is forbidden love. Trapped in the convent, it's not surprising that desire would arise and remain. Anyway, Julia so craves the Mother Superior position she'll poison bedridden Livinia and send young virginal Isabella to a sleazy scoundrel named Don Carlos who arranged a passage through his connections to give her access to the top. Julia is such a deplorable creature she almost breaks out in glee as she informs Livinia she plans to have her placed in an isolation cell(while informing her entourage where she plans to place her family's coat of arms on the wall of Livinia's room!). And, to send your own niece to town, into Carlos' lair to be sodomized, shows the depths of her deprivation. When the Arch Bishop allows Carafo to visit the convent of Saint Archangel, Julia's whole world comes crashing down.
As nunsploitation goes, THE NUNS OF SAINT ARCHANGEL isn't as titillating as you might expect. It's more a serious look at immoral pursuits to secure the hierarchy of a church position. Carlos is a real creep who, we can imagine, is used to getting what he wants, considering his rank. Incorrigable, hypocritical activity by those who are supposed to be serving God is often exposed in the nunsploitation genre which is why it maintains such a cult following. Anne Heywood becomes so incredibly cold-blooded while obtaining her position, I reckon many will root for her downfall and as it comes, will cheer for her eventual disgracing. Though, to the director's and Heywood's credit, her fate actually somehow garners sympathy once she is given a platform to address those in charge, whose power can lend to cruel and unusual punishment to get the desired information to instill their brand of justice. I imagine some would be appalled with certain torturous methods in order to achieve confessions.
Luc Merenda is Carafo, the one given permission to question and investigate Mother Julia. Martine Brochard is the anguished Chiara, who adores Julia, with Claudia Gravy as a nun positioned to take the Mother Superior all the while having an affair with a man. Maria Cumani Quasimodo is the slowly poisoned Mother Lavinia. With Claudio Gora as the pious Cardinal d'Arezzo who gets so worked up as his soldiers torture the nuns that it appears he almost wets himself. Pier Paolo Capponi, as the lecherous Don Carlos.
In the NUNS OF SAINT ARCHANGEL, the theme very present is forbidden love. Trapped in the convent, it's not surprising that desire would arise and remain. Anyway, Julia so craves the Mother Superior position she'll poison bedridden Livinia and send young virginal Isabella to a sleazy scoundrel named Don Carlos who arranged a passage through his connections to give her access to the top. Julia is such a deplorable creature she almost breaks out in glee as she informs Livinia she plans to have her placed in an isolation cell(while informing her entourage where she plans to place her family's coat of arms on the wall of Livinia's room!). And, to send your own niece to town, into Carlos' lair to be sodomized, shows the depths of her deprivation. When the Arch Bishop allows Carafo to visit the convent of Saint Archangel, Julia's whole world comes crashing down.
As nunsploitation goes, THE NUNS OF SAINT ARCHANGEL isn't as titillating as you might expect. It's more a serious look at immoral pursuits to secure the hierarchy of a church position. Carlos is a real creep who, we can imagine, is used to getting what he wants, considering his rank. Incorrigable, hypocritical activity by those who are supposed to be serving God is often exposed in the nunsploitation genre which is why it maintains such a cult following. Anne Heywood becomes so incredibly cold-blooded while obtaining her position, I reckon many will root for her downfall and as it comes, will cheer for her eventual disgracing. Though, to the director's and Heywood's credit, her fate actually somehow garners sympathy once she is given a platform to address those in charge, whose power can lend to cruel and unusual punishment to get the desired information to instill their brand of justice. I imagine some would be appalled with certain torturous methods in order to achieve confessions.
Luc Merenda is Carafo, the one given permission to question and investigate Mother Julia. Martine Brochard is the anguished Chiara, who adores Julia, with Claudia Gravy as a nun positioned to take the Mother Superior all the while having an affair with a man. Maria Cumani Quasimodo is the slowly poisoned Mother Lavinia. With Claudio Gora as the pious Cardinal d'Arezzo who gets so worked up as his soldiers torture the nuns that it appears he almost wets himself. Pier Paolo Capponi, as the lecherous Don Carlos.