The Italy of the Renaissance. Benedetta, the daughter of a nobleman, enters a nunnery at an early age. She is devoted to her role as a nun and obsessed with her worship of Mary as well as her belief that she is a bride (if not THE bride) of Jesus Christ. After some visions, she even sees herself as a chosen one and bringer of salvation. One night the stigmata (the wounds of Jesus Christ at the crucifixion) appears on her and the other Christian authorities in the small community of Pescia also start to take notice. While Benedetta comes closer to the status of saint, she also starts an affair with the nun Bartolomea and in the country around Pescia rages the plague ...
I must admit that my expectations regarding Benedetta were quite low. I expected a monotonous erotic thriller - and was pleasantly surprised. Paul Verhoeven - from whom I have not yet seen one film that I could take seriously - managed to make a quite sophisticated drama, which, despite the ingredients of religious obsession, lesbian love, plague, and intrigues, is not even too much of a lurid film.
Much of the film's refinement, however, is due to the performance of the cast, especially Virginie Efira. She breathtakingly personifies the delicate balancing act between religious passion and religious delusion, between selflessness and self-interest, that makes the character of Benedetta so enchanting and, at the same time, so ambivalent, with small sprinkles of irony and naivety.
Go to bestlesbianmoviesever dot com for the rest of the review.
I must admit that my expectations regarding Benedetta were quite low. I expected a monotonous erotic thriller - and was pleasantly surprised. Paul Verhoeven - from whom I have not yet seen one film that I could take seriously - managed to make a quite sophisticated drama, which, despite the ingredients of religious obsession, lesbian love, plague, and intrigues, is not even too much of a lurid film.
Much of the film's refinement, however, is due to the performance of the cast, especially Virginie Efira. She breathtakingly personifies the delicate balancing act between religious passion and religious delusion, between selflessness and self-interest, that makes the character of Benedetta so enchanting and, at the same time, so ambivalent, with small sprinkles of irony and naivety.
Go to bestlesbianmoviesever dot com for the rest of the review.