There is movies that are born served for controversy, as is the case with a lot of movies dealing with the less pleasant aspects of religion. Or the entire filmography of Paul Verhoeven. Put the two together and you have a bomb. The funny thing is that the Dutch director is a person who has been obsessed with the figure of Jesus Christ for a long time and has even written a book about him (even a movie like ‘Robocop’ takes a lot from him).
Sure, his obsession with he does not understand dogmatism, praising aspects of him that almost make him a political terrorist who disturbed the power held by the Romans and who fought the merchants who desecrated the interior of the temples with immodest marketing of money (to be fair, these things are collected in the scriptures) . Not exactly the most pleasant approach. Combine that with a controversial story of lesbian nuns who claimed to have psychic connections with God and you have a bomb like ‘Benedetta’, now available to watch on Filmin.
A caring nun
The Dutchman takes us into this explosive story, set in 17th century Italy, in the Pescia region. Benedetta Carlini is taken to an exclusive convent in the Tuscany region. He claims to have visions where he communicates directly with Jesus Christ, reaching moments of strange baroque ecstasy. The arrival of a poor farmer’s daughter to the convent will further disrupt her internal dynamics, and awaken repressed desires in this nun.
https://www.espinof.com/listas/13-peliculas-memorables-monjas-que-te-pondran-habitos-punta
Far from restraining himself to do something elegant in the style of ‘Black Narcissus’, Verhoeven decides to explore all the edges of the desire that his protagonist lives, with trademark extremes such as the use of perfectly polished crucifixes to serve as dildos or even an image of Transgender Jesus Christ. It’s pure blasphemy, but not a cheap provocation just for the fun of it. The Dutchman seeks to explore how private longings can coexist with devoted faith.
In the end, ‘Benedetta’ is also a love story. A pervert, like the ones that usually populate her stories, who twists completely when sex is used as a commodity. The moments of purest love come in the relationship with God, full of complexity but not absent of fervor. The biggest upset comes with the exercises of power, which Verhoeven is not shy about placing in the Church as an institution.
‘Benedetta’: faith and power
The characters of Charlotte Rampling and Lambert Wilson represent the most toxic aspects of the Catholic religion as an organization, moved by economic and social control and using faith as a curtain with which to shield themselves. ‘Benedetta’ is tremendously obscene and even tacky, but it is nonetheless perceptive in her denunciation of the ostentation that goes against what the son of God promulgated to the faithful.
It’s rare to talk about finesse in a film that from its mere premise reads like “nunsploitation”, but the film offers that both in its bites against the institution and in its ambiguous story about its protagonist. He flatly refuses to condemn her, but he does not stop leaving signs that she is not exactly a saint. Still, her story allows Verhoeven to unravel his own faith and lets him hint at that crazy Jesus Christ movie he keeps wishing he could make.
In Espinof | The best movies that have represented the figure of Jesus Christ