131 mins |
Rated
R18 (Violence, sexual violence, sex scenes & content that may disturb)
Directed by Paul Verhoeven
Starring Virginie Efira, Lambert Wilson, Louise Chevillotte, Olivier Rabourdin, Daphne Patakia, Charlotte Rampling
Playing as part of IN THE SHADE Film Festival Jan 20 - Feb 01.
France/Netherlands • In French with English subtitles
Based on true events, BENDETTA unearths the story of Benedetta Carlini, a 17th-century nun in Tuscany who believed she saw visions of Christ and engaged in a sexual relationship with a fellow sister at her abbey. Because this is a film by genre auteur par excellence Paul Verhoeven (whose movies include ROBOCOP, BASIC INSTINCT, and ELLE), the result is anything but a reverent treatment of an odd footnote in Catholic European history. Forgoing the hallmarks of prestige cinema, this delirious, erotic, and violent melodrama is told with a boundless spirit for scandal, and unabashedly courts blasphemy as it unfolds its tale of religious hypocrisy. Wildly entertaining, and featuring standout performances from Virginie Efira as the title character and Charlotte Rampling as the stoic, conflicted Mother Abbess, BENDETTA maintains both a feverish pitch and a fascinating ambiguity in its depiction of the miraculous and the mundane, the sacred and the profane. - FILM AT LINCOLN CENTER
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Playing as part of IN THE SHADE Film Festival Jan 20 - Feb 01.
France/Netherlands • In French with English subtitles
Based on true events, BENDETTA unearths the story of Benedetta Carlini, a 17th-century nun in Tuscany who believed she saw visions of Christ and engaged in a sexual relationship with a fellow sister at her abbey. Because this is a film by genre auteur par excellence Paul Verhoeven (whose movies include ROBOCOP, BASIC INSTINCT, and ELLE), the result is anything but a reverent treatment of an odd footnote in Catholic European history. Forgoing the hallmarks of prestige cinema, this delirious, erotic, and violent melodrama is told with a boundless spirit for scandal, and unabashedly courts blasphemy as it unfolds its tale of religious hypocrisy. Wildly entertaining, and featuring standout performances from Virginie Efira as the title character and Charlotte Rampling as the stoic, conflicted Mother Abbess, BENDETTA maintains both a feverish pitch and a fascinating ambiguity in its depiction of the miraculous and the mundane, the sacred and the profane. - FILM AT LINCOLN CENTER