Benedetta

Based on true events, BENEDETTA unearths the story of Benedetta Carlini, a 17th-century nun in Tuscany who believed she had shocking visions of Christ and engaged in a taboo sexual relationship with a fellow sister at her abbey.Because this is a film by celebrated provocateur Paul Verhoeven, the result is anything but a reverent treatment of a unique 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 Oscar-nominee Charlotte Rampling as the stoic, conflicted Mother Abbess, BENEDETTA maintains both a feverish pitch and a fascinating ambiguity in its depiction of the miraculous and the mundane, the sacred and the profane.