''Benedetta'' is a 2021

biographical A biography, or simply bio, is a detailed description of a person's life. It involves more than just the basic facts like education, work, relationships, and death; it portrays a person's experience of these life events. Unlike a profile or ...

psychological drama Psychological drama or psychodrama is a sub-genre of drama that places emphasis on psychological elements. It often overlaps with other genres such as crime, fantasy, black comedy, and science fiction, and it is closely related with the psychologi ...

film co-written and directed by

Paul Verhoeven Paul Verhoeven (; born 18 July 1938) is a Dutch director, producer and screenwriter, active in the Netherlands, France and the United States. His blending of graphic violence and sexual content with social satire is a trademark of both his dram ...

, starring

Virginie Efira Virginie Efira (born 5 May 1977) is a Belgian actress and television presenter. Efira got her first leading role in the romantic comedy ''It Boy'' (2013). She subsequently received critical praise for her performance in the comedy drama '' In Be ...

Benedetta Carlini Benedetta Carlini (20 January 1590 – 7 August 1661) was an Italian Catholic nun who claimed to experience mystic visions. As abbess of the Convent of the Mother of God, at Pescia, she had a relationship with one of her nuns, Sister Bartolomea ...

, a nun in the 17th century who joins an Italian convent while a young child and later has a

lesbian A lesbian is a Homosexuality, homosexual woman.Zimmerman, p. 453. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate n ...

love affair with another nun, while seeing religious visions. The film is loosely based on the 1986 non-fiction book ''Immodest Acts: The Life of a Lesbian Nun in Renaissance Italy'' by Judith C. Brown, and brings back most of the key crew members from Verhoeven's previous film ''

Elle ''Elle'' (stylized ''ELLE'') is a worldwide women's magazine of French origin that offers a mix of fashion and beauty content, together with culture, society and lifestyle. The title means "she" or "her" in French. ''Elle'' is considered the w ...

'' (which co-starred Efira), including producer

Saïd Ben Saïd Saïd Ben Saïd (born 11 July 1966) is a Tunisian-French film producer. Biography He grew up in Carthage and became passionate about cinema, to the point of bringing VHS tapes from France with the help of a diplomatic friend of his parents. He c ...

, writer David Birke, composer

Anne Dudley Anne Jennifer Dudley (née Beckingham; born 7 May 1956) is an English composer, keyboardist, conductor and pop musician. She was the first BBC Concert Orchestra's Composer in Association in 2001. She has worked in the classical and pop genre ...

and editor

Job ter Burg Job ter Burg (born 13 September 1972 in Maarn) is a Dutch film editor, best known for his long-term collaborations with directors Martin Koolhoven, Paul Verhoeven and Alex van Warmerdam. He was invited to join the Film Editors Branch of the Acad ...

. The film premiered at the

2021 Cannes Film Festival The 74th annual Cannes Film Festival took place from 6 to 17 July 2021, after having been originally scheduled from 11 to 22 May 2021. American director Spike Lee was invited to be the head of the jury for the festival for a second time, after t ...

in competition for the

Palme d'Or The Palme d'Or (; en, Golden Palm) is the highest prize awarded at the Cannes Film Festival. It was introduced in 1955 by the festival's organizing committee. Previously, from 1939 to 1954, the festival's highest prize was the Grand Prix du Fe ...

Plot

In 17th-century

Pescia Pescia () is an Italian city in the province of Pistoia, Tuscany, central Italy. It is located in a central zone between the cities Lucca and Florence, on the banks of the river of the same name. History Archaeological excavations have suggest ...

, Italy, young

is enrolled by her parents in a

Theatine The Theatines officially named the Congregation of Clerics Regular ( la, Ordo Clericorum Regularium), abreviated CR, is a Catholic order of clerics regular of Pontifical Right for men founded by Archbishop Gian Pietro Carafa in Sept. 14, 1524. I ...

convent run by Abbess Felicita, to become a nun. Eighteen years later, while playing the

Virgin Mary Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother o ...

in a play, Benedetta has a vision of Jesus calling to her. One day, a young peasant woman named Bartolomea seeks shelter in the convent from her abusive father. Benedetta is assigned to oversee Bartolomea's integration into convent life. That night, Bartolomea kisses Benedetta. Benedetta begins to have recurring visions of Jesus. After a particularly fraught vision, where a man whom she mistakes for Jesus saves her from being gang raped, Benedetta falls into a deep illness. Abbess Felicita assigns Bartolomea to look after her. Benedetta has another vision of Christ, asking her to undress and touch his hands. The next morning, she wakes up with

stigmata Stigmata ( grc, στίγματα, plural of , 'mark, spot, brand'), in Roman Catholicism, are bodily wounds, scars and pain which appear in locations corresponding to the crucifixion wounds of Jesus Christ: the hands, wrists, and feet. Stigm ...

on her palms and feet. An investigation ensues. Abbess Felicita is sceptical because Benedetta's stigmata appeared while she was asleep, not during prayer, and her forehead lacks the marks of a

crown of thorns According to the New Testament, a woven crown of thorns ( or grc, ἀκάνθινος στέφανος, akanthinos stephanos, label=none) was placed on the head of Jesus during the events leading up to his crucifixion. It was one of the instru ...

. Outside Felicita's chambers, Benedetta collapses. She then begins speaking in an angry male voice, castigating those who doubt her, as bleeding wounds appear on her forehead. Sister Christina, Felicita's daughter, suspects that Benedetta's wounds are self-inflicted, after spotting a nearby shard of pottery. Following a dispute between Felicita and local church leaders about the way popular interest in Benedetta's visions should be handled, Benedetta is elevated to the position of abbess in place of Felicita. Benedetta and Bartolomea move into Felicita's old quarters and begin a sexual relationship, later using a

dildo A dildo is a sex toy, often explicitly phallic in appearance, intended for sexual penetration or other sexual activity during masturbation or with sex partners. Dildos can be made from a number of materials and shaped like an erect human penis ...

carved by Bartolomea out of Benedetta's wooden Virgin Mary statuette. In

confession A confession is a statement – made by a person or by a group of persons – acknowledging some personal fact that the person (or the group) would ostensibly prefer to keep hidden. The term presumes that the speaker is providing information th ...

, Christina lies to the priest that she witnessed Benedetta inflicting her forehead wounds. The next day, the priest compels Christina to say her accusations publicly. When questioned by the priest, Felicita refutes Christina's claims because Christina has previously admitted to her that she did not actually see the wounds being self-inflicted. Benedetta, apparently possessed by the spirit of Jesus, orders Christina to flagellate herself. Felicita later observes Benedetta and Bartolomea having sex through a peephole in their chambers. Humiliated, Christina jumps to her death from the roof of the convent. As a

plague Plague or The Plague may refer to: Agriculture, fauna, and medicine *Plague (disease), a disease caused by ''Yersinia pestis'' * An epidemic of infectious disease (medical or agricultural) * A pandemic caused by such a disease * A swarm of pes ...

begins to ravage the countryside, Benedetta has a vision that Pescia will be spared and orders the abbey closed to prevent infection. Felicita secretly travels to Florence to report Benedetta's sexual indiscretions to the local papal nuncio. Meanwhile, Benedetta suddenly dies of unknown causes. Shortly after Felicita returns to the abbey with the nuncio, Benedetta revives, saying that she was in heaven and has seen the fates of all those present. The nuncio, as representative of the pope, opens a court of inquiry into Benedetta's conduct. Bartolomea initially denies any sexual involvement with Benedetta, but after being tortured by the nuncio's men, she ultimately confesses the truth, leading the nuncio to the wooden dildo hidden in a bible. He has Benedetta arrested; speaking in a male voice again, she lashes out at those who persecute her, announcing that the nuncio will soon fall ill. The nuncio discovers that Felicita has the plague and orders her condition to be hidden. Bartolomea is expelled from the abbey. In the town square, before she is to be executed, Benedetta reveals new stigmata and, speaking in a male voice, announces that the Angel of Death approaches. Felicita, revealing her disease, blames the nuncio for bringing the plague to Pescia. Chaos ensues as the townspeople prevent the nuncio's men from burning Benedetta at the stake. Bartolomea unties Benedetta, discovering a bloody potsherd at her feet. The nuncio is killed by an angry mob, Benedetta and Bartolomea flee the town, and Felicita self-immolates on the fire lit for Benedetta's execution. In an abandoned stable outside of town, after spending the night with Bartolomea, Benedetta insists that she must return to the convent. Bartolomea begs her to stay and tries to get her to admit that she faked her stigmata, but Benedetta refuses and instead heads back towards Pescia. A title card reveals that Benedetta lived in the abbey until her death at the age of 70, and that the plague spared Pescia.

Cast

Production

Development

Following the critical and commercial success of his previous film ''

'' (2016), director

developed several projects including one about

Jesus Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...

based on his own book ''Jesus of Nazareth'', another about the

French Resistance The French Resistance (french: La Résistance) was a collection of organisations that fought the German occupation of France during World War II, Nazi occupation of France and the Collaborationism, collaborationist Vichy France, Vichy régim ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, and a medieval story set in a monastery scripted by

Jean-Claude Carrière Jean-Claude Carrière (; 17 September 1931 – 8 February 2021) was a French novelist, screenwriter and actor. He received an Academy Award for best short film for co-writing '' Heureux Anniversaire'' (1963), and was later conferred an Honorary ...

. On 25 April 2017, producer

revealed that the third had been the one chosen as Verhoeven's next project. The film, then titled ''Blessed Virgin'', marked the producer and the director's second collaboration after ''Elle''.

Gerard Soeteman Gerard Soeteman (born 1 July 1936 in Rotterdam) is a Dutch screenwriter. He worked together with Paul Verhoeven on several films, such as ''Turkish Delight'' and '' Black Book''. He also wrote the screenplay for '' The Assault'', which won the Ac ...

, who has worked with Verhoeven on eight previous films including ''

Turkish Delight Turkish delight or lokum ( ota, لوقوم) is a family of confections based on a gel of starch and sugar. Premium varieties consist largely of chopped dates, pistachios, hazelnuts or walnuts bound by the gel; traditional varieties are often f ...

'' (1973), '' The Fourth Man'' (1983) and '' Black Book'' (2006), replaced Carrière to adapt the 1986 non-fiction book ''Immodest Acts: The Life of a Lesbian Nun in Renaissance Italy'' by historian Judith C. Brown. Soeteman ultimately distanced himself from the project and had his name removed from the credits as he felt too much of the story was focused on sexuality. Belgian actress

, who played a supporting part as a devout Catholic in ''Elle'', was cast in the leading role of

, a 17th-century nun who suffers from disturbing religious and erotic visions. On 25 March 2018,

announced that Verhoeven had co-written the final draft with David Birke, who previously wrote ''Elle''. Brown stated that "Paul Verhoeven and David Birke have written an imaginative and spellbinding script that explores the intersection of religion, sexuality, and human ambition in an age of plague and faith." Verhoeven then clarified his intentions:

On 3 April 2018,

Lambert Wilson Lambert Wilson (born 3 August 1958) is a French actor, singer and activist. He is best known internationally for his portrayal of The Merovingian in ''The Matrix Reloaded'', ''The Matrix Revolutions'' and ''The Matrix Resurrections''. Biograph ...

told French newspaper ''

Le Journal du Dimanche ''Le Journal du dimanche'' (English: ''Sunday's newspaper'') is a French weekly newspaper published on Sundays in France. History and profile ''Le Journal du Dimanche'' was created by Pierre Lazareff in 1948. He was managing editor of ''France ...

'' that he has a role in the film. On 1 May 2018, ''

Deadline Hollywood ''Deadline Hollywood'', commonly known as ''Deadline'' and also referred to as ''Deadline.com'', is an online news site founded as the news blog ''Deadline Hollywood Daily'' by Nikki Finke in 2006. The site is updated several times a day, with ...

'' revealed that

Charlotte Rampling Tessa Charlotte Rampling (born 5 February 1946) is an English actress, known for her work in European arthouse films in English, French, and Italian. An icon of the Swinging Sixties, she began her career as a model. She was cast in the role ...

entered negotiations to play a key supporting role. On 4 May 2018, it was announced that the film was retitled to ''Benedetta''. Although Verhoeven had hoped to convince

Isabelle Huppert Isabelle Anne Madeleine Huppert (; born 16 March 1953) is a French actress. Described as "one of the best actresses in the world", she is known for her portrayals of cold and disdainful characters devoid of morality. She is the recipient of sev ...

to play a supporting role in the film, producer

stated on 31 May 2018 that the actress was not joining the project. Ben Saïd also confirmed that Louise Chevillotte,

Olivier Rabourdin Olivier Rabourdin (born 3 March 1959) is a French film actor. He has appeared in more than seventy films since 1985. In 2010 he was nominated for a French César Award in the category of Best Supporting Actor (Meilleur acteur dans un second rôle) ...

Clotilde Courau Princess Clotilde Marie Pascale Courau (born 3 April 1969) is a French actress. She is married to Emanuele Filiberto di Savoia, Montgomery-Massingberd, Hugh. Burke's Royal Families of the World: ''Volume I Europe & Latin America''. Burke's Pee ...

and Hervé Pierre had been cast in the film.

Filming

Principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as actor ...

on the retitled production began on 19 July 2018 in

Montepulciano Montepulciano () is a medieval and Renaissance hill town and ''comune'' in the Italian province of Siena in southern Tuscany. It sits high on a limestone ridge, east of Pienza, southeast of Siena, southeast of Florence, and north of Rome b ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

. Other locations included

Val d'Orcia The Val d'Orcia or Valdorcia () is a region of Tuscany, central Italy, which extends from the hills south of Siena to Monte Amiata. Its gentle, cultivated hills are occasionally broken by gullies and by picturesque towns and villages such as Pie ...

and

Bevagna Bevagna is a town and ''comune'' in the central part of the Italian province of Perugia (Umbria), in the flood plain of the Topino river. Bevagna is south-east of Perugia, west of Foligno, north-north-west of Montefalco, south of Assisi and ...

, also in Italy, as well as the

Silvacane Abbey Silvacane Abbey is a former Cistercian monastery in the municipality of La Roque-d'Anthéron, Bouches-du-Rhône, in Provence, France. It was founded in or around 1144 as a daughter house of Morimond Abbey and was dissolved in 1443; it ceased to b ...

and

Le Thoronet Abbey Thoronet Abbey (french: L'abbaye du Thoronet) is a former Cistercian abbey built in the late twelfth and early thirteenth century, now restored as a museum. It is sited between the towns of Draguignan and Brignoles in the Var Department of Prove ...

, in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. Production was followed by a strong campaign of secrecy and no one, unless working on the film, was allowed on the set. Producer Saïd Ben Saïd admitted that the story was "subject to controversy" and feared reactions from fundamentalist Catholic associations.

Release

On 16 February 2018, ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...

'' announced

Pathé Pathé or Pathé Frères (, styled as PATHÉ!) is the name of various French people, French businesses that were founded and originally run by the Pathé Brothers of France starting in 1896. In the early 1900s, Pathé became the world's largest ...

would be producing and distributing the film in France and would also be handling international sales. On 29 August 2018,

and SBS Productions released a first look image of the film. Although it was initially reported that the film would premiere at the

2019 Cannes Film Festival The 72nd annual Cannes Film Festival took place from 14 to 25 May 2019. Mexican filmmaker Alejandro González Iñárritu served as jury president. The Palme d'Or went to the South Korean film ''Parasite'', directed by Bong Joon-ho; Bong became t ...

, Pathé announced on 14 January 2019 that the release had been postponed until 2020, stating that

post-production Post-production is part of the process of filmmaking, video production, audio production, and photography. Post-production includes all stages of production occurring after principal photography or recording individual program segments. The ...

had been delayed as Verhoeven was recovering from hip surgery. However, the release was delayed again to 2021, following the cancellation of the 2020 edition of the

Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Festival (; french: link=no, Festival de Cannes), until 2003 called the International Film Festival (') and known in English as the Cannes Film Festival, is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films o ...

where the film was set to premiere, due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. On 10 May 2020, Cannes director Thierry Fremaux confirmed the film's selection and stated that "Paul Verhoeven delivers an erotic and mischievous, also political, vision of the Middle Ages in a grandiose production." ''Benedetta''

world premiere A première, also spelled premiere, is the debut (first public presentation) of a play, film, dance, or musical composition. A work will often have many premières: a world première (the first time it is shown anywhere in the world), its firs ...

took place at the

in competition for the

. By the end of its run, it will have screened at film festivals in

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

Busan Busan (), officially known as is South Korea's most populous city after Seoul, with a population of over 3.4 million inhabitants. Formerly romanized as Pusan, it is the economic, cultural and educational center of southeastern South Korea, w ...

Haifa Haifa ( he, חֵיפָה ' ; ar, حَيْفَا ') is the third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropol ...

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

Karlovy Vary Karlovy Vary (; german: Karlsbad, formerly also spelled ''Carlsbad'' in English) is a spa town, spa city in the Karlovy Vary Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 46,000 inhabitants. It lies on the confluence of the rivers Ohře and Teplá. ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, and San Sebastian. On 5 May 2021,

unveiled the first trailer and final theatrical release poster. That same month,

Mubi Mubi (; stylized as MUBI; The Auteurs before 2010) is a global curated film streaming platform, production company and film distributor. Mubi produces and theatrically distributes films by emerging and established filmmakers, which are exclusivel ...

and

IFC Films IFC Films is an American film production and distribution company based in New York. It is an offshoot of IFC owned by AMC Networks. It distributes mainly independent films under its own name, select foreign films and documentaries under its S ...

acquired the distribution rights to the United Kingdom, Ireland, and the United States, respectively. It was released in the United States on 3 December 2021.

Reception

Box office

In its opening weekend in France, the film earned $562,420 from 361 theaters. In the United States and Canada, it earned $136,839 from 201 theaters in its opening weekend.

Critical response

In France, the film averages 3.5/5 on AlloCiné from 36 press reviews. On the

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, the film holds an approval rating of 84% based on 195 reviews, with an average rating of 7.2/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "Precariously walking a tightrope of varying genres and tones, ''Benedetta'' provokes salient questions about sexual freedom and its relationship to faith." On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, the film has a

weighted average The weighted arithmetic mean is similar to an ordinary arithmetic mean (the most common type of average), except that instead of each of the data points contributing equally to the final average, some data points contribute more than others. The ...

score of 73 out of 100, based on 31 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

Protests

At the 2021 New York Film Festival, where ''Benedetta'' was part of the Main Slate, the Catholic group, The American TFP staged a protest targeting the film. The group denounced it as blasphemous for its portrayal of lesbianism within the confines of a convent. Upon the film's US commercial release, the film was once again protested by The American TFP as well as other Catholic groups throughout the country. The film was refused classification in Singapore by the

Infocomm Media Development Authority The Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) is a statutory board under the Singapore Ministry of Communications and Information (MCI). History Following the passing of the Info-communications Media Development Authority Bill in Parliame ...

(IMDA) due to portrayals of "the Jesus Christ and members of the church that is insensitive and offensive to the Christian and Catholic faith". The film was banned in Russia by the

Ministry of Culture Ministry of Culture may refer to: *Ministry of Tourism, Cultural Affairs, Youth and Sports (Albania) * Ministry of Culture (Algeria) *Ministry of Culture (Argentina) *Minister for the Arts (Australia) *Ministry of Culture (Azerbaijan) * Ministry of ...

amid a complaint from the religious group Orthodox Forty Forties Movement.

Accolades

References

External links

* *
''Benedetta'' (2021 Festival de Cannes Press Kit)
SBS Productions,

, (20 pp), July 2021
''Benedetta''
at Cineuropa
''Benedetta''
at

''Benedetta''
at SBS Distribution
''Benedetta''
at UniFrance {{Paul Verhoeven 2021 films 2021 biographical drama films 2021 LGBT-related films 2020s erotic drama films 2020s French films 2020s French-language films 2020s historical drama films 2020s psychological drama films Belgian biographical drama films Belgian erotic drama films Belgian historical drama films Belgian LGBT-related films Biographical films about LGBT people Censored films Christianity in popular culture controversies Cultural depictions of Italian women Dutch biographical drama films Dutch erotic drama films Dutch historical drama films Dutch LGBT-related films Film controversies in the Philippines Film controversies in Russia Film controversies in the United States Films about LGBT and Christianity Films based on non-fiction books Films directed by Paul Verhoeven Films postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic Films scored by Anne Dudley Films set in the 17th century Films set in Tuscany Films shot in France Films shot in the Netherlands Films shot in Tuscany Films with screenplays by David Birke France 2 Cinéma films France 3 Cinéma films French biographical drama films French erotic drama films French historical drama films French LGBT-related films French psychological drama films French-language Belgian films Lesbian-related films LGBT-related controversies in film LGBT-related drama films Nunsploitation films Obscenity controversies in film Pathé films Religious controversies in film Religious drama films Self-censorship