Review: Benedetta
Set in an Italian convent in the early 1600s with the plague a threat from outside, Virginie Efira stars as the title nun. After showing signs of stigmata, Sister Benedetta attains a higher position of power, much to the disapproval of previous Abbess, Sister Felicita (Charlotte Rampling). Meanwhile, Sister Benedetta enters a forbidden tryst with a recently arrived guest named Bartolomea (Daphne Patakia). Lambert Wilson plays a hypocritical papal representative sent to the convent to investigate the whole matter. When you hear Paul Verhoeven ( “Flesh + Blood” , “RoboCop” , “Basic Instinct” , “Starship Troopers” ) has made a lesbian nun movie, you can’t help but have certain expectations, rightly or wrongly. You expect something batshit crazy and pretty graphic in the sex department. A nunsploitation throwback, basically. Based on a true story, director Verhoeven and his co-writer David Birke ( “Dahmer” , “Gacy” , “Slender Man” ) eschew all of that with this pointless 2022 film th