''Benedetta'' is a 2021

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

psychological drama Psychological drama, or psychodrama, is a Genre, subgenre of Drama (film and television), drama and psychological fiction literatures that generally focuses upon the emotional, mental, and psychological development of the protagonists and other c ...

film co-written and directed by

Paul Verhoeven Paul Verhoeven (; born 18 July 1938) is a Dutch filmmaker, who has worked variously in the Netherlands, the United States, and in France. He is known for directing genre films with strong satirical elements, often featuring graphic violence and ...

, starring

Virginie Efira Virginie Efira (born 5 May 1977) is a Belgian and French actress. She had her first leading role in '' It Boy'' (2013). Efira subsequently received praise for '' In Bed with Victoria'' (2016), for which she received a Magritte Award for Best Act ...

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

lesbian A lesbian is a homosexual woman or girl. 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 nouns with female homosexu ...

love affair with another nun, while seeing religious visions. The film is loosely based on the 1985 non-fiction book '' Immodest Acts: The Life of a Lesbian Nun in Renaissance Italy'' by

Judith C. Brown Judith C. Brown (born 1946) is an American historian and a Professor Emerita of History at Wesleyan University. A specialist on the Italian Renaissance, she is considered a pioneer in the study of the history of sexuality whose work explored the ea ...

. Its production included most of the key crew members from Verhoeven's previous film ''

Elle Elle may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * Elle (magazine), ''Elle'' (magazine), a fashion publication ** Elle Style Awards * Elle (India), ''Elle'' (India), the Indian edition * Elle (film), ''Elle'' (film), a 2016 French film * ''Elle: ...

'' (which also co-starred Efira), such as producer Saïd Ben Saïd, 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. The film premiered in competition for the

Palme d'Or The (; ) is the highest prize awarded to the director of the Best Feature Film of the Official Competition at the Cannes Film Festival. It was introduced in 1955 by the festival's organizing committee. Previously, from 1939 to 1954, the festiv ...

at the 74th Cannes Film Festival on 9 July 2021.

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 Benedetta Carlini is enrolled by her parents in a Theatine convent run by Abbess Felicita, to become a nun. Eighteen years later, while playing the

Virgin Mary Mary was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Saint Joseph, Joseph and the mother of Jesus. She is an important figure of Christianity, venerated under titles of Mary, mother of Jesus, various titles such as Perpetual virginity ...

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 (, plural of , 'mark, spot, brand'), in Roman Catholicism, Catholicism, are bodily wounds, scars and pain which appear in locations corresponding to the Crucifixion of Jesus, crucifixion Five Holy Wounds, wounds of Jesus in Christian ...

on her palms and feet. An investigation ensues. Abbess Felicita is sceptical because Benedetta's stigmata manifested 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 ) was placed on the head of Jesus during the Passion of Jesus, events leading up to his crucifixion of Jesus, crucifixion. It was one of the Arma Christi, instruments of the Passion, e ...

. 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 are made from a number of materials. The shape and size are typically t ...

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 people – 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 that ...

, 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 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 An apostolic nuncio (; also known as a papal nuncio or simply as a nuncio) is an ecclesiastical diplomat, serving as an envoy or a permanent diplomatic representative of the Holy See to a state or to an international organization. A nuncio is ...

. 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 cutout section of a large book. 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 (AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Chris ...

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

French Resistance The French Resistance ( ) was a collection of groups that fought the German military administration in occupied France during World War II, Nazi occupation and the Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy#France, collaborationist Vic ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, 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 Honorar ...

. On 25 April 2017, producer Saïd Ben Saïd 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, who has worked with Verhoeven on eight previous films including ''

Turkish Delight Turkish delight, or lokum () is a family of confectionery, 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 fl ...

'' (1973), '' The Fourth Man'' (1983) and '' Black Book'' (2006), replaced Carrière to adapt the 1985 non-fiction book '' Immodest Acts: The Life of a Lesbian Nun in Renaissance Italy'' by historian

. 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 The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

in ''Elle'', was cast in the leading role of Benedetta Carlini, a 17th-century nun who suffers from disturbing religious and erotic visions. On 25 March 2018, Saïd Ben Saïd 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 Nicolas Wilson (; né Willson, 3 August 1958) is a French actor and theatre director. He is a seven-time Cesar Award nominee, four for César Award for Best Actor, Best Actor and three for César Award for Best Supporting Actor, Best Sup ...

told French newspaper ''

Le Journal du Dimanche ''Le Journal du Dimanche'' (; ), also known as the JDD , is a French weekly newspaper published on Sundays in France. JDD was bought in 2023 by Vivendi of media mogul Vincent Bolloré, triggering a strike movement against the new editorial s ...

'' 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. It is updated several times a day, with en ...

'' revealed that

Charlotte Rampling Tessa Charlotte Rampling (born 5 February 1946) is an English actress. An icon of the Swinging London, Swinging Sixties, she began her career as a model. She was cast in the role of Meredith in the 1966 film ''Georgy Girl'', which starred Lynn ...

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. Known for her portrayals of cold, austere women devoid of morality, she is considered one of the greatest actresses of her generation. With 16 nominations and two win ...

to play a supporting role in the film, producer Saïd Ben Saïd 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 César Award Cesar or César may refer to: Arts and entertainment * César (film), ''César ...

Clotilde Courau Clotilde Marie Pascale di Savoia, Princess of Venice (née Clotilde Marie Pascale Courau; born 3 April 1969) is a French actress. She was married to Emanuele Filiberto di Savoia, Montgomery-Massingberd, Hugh. Burke's Royal Families of the World ...

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 the ...

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 ...

, Italy. 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 towns and villages such as Pienza (rebu ...

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 ...

, also in Italy, as well as the Silvacane Abbey and

Le Thoronet Abbey Thoronet Abbey () 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 Provence, in southeast France. ...

, in France. 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.

Historical accuracy

While mostly following the account from Brown's book, Verhoeven explained in an interview that much of the ending was fictional: he added the revolt of the citizens, and the attempt to burn Benedetta at the stake was borrowed from the story of

Joan of Arc Joan of Arc ( ; ; – 30 May 1431) is a patron saint of France, honored as a defender of the French nation for her role in the siege of Orléans and her insistence on the Coronation of the French monarch, coronation of Charles VII o ...

. In interviews he has also stated that the dildo was required to be "historically accurate", because to be burned at the stake required that an "instrument" was used.

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 SAS (; styled as PATHÉ!) is a French major film production and distribution company, owning a number of cinema chains through its subsidiary Pathé Cinémas and television networks across Europe. It is the name of a network of Fren ...

would be producing and distributing the film in France and would also be handling international sales. On 29 August 2018, Pathé 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 for the main competition. South Korean filmmaker Bong Joon-ho won the , the festival's top prize, fo ...

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

post-production Post-production, also known simply as post, 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 indivi ...

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 where the film was set to premiere, due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. 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'' had its world premiere in competition for the

at the 74th Cannes Film Festival on 9 July 2021, with a theatrical release in France on the same day. By the end of its run, it was screened at film festivals in

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

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Karlovy Vary Karlovy Vary (; , formerly also spelled ''Carlsbad'' in English) is a spa town, spa city in the Karlovy Vary Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 49,000 inhabitants. It is located at the confluence of the Ohře and Teplá (river), Teplá ri ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

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

, and San Sebastian. In May 2021,

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

and

IFC Films Independent Film Company (formerly IFC Films) is an American film production and distribution company based in New York City, New York. It is an offshoot of IFC (U.S. TV channel), IFC, owned by AMC Networks. It mainly distributes independent fil ...

acquired the distribution rights to the film in the United Kingdom, Ireland, and the United States, respectively. It was released theatrically in Belgium on 8 September 2021 by

Belga Films Belga Films is a Belgian film production and distribution company founded in 1937 by Elyse Tobback. As the oldest film distributor in Belgium, it has played a pivotal role in both the local and international film markets. The company is involved i ...

and in Netherlands on 14 October 2021 by Independent Films. In the United States, the film was released in select theatres and on-demand on 3 December 2021.

Reception

Box office

''Benedetta'' grossed $354,481 in North America and $3.9 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $4.3 million, against a production budget of about $21.3 million. 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 AlloCiné is an entertainment website founded by Jean-David Blanc in 1988, then joined by Patrick Holzman. It has belonged to the company since 2013 Webedia. which specializes in providing information on French cinema, mostly centering on nove ...

from 36 press reviews. On the

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews and ratings of products and services, such as films, books, video games, music, software, hardware, or cars. This system then stores the reviews to be used for supporting a website where user ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, 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 ...

, the film holds an approval rating of 84% based on 197 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 an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, 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 38 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 theatrical 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 Digital Development and Information (MDDI). History The Telecommunication Authority of Singapore (TAS) was the statutory board that acted a ...

(IMDA) due to "portrayal of Jesus Christ and members of the church in a manner 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 o ...

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

Accolades

References

External links

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

, (20 pp), July 2021 {{DEFAULTSORT:Benedetta (film) 2021 films 2021 biographical drama films 2021 LGBTQ-related films 2020s Belgian 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 LGBTQ-related films Biographical films about LGBTQ people Biographical films about religious figures Censored films Christianity-related controversies in film Cultural depictions of Italian people Dutch biographical drama films Dutch erotic drama films Dutch historical drama films Dutch LGBTQ-related films Films about Catholic nuns Films about LGBTQ 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 convents 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 LGBTQ-related films French psychological drama films French-language Belgian films Lesbian-related films LGBTQ-related controversies in film 2020s LGBTQ-related drama films Nunsploitation films Obscenity controversies in film Pathé films Religious drama films Film censorship in Russia