Directed by Paul Verhoeven • 2021 • France, Netherlands, Belgium
Starring Virginie Efira, Charlotte Rampling, Daphné Patakia

The ever-provocative Paul Verhoeven brings his subversive vision to a seventeenth-century convent for this ecstatically blasphemous tale of religion, sex, scandal, and plague inspired by the true story of Benedetta Carlini (played by Virginie Efira), an Italian nun who becomes entangled in a forbidden lesbian affair with a novice. But it is Benedetta’s shocking religious visions that threaten to shake the Church to its core. Far from a standard biopic, Verhoeven’s take on the story transforms Benedetta’s life into a delirious, salaciously satirical melodrama roiling with eros and violence.