X
- 2021
- TV-MA
- IFC Films
- 2 h 11 m
- 2021
- TV-MA
- IFC Films
- 2 h 11 m
Summary In the late 17th century, with plague ravaging the land, Benedetta Carlini joins the convent in Pescia, Tuscany, as a novice. Capable from an early age of performing miracles, Benedetta's impact on life in the community is immediate and momentous.
Directed By: Paul Verhoeven
Written By: David Birke, Judith C. Brown, Pascal Bonitzer, Paul Verhoeven
- 2021
- TV-MA
- IFC Films
- 2 h 11 m
- 2021
- TV-MA
- IFC Films
- 2 h 11 m
Benedetta
75
6.8
Where to Watch
Summary In the late 17th century, with plague ravaging the land, Benedetta Carlini joins the convent in Pescia, Tuscany, as a novice. Capable from an early age of performing miracles, Benedetta's impact on life in the community is immediate and momentous.
Directed By: Paul Verhoeven
Written By: David Birke, Judith C. Brown, Pascal Bonitzer, Paul Verhoeven
Where to Watch
Top Cast
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 38 Critic Reviews
75
79% Positive
30 Reviews
30 Reviews
18% Mixed
7 Reviews
7 Reviews
3% Negative
1 Review
1 Review
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 38 Critic Reviews
75
79% Positive
30 Reviews
30 Reviews
18% Mixed
7 Reviews
7 Reviews
3% Negative
1 Review
1 Review
Benedetta continues Verhoeven’s strong run with as good a movie as he’s ever made.
Verhoeven clearly wants us to laugh; the movie’s a gas. But he doesn’t mind if we think too — about the earthy realities of the body, the higher abstractions of the soul and all the thornily ambiguous ways they do and don’t connect.
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 41 User Ratings
6.8
68% Positive
28 Ratings
28 Ratings
22% Mixed
9 Ratings
9 Ratings
10% Negative
4 Ratings
4 Ratings
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 41 User Ratings
6.8
68% Positive
28 Ratings
28 Ratings
22% Mixed
9 Ratings
9 Ratings
10% Negative
4 Ratings
4 Ratings
Benedetta is a story that might already sounds familiar, but it's not, it's more than just a story, it's a fascinating and powerful story that superbly well perform, well craft, and well directed, arranging drama and romance comparable, Benedetta it's a powerful true story in a very powerful religion, and the movie itself for me is one of 2021 Masterpiece, i highly recommended.
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Inspired by a true event, it is a rather unusual cross between religion and eroticism, with a pinch of scandal, just enough to provoke curiosity. From an unrecognizable Paul Verhoeven, the same one who directed Robocop.
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If Benedetta is a joke that Verhoeven is in on, and that is designed to play to those in on it too, we can at least be thankful that it’s a good joke – not that there’s anyone up there to be thankful to.
This is a significant addition to the Verhoeven canon, meaning it’s elegantly crafted, formidably well performed and as fascinating as it is lurid.
Fascinating, garish, and compelling even with an overlong 130-odd minute running time, Benedetta dabbles in some of Verhoeven’s career-long weaknesses while highlighting a great many of his strengths.
Treat Benedetta as a pile-up of shallow pleasures undercut with a sardonic wink and some fairly obvious comments on power and corruption, and there’s fun to be had. Look for any deeper logic and you’ll be disappointed.
There is perhaps an intriguing movie here somewhere — “Who decides what is God’s will?” is one lingering question —but to find it you have to slice away all the bawdy and ultra-violent excesses that are clearly intended to push buttons, like a 5-year-old testing her parents’ patience. Yawn.
'Benedetta' is a slap in the face of religious hypocrisy.
Paul Verhoeven delivers a no holds barred film that points at the rotten values of catholicism, those that reek of evilness and hate since ancient times.
The film follows a nun who claims to perform miracles in the name of Jesus. But when she starts a forbidden relationship with a fellow nun, and the authenticity of her divine work is questioned, the Church promptly moves against her.
Benedetta, the character, embodies pure feminism. By defying the religious rules imposed by the abbess and later the nuncio, she rebels against sanctimony, deception, and the fact that we have to suffer in this life no matter what.
Some might say that Verhoeven unnecessarily exposes too much of the woman's body in here, But, again, nudity becomes the ultimate weapon against those who call themselves pure and worthy.
The best part is that story leaves the protagonist's true identity open. Is Benedetta a fraud or truly a godsend? Whatever the case is, she uses her body to destroy the religious constructs that threaten to shackle her for life.
And if this isn't enough to catch your interest, there's a **** carved from a Holy Mary statue. You can't say no to that.
I'd recommend watching this back to back with 'Saint Maud' and Pasolini's 'The Canterbury Tales."
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I can't help but wonder how does it work when a film is trying in every possible and obvious way to be provocative and disruptive, and yet fails to achieve that goal for the simple but crucial reason that the viewer is simply not impressed or shocked by it?
Therefore, another important question arises: Are its qualities more valuable to viewers who are shocked by its subject matter and images?
And if so, is that a strength of the film for those viewers, or a weakness for others like me?
I'm confused.
Paul Verhoeven delivers a sufficiently polished film. Especially in its visual aspects, even in the face of the apparent simplicity of its mise-en-scène but basically its qualities outside of that, neither provoke a real reaction, nor say anything noteworthy.
Or at least I admit it didn't in my case.
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Immidiately from the opening scenes the set feels artificial, and lacks the extras to make it believable. It is only until Benedetta goes to the sisterhood that the set becomes more natural.
The story itself is erratic, and tough to follow along, and because of that it becomes a Lesbian of God taboo proto-porn - and well, frankly... texts and documentation from the 17th century probably were just as descriptive about Benedetta's sexuality then too.
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(Mauro Lanari)
Sex, money and power there where one accesses after a triple vow of chastity, poverty and obedience. The film recalls how at the time the religious or consecrated choice was rarely made by vocation and much more often by necessity, moreover the history of monastic, cloistered and priestly life is full of erotic events of every "gender". But is Verhoeven interested in this? If he is "allergic to any form of Manichaeism, [positioning] himself in the shaded areas of desire and faith" (Marzia Gandolfi), he would have done better to select a story different from that of Benedetta Carlini, which has not come to us with documents that confirm his doubts (there is Manichaeism even in skepticism to the bitter end), from vocational veracity to the stigmata, from miracles to visions (very far from the visionary nature of Ken Russell): it is he as director and not the reports we have received about the nun that insinuates lies, manipulations, ambiguities, deceptions, scams, by collapsing mysticism and mystification with inserts taken haphazardly by Joan of Arc. "Written with David Birke, after the habitual Gerard Soeteman gave up for creative differences" (Federico Pontiggia). From materialist atheist to materialist atheist: fundamentalism **** in any càse.
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RIDICULE
Lamentable et prétentieux
Surjoué par les rôles principaux,
Mal joué par les secondaires.
Aucune intensité, aucune dramaturgie, plat.
Éfira, quelle catastrophe.
Le duo infernal Rempling / Wilson, pathétique comme d'habitude.
Sérieux, faut arrêter les films "français"
Verhoeven que t'arrive-t-il ?
Une production et une distribution italienne auraient été préférables.
Ton tryptique Religion / Sexe / Violence est éculé.
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Production Company
SBS Productions,
Pathé,
France 2 Cinéma,
France 3 Cinéma,
Topkapi Films,
Belga Productions,
Belga Films Fund,
Beside Productions,
Canal+,
Centre national du cinéma et de l'image animée (CNC),
Cine+,
Cinémage 13,
Cofimage 30,
Cofinova 15,
France Télévisions,
Indéfilms 7,
Nederlands Filmfonds,
Palatine Etoile 16,
Région Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur
Release Date Dec 3, 2021
Duration 2 h 11 m
Rating TV-MA
Awards
Women Film Critics Circle Awards
• 1 Win & 4 Nominations
VHS Awards
• 3 Nominations
Cannes Film Festival
• 2 Nominations
