Dutch director Paul Verhoeven is famously reluctant to judge his characters. By the end of the story of the possibly psychotic nun Benedetta, Verhoeven doesn’t come down on either side of whether he thinks she was lying, what he thinks of the miracles attributed to her, who – if anyone – is to blame for the outcome.
We’re even left guessing about Verhoeven’s own motives for making a film of the real-life – and scandalous – story, set in a convent in 17th century Tuscany.
Photo: Screenshot
Is it an attack on the hypocrisy of the Catholic Church, is Benedetta a real-life saint or is her whole story a self-serving act?
Typically, Verhoeven said he was simply drawn to the rare case of a trial of two lesbian nuns. This is, after all, the man who directed Basic Instinct!
We meet Benedetta in her early teens, inspired to enter a convent after a series of visions where she’s summoned by Jesus Christ.
The Abbess – a great Charlotte Rampling – looks as if she’s heard this several times before, and she drives a hard bargain with Benedetta’s family. Religion is as much commerce as it is spirituality in Renaissance Italy.
Years pass, and Benedetta becomes a nun there. But her life changes when another young woman arrives seeking sanctuary.
Bartolomea is younger than Benedetta, but she’s clearly more worldly, within days she’s made advances on her, eliciting new, troubling feelings in the already unstable Benedetta.
Her strong attraction to Bartolomea encourages more extreme visions of Jesus now. The convent is first alarmed, and then supportive of Benedetta.
The ambitious priests in particular like the idea of their own miracle-worker, regularly in contact with the Almighty. Look what St Francis did to the economy of Assisi. The Abbess is sceptical, accusing the priests of being driven by greed rather than piety.
Benedetta is torn in conflicting directions. She believes now that Jesus approves of her love for Bartolomea, which manifests itself in even more extreme religious fervor.
She suddenly breaks out in stigmata – the miraculous appearance of blood on the hands, feet and side.
It’s a cauldron of conflicting emotions, until one of the younger nuns, Christina, accuses Benedetta of lying about her miracles.
Complicating matters is the fact that Christina is the daughter of the Abbess.
The enquiry by the local priests is a foregone conclusion. It’s in nobody’s interests to blow the whistle on the potentially profitable miracle worker. Christina is forced to recant with tragic results.
Realising there’s no chance of justice at the convent, the Abbess flees to Florence, where she throws herself on the mercy of the authorities, led by the sinister Nunzio.
In Verhoeven world, there’s no moral high ground, particularly at the height of an onslaught of bubonic plague.
The elements parade through Benedetta. Is the love between two young women so blasphemous that they have to be – literally – burned at the stake? Does Benedetta believe her visions, or has she made them up to get what – and who – she wants?
Is the Abbess – the closest thing to a sympathetic character in the film – right to charge Benedetta on suspicion alone?
There are many questions posed in the film – but you wonder if director Verhoeven cares too much about the answers.
I think he loves the fact that the final outcome is ambiguous, and that at the age of 83, he can still shamelessly shake up the religious establishment.
