Benedetta

Benedetta is a 2021 biographical psychological drama film co-written and directed by Paul Verhoeven, starring Virginie Efira as Benedetta Carlini, a nun in the 17th century who joins an Italian convent while a young child and later has a lesbian 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. Its production included most of the key crew members from Verhoeven's previous film Elle (which also co-starred Efira), such as producer Saïd Ben Saïd, writer David Birke, composer Anne Dudley and editor Job ter Burg. The film premiered in competition for the Palme d'Or at the 74th Cannes Film Festival on 9 July 2021. Plot In 17th-century Pescia, 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 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.