The Cinematic Influences of ‘Benedetta’

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Welcome to The Queue — your every day distraction of curated video content material sourced from throughout the net. At the moment, we’re watching a video essay that takes a have a look at the cinematic influences in Paul Verhoeven’s 2021 historic drama Benedetta.

When it was first introduced 5 hundred billion years in the past that Paul Verhoeven was making a movie concerning the lesbian, nun, and mystic Benedetta Carlini, style followers the world over-pumped their fists and adjusted their wimples in pleasure. Okay, perhaps particular style followers did these issues however I’m assuming that in case you clicked on this hyperlink I’m in good firm.

Not solely did the spicy historic supply materials really feel completely calibrated for the Dutch provocateur’s tastes, however Verhoeven’s penchant for pushing boundaries and exploring taboos additionally made him an ideal match for nunsploitation, a sub-genre that’s precisely what it feels like.

That mentioned, I’ll admit that my definition of “nunsploitation” could also be looser than most people’. However that’s simply because there’s room within the cinematic convent for everybody in my view. Fittingly, because the montage beneath emphasizes, Verhoeven appears to additionally draw from a various assortment of nun movies, from off-the-rails choices Mexico’s Alucarda (1977), which gleefully seats satanic possession and cloistered lesbians on the similar desk to extra reserved psychological dramas like the 2 variations of Denis Diderot’s La Religieuse. 

Because the video highlights, Verhoeven’s newest slots in neatly inside a cinematic custom that’s far much less area of interest than some might imagine — tales of remoted ladies throughout historical past who’ve discovered ache and pleasure in equal measure throughout the partitions of the church.

Beware visible story spoilers forward for Benedetta.

Watch “Déjà Vu: Benedetta”:

Déjà Vu : Benedetta / @Candice_Drouet / @canalplus https://t.co/4Q7bEvEsLN

— Candice Drouet (@Candice_Drouet) March 7, 2022

Who made this?

This video essay on the cinematic influences of Benedetta is by Paris-based actress and videographer Candice Drouet, an previous favourite round these elements. She has labored with the likes of Adidas and Fandor, and she or he at present collaborates with the French premium tv channel Canal+, for which she created right now’s video concerning the cinematic resonances of Tenet. You possibly can comply with Drouet on Instagram right here. And on Twitter here. And you’ll try her again catalog of movies on Vimeo right here.

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Meg Shields is the common-or-garden farm boy of your desires and a senior contributor at Movie College Rejects. She at present runs three columns at FSR: The Queue, How’d They Do That?, and Horrorscope. She can be a curator for One Good Shot and a contract author for rent. Meg could be discovered screaming about John Boorman’s ‘Excalibur’ on Twitter right here: @TheWorstNun. (She/Her).