Paul Verhoeven’s “Benedetta” is finally set to be released on Friday. In my Cannes dispatch on 07.10.21, titled “Lesbian Nun Drama Has Everyone Buzzing,” I had this to say:
“Virginie Efira is absolutely stunning, inducing a sensual spell on the viewer. She, quite literally, gives body and soul to the role. “Benedetta” is also absolute Verhoeven. Erotic, violent, religiously sinful and absurdist. You have never seen a movie quite like this one. It’s a feminist take on Christ and Verhoeven makes sure to stuff his film with just about every obsession he’s had the last forty years; sadism, perversion, feminism, power, religion and, of course, total and utter irony.”
No surprise that Anglo-Saxon critics are mostly lukewarm when it comes to Paul Verhoeven’s “Benedetta.” The male gaze is all over this one. This is essential Verhoeven, the Dutch filmmaker is basically trolling the 2021 zeitgeist and it’s an absolutely essential experience.
I believe this will also be made available on VOD this Friday. A French rip of the film leaked a month or so ago ago online, so IFC Films will obviously try to make this as widely available to moviegoers as possible.
You can add “Benedetta” to the essential Verhovens, which are “RoboCop,” “Starship Troopers,” “Basic Instinct,” Total Recall,” “Black Book,” “Elle,” “Turkish Delight” and “The Fourth Man.” The man is 83 years old. May he have many more films left in the tank.
“Hope,” Na’s first film in ten years — his last one being the exemplary “The Wailing” —is a gloriously messy, blood-soaked sci-fi epic that may become a cult classic despite—or because of—its polarizing nature.