Benedetta: In The Shade Film Festival Review
Benedetta: Film Review Cast: Virginie Efira, Charlotte Rampling, Daphne Patakia, Lambert Wilson Director: Paul Verhoeven Based on a true story, notorious director Paul Verhoeven's latest, a tale of a lesbian affair involving two nuns, is nowhere near as salacious as you'd think it would be - especially given Verhoeven's flair for lingering shots on women in various stages of undress. French actress Efira plays Benedetta, a nun in the small Italian province of Pescia, who begins her life as a young girl wanting to go into the local convent, the Convent of the Mother of God, run by Charlotte Rampling's Abbess. When her father manages to buy her way in to the Convent, Benedetta early on learns the strict ways of the Abbess as she tells her "Your worst enemy is your body." But things come to a head as Benedetta starts to experience visions of Jesus coming to her as her husband, and when she forms a friendship with cast out Bartolomea (Patakia) which grows into lus...