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Benedetta
Movie

Benedetta

2021 • Unknown

Woke Score
9
out of 10

Plot

A 17th-century nun becomes entangled in a forbidden lesbian affair with a novice. But it is Benedetta's shocking religious visions that threaten to shake the Church to its core.

Overall Series Review

Benedetta is a deliberately provocative historical drama that details the true story of a 17th-century nun, Benedetta Carlini, whose claims of mystical visions and subsequent forbidden lesbian relationship with a novice nun threaten the established power of the Catholic Church. The film frames the religious institution as a place defined by hypocrisy, greed, political maneuvering, and sexual repression. The narrative explores the ambiguity of faith, presenting Benedetta as either a true mystic, a manipulative fraud, or a charismatic leader who leverages religious fervor and her own transgressive desires to gain and maintain power against a corrupt, male-dominated hierarchy. Explicit sexual content, including the controversial use of a religious object, places the themes of sexual liberation in direct, sacrilegious opposition to the restrictive doctrines of the Church.

Categorical Breakdown

Identity Politics7/10

The movie centers the narrative conflict around a lesbian relationship within a cloistered, female environment and pits this marginalized sexual identity against a corrupt, male-dominated religious system. The primary villain, the Papal Nuncio, is a white male authority figure depicted as corrupt, sensualist, and cruel. The story elevates a sexual identity conflict over the systemic power structure.

Oikophobia10/10

The Catholic Church, a central pillar of Western civilization and heritage, is consistently framed as fundamentally corrupt, hypocritical, misogynistic, and greedy, only concerned with money and power. All institutional figures of authority are depicted as scheming or cruel. No respect for the institution or its traditional role as a shield against chaos is shown.

Feminism9/10

The female lead rises to power as Abbess by using her sexuality and manipulative religious performance to subvert the male-dominated Church hierarchy. The relationship between the two main female characters is presented as a source of personal and sexual liberation from the repressive religious structure. The main male authority figure, the Papal Nuncio, is depicted as a morally bankrupt, incompetent, and sensualist villain whose failure to manage the crisis is noted.

LGBTQ+10/10

Alternative sexuality is the absolute core of the conflict, with the entire third act revolving around the forbidden lesbian relationship. The explicit depiction of the sexual acts, including the use of a Virgin Mary statue as a sex toy, is designed to be as transgressive as possible, centering queer desire in direct, shocking opposition to the normative, traditional structure of the Church.

Anti-Theism10/10

Traditional organized religion, specifically Christianity, is consistently presented as a source of systemic corruption, moral hypocrisy, repression, and cruelty, culminating in torture and execution. The lead character's faith is deliberately rendered ambiguous, suggesting her power comes from manipulation and delusion rather than divine source. The film champions moral subjectivism and human desire over objective truth and higher moral law.