Interno di un convento (1978)

Director:

Walerian Borowczyk

Writers:

Walerian Borowczyk (writer)
Stendhal (novel)

Release Date:

26 January 1978 (Italy)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

A zealous, handsome priest, who is the confessor for a convent full of women, encourages the equally...

Plot Keywords:

Scandal | Abbess | Convent | Priest | Lesbian

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

Ligia Branice	...	Sister Clara
Howard Ross	...	Rodrigo Landriani
Marina Pierro	...	Sister Veronica
Gabriella Giacobbe	...	Abbess Flavia Orsini
Rodolfo Dal Pra	...	Bishop
Loredana Martínez	...	Sister Martina
Mario Maranzana	...	Father Confessor
Alessandro Partexano	...	Silva
Olivia Pascal
Gina Rovere
Dora Calindri
Francesca Balletta
Maria Cumani Quasimodo		(as Maria Cumari Quasimodo)
Carole Fouanon
Miana Merisi

Also Known As:

Behind Convent Walls
Sex Life in a Convent
Within a Cloister (USA) (video title)
Within the Convent (UK) (festival title)

Runtime:

95 min

Country:

Italy

Language:

Italian

Color:

Color (Telecolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Germany:16 (re-rating) (2007) | West Germany:18 (original rating) | Finland:K-18 | France:-16 | UK:18 | Iceland:16

Company:

Lisa-Film

Movie Connections:

Edited into 42nd Street Forever, Volume 1 (2005) (V)

BEHIND CONVENT WALLS (Walerian Borowczyk, 1977) **1/2

This is one of the more notable nunsploitation films (shot in Italy), which was rushed into production after a proposed project starring Monica Vitti fell through. Being the Borowczyk fan that I am (even if about a third of his work that I've watched has proved disappointing to a degree!), I had wanted to purchase the R2 DVD ever since it was released but kept postponing it for a couple of reasons - one, because it's only available in an English-dubbed version (though it's not too bad as these things go) and, two, the somewhat prohibitive price (in fact, it's only while in London recently that I managed to find the most affordable copy, albeit still not cheap at $25!).

As is to be expected from this Polish film-maker, we're treated to an artier kind of erotica (some of the sex surprisingly involving Ligia Branice, Mrs. Borowczyk herself!) - with lush soft-focus cinematography by the renowned Luciano Tovoli. However, despite being a Stendhal adaptation, Borowczyk here pays little regard for the usual necessities of plot and characterization (in fact, apart from Branice and future muse Marina Pierro, the nuns are virtually indistinguishable from one another): this semi-improvised approach does render the whole somewhat inconsequential (especially in comparison to some of his other work), to say nothing of aloof - which eventually detracts from the impact the tragedy at the end ought to have (despite involving murder, a couple of suicides and a determined effort by the higher echelons of the church to hush up the affair altogether)!

Even so, the director's hand is unmistakable throughout, inevitably reaping the occasional reward - not only his customary fetishizing of props (such as the controversial and oft-censored scene in which the face of Christ is carved on a piece of wood, then utilized by one of the nuns as a dildo!) but also his fervent attack on figures of authority, class structure and especially the repressiveness of Catholicism (linking the film with, among others, such earlier Borowczyk fare as BLANCHE [1971], IMMORAL TALES [1974] and THE BEAST [1975]).