This is a serious, slow-moving tract on corruption and power abuse with a "nunsploitation" motif. Despite the violence, nudity, and lesbianism, it is not sensationalistic enough to please the yahoos. And because of those elements, it is too crude to qualify as an art house film.
At the church of Sant'Archangelo, Mother Julia (Anne Heywood) attempts to wrestle control from the sickly Mother Superior. After the Mother Superior dies suspiciously, a dour church inquisitor (Luc Merenda) conducts an interrogation that features a hand-crushing and water torture. Mother Julia confesses to poisoning the Mother Superior, and is forced to drink the same toxin while a bunch of people watch.
Although the scenario is conventional, the filmmakers succeed in conveying Julia's bitter hopelessness about the situation. Her manipulative nature and murderous schemes are contrasted with the local archbishop's equally unhealthy desire to swindle the nuns' rich parents to fill church coffers. The only difference is that one of the crooks is female, and of course the archbishop piously okays Julia's death.
Anne Heywood's performance carries the movie. Her Mother Julia is sympathetic (especially in her final scenes), which is remarkable considering the character kills an old woman, implicates her own sister in the plot, and is thoroughly corrupt. To hammer home his point about blind injustice, Paolella portrays the other nuns as warmly as possible, while the church officials are either doting idiots or heartless schemers.
In 1973, Paolella made a similar persecution-of-nuns film titled STORY OF A CLOISTERED NUN.
At the church of Sant'Archangelo, Mother Julia (Anne Heywood) attempts to wrestle control from the sickly Mother Superior. After the Mother Superior dies suspiciously, a dour church inquisitor (Luc Merenda) conducts an interrogation that features a hand-crushing and water torture. Mother Julia confesses to poisoning the Mother Superior, and is forced to drink the same toxin while a bunch of people watch.
Although the scenario is conventional, the filmmakers succeed in conveying Julia's bitter hopelessness about the situation. Her manipulative nature and murderous schemes are contrasted with the local archbishop's equally unhealthy desire to swindle the nuns' rich parents to fill church coffers. The only difference is that one of the crooks is female, and of course the archbishop piously okays Julia's death.
Anne Heywood's performance carries the movie. Her Mother Julia is sympathetic (especially in her final scenes), which is remarkable considering the character kills an old woman, implicates her own sister in the plot, and is thoroughly corrupt. To hammer home his point about blind injustice, Paolella portrays the other nuns as warmly as possible, while the church officials are either doting idiots or heartless schemers.
In 1973, Paolella made a similar persecution-of-nuns film titled STORY OF A CLOISTERED NUN.