The film does not only gain followers. Benedetta did not fail to cause a stir at the New York Film Festival, which launched on September 24. First showing at Alice Tully Hall in Lincoln Center, the Paul Verhoeven was both acclaimed and booed. Indeed, demonstrators gathered in front of the cinema to express their anger against this work.
Several groups of Catholics thus took to the streets carrying various banners. “We vehemently protest against the blasphemous lesbian film Benedetta, which insults the sacredness of Catholic nuns, ”read one of them.
In Benedetta, Virginie Efira dives into 17th century Italy and plays Benedetta Carlini, a nun who has a lesbian love affair with another woman in a convent.
A scenario that is not to everyone’s taste. “They are upset by the ‘blasphemous’ portrayal of nuns and Catholicism. They keep saying Hail Marys in megaphones, ”said the editorial director ofIndieWire, Christian Blauvelt, present on site.
If Paul Verhoeven and his cast weren’t at the New York Film Festival, the screenwriter David Birch attended the screening and witnessed these demonstrations. In response, the co-author of Benedetta said he was prepared to examine the work line by line to show that the narrative brought to the screen is taken from a very real story.
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