Paul Verhoeven’s Benedetta hasn’t been short of controversy. The Basic Instinct dirctor’s latest film, an erotic nun thriller, was picketed by Catholic protesters at the September premiere and previously came under fire for using a statue of the Virgin Mary as a sex toy.
Off the back of its UK premiere at the 2021 London Film Festival earlier this month, a second trailer has been unveiled – and it’s as racy as you would expect.
The film is based on Judith C. Brown’s book Immodest Acts: The Life of a Lesbian Nun in Renaissance Italy, and follows the real-life story of Benedetta Carlini, a 17th century nun who has an affair with another nun at the convent.
Earlier in the year, Verhoeven responded to the criticism surrounding the film: “Don’t forget, in general, people, when they have sex, they take their clothes off, so I’m stunned basically by the fact that we don’t want to look at the reality of life. Why this puritanism has been introduced – it is in my opinion wrong.”
He added: “I don’t really understand how you can really blaspheme about something that happened, even in 1625. You cannot change history, you cannot change things that happened, and I based it on the things that happened. So I think the word blasphemy in this case is stupid.”
Benedetta opens in cinemas on December 3 and will be available on VOD on December 21. Watch the trailer below.
