Le monache di Sant'Arcangelo

This was given to me by a crestfallen guy who was bitterly disappointed in the nunsploitation genre, along with Jess Franco's 'Les Demons'. I can see why the guy was let down: There's not much by way a lesbian trysts or what not to be encountered here. This is a more serious film about power within the Catholic church, and, as usual, the subjugation of women.

The Mother Superior at a convent is ill, and there's a race against time to see who's gonna be the new Mutha on the block. Could it be the old nun? Or how about the one having an affair with a guy? Or the other one who's poisoning the old nun and grassing in the nun who's having an affair with that guy? She's the one I would bet on, especially seeing as she's got complicated relationships all over the place, with a jilted, flagellating ex-lover, an impossibly young novice nun lover all set up and ready to go, and her own niece to deal with (the chick from Umberto Lenzi's 'Dirty Pictures'). It's a busy life being a Mother Superior, because she owes a local Spanish guy a favour and he wants it in the form her niece! Even more trouble: Her niece is having an illicit affair with Fernando, who went on to star in major zombie/stupid people movie Night of Terror! It's all too much to bear for a baldy Scotsman weaned on Nightmare City, The Beyond, and Strike Commando! Worse still (or even: greater still) Luc Meranda shows up and gets all Torquemada on everyone's arse. Yep – Luc Meranda, the guy who looks somehow like a deflated Arnie, from The Violent Professionals and The Corpses Bare Traces of Carnal Violence. He's out for some confessions and suspects all is not orthodox at the convent, and he'd be right. So, before you can say 'didn't we see this in The Devils?' the nuns are getting all racked up and ready to go.

As I said about sixteen paragraphs ago, this is not really a nunsploitation film. It plays out more like a period drama about how women lived under the Catholic church, and is fairly engaging due to the complicated plot and many characters. I'll tell you this, though – the film looks gorgeous and the colour schemes used are genius. Mostly red, black, gold, and white. Like them or not, you've got to hand it to Italian films, they almost always look great. If you're wanting a change of pace from the usual seventies Euro madness with food for thought thrown in (not to mention some familiar faces), the Nun and the Devil is a good time waster. Please note: There's no devil in this film.

I love the nunsploitation genre when it's at its most exploitative and depicts the servants of God during various sequences of debauchery and blasphemy. Unfortunately, The Nuns of Saint Archangel prefers to spend its runtime mostly on talky drama, which does focus on blasphemy, but unfortunately not much of it is actually shown. On the plus side, the production values are great and director Domenico Paolella (who also directed decent nunsploitation Story of a Cloistered Nun in the same year) produces some nice visuals. The plot focuses, as you would expect, on a convent. The Mother Superior has passed away, and so a vacancy has arisen for that particular post. This leads to several nuns at the convent trying to get the position over the others. Giulia believes she would be best for the post; and so proceeds to take out her rivals; by poisoning one and arranging for the other to be caught canoodling with a man. Meanwhile, she's making her own bargains to secure her wanted position; and showing the corruption of the church in the meantime.

Most people that watch these films will undoubtedly do so mainly to see some hot women dressed as nuns involved in lesbian scenes (or so I've heard...), but unfortunately (err...for those people), this movie does not make lesbian sex it's main focal point. It really does have to be said that the movie is far too talky and this is a problem since a lot of the dialogue is not even all that interesting. I do have to admit that despite having seen quite a few Italian films about nuns; I really don't have that much of an interest in Christianity and how the church is ran. The film stars Anne Heywood, who is good in the lead role (and mostly keeps her clothes on). She receives good feedback from Martine Brochard and Omella Muti, as well as Luc Merenda. I do have to admit that the story itself is actually not bad in the way it is constructed; I just found it rather dull. Despite the genre label; 'nunsploitation', I've found many of these movies to be rather high quality in terms of production values - this one being above average. Overall, I can't say that this film is a favourite of mine; but it is just about worth seeing.

If you follow the "nuns-ploitation" genre at all, uh, religiously (sorry) you know these films generally fall into three categories. First, are the films that are more or less serious and are meant to criticize the more or less real historical crimes of the Catholic Church. These include both the earliest films like "The Nun of St. Monza", but also some of the more violent and lurid 70's films like "Flavia, the Heretic" (a personal favorite of mine). Then there are the straight-out lesbian-nun sex romps like Walerian Borozyx "Behind Convent Walls" or Joe D'Amato's "Images from a Convent". Finally, there are the post-"Exorcist", mostly Hispanic films that veer into the supernatural and full-tilt delerium like Franco's "Love Letters of a Portugese Nun" or the Mexican neo-surrealist masterpiece "Alucarda".

This film falls mostly into the first catgerory, but it does veer a little bit into the second. The plot revolves around the campaign to choose a new Mother Superior for the Convent of St. Archangel. One Machiavellian sister (Anne Heywood) tries to get the edge on her two rivals, who have more wealthy and influential family connections on the outside, by slowly poisoning one and arranging for the other (Martine Brochard) to be caught with her male lover (which she easily manages since this bisexual nun is also HER lesbian lover). She also forms an alliance with an unscrupulous nobleman by promising to deliver her virginal niece (Ornella Muti) to him. All of these machinations eventually bring down the corrupt, patriarchal church authorities on the convent. Without giving away too much, the ending is both moralistic and extremely cynical with some evil character getting more than their just desserts while many other, even more wicked characters get off scot free.

This movie may disappoint somewhat as sexploitation. Martine Brochard has a lot of nudes scenes, but Anne Heywood's could best be described as subliminal. Perhaps most regrettably, Ornella Muti keeps her clothes on, even when the older nuns are "inspecting" her virginity. The two semi-official sequels to this, "Story of a Cloistered Nun" and "The Sinful Nuns of St. Valentine's", feature much more copious sex and nudity,including scenes of the young acolytes (Eleanora Giorgi and Jenny Tamburi respectively) getting very naked (and tied-up and whipped, etc.). But for the few fans of these films out there who AREN'T lecherous perverts, this one is probably the most realistic and hard-hitting of the trilogy. It's definitely worth seeing anyway.

Yet another Stendhal-inspired "Nunsploitationer" in the vein of THE NUN OF MONZA (1969) and ABBESS OF CASTRO (1974) – incidentally, MONZA's Anne Heywood dons the habit here as well, while Pier Paolo Capponi appears in all three (in this case, he is a lecherous nobleman). Actually, the film's German title translates to THE NUN OF VERONA: with this in mind, the absurd English moniker is utterly misleading…not to mention liable to confuse it with Jerzy Kawalerowicz' much superior THE DEVIL AND THE NUN aka MOTHER JOAN OF THE ANGELS (1961)! It emerges somewhat more plot-packed than usual, with several nuns being involved in illicit/corrupt business behind convent walls: apart from Heywood (who is more of a conspirator this time around and caps her performance with an effective diatribe at the obligatory trial followed by an excruciating death scene), these include Martine Brochard, Claudia Gravy (from the weird Spaghetti Western MATALO! [1970]) and Ornella Muti (most appealing when sporting short-cropped hair and masculine attire, her role is secondary but she carries it with aplomb). The Inquisition, then, is represented by a fanatical Luc Merenda (miscast) and Cardinal Claudio Gora. The oppressive medieval atmosphere is nicely caught (though the print I got hold of, featuring a reasonable English-dubbed track, is a bit too dark – furthermore, the split between its two parts irritatingly occurs in mid-sentence!) and, while the trademark nudity and violence are certainly there, these are not particularly explicit. In the long run, THE NUN AND THE DEVIL (which comedy/peplum exponent Paolella directed under the pseudonym Paolo Dominici!) is pretty solid as "Nunsploitation" films go.

According to open credits this film is based on authentic 16th Century records and a story by Stendhal . During the 1570s , in the convent of Sant'Arcangelo di Baiano , after the illness of the mother superior, taking place a tragic fight power . Stars one ambitious nun , Mother Giulia (Anne Heywood) who comes from a wealthy family, as she wants to become the new abbess , that's why she will stop at nothing to get it and at any cost . Along the way, the aristocrat Spanish nobleman Don Carlos (Pier Paolo Capponi) enjoys in the convent of Sant'Arcangelo di Baiano, satisfying his desires with Sister Giulia di Mondragone and other nuns . Mother Giulia is as interested in the coveted title of abbess and she attempts to please him, and provides nuns to Don Carlos . Then a power struggle emerges and rages on. Meantime , other sisters, especially Sister Carmela (Claudia Gravy) , schemes against her . Giulia offers herself on several occasions to Don Carlos , despite being a lesbian and eager to be alone with her sweetheart : Sister Chiara (Martine Brochard) . Giulia pleases Don Carlos even when he asks her to spend a night of love with the attractive young, Sister Isabella (Ornella Muti) . Soon after , step by step , the scandal bursts : anonymous messages , murder , threats and sudden appearance of strong accusations by the sending of thorny letters to the high ecclesiastical authorities . It results in the corrupt vicar Carafa (Luc Merenda) , representative of the Inquisition is sent by the Archbishop of Naples , Cardinal d'Arezzo (Claudio Gora) to open immediately an inquistive trial against the unfortunete nuns , including tortures and beatings.

A dramatic film about the sad messes taking place at the convent of St. Archangel , in which there is a struggle for lust & love among wicked nuns . Somewhat surprising for such an exploitative , eroticism type of cinema, this film is actually handled with a degree of seriousness . It shows a religious community in which predominates bad actions as jealousy , corruption, treason , poisonings , wickedness , traps , complaints and fake accusations leading to a wild war to determinate who will succeed to the deceased abadess in her duties and functions . Well set in XVI century in the Kingdom of Naples, 1577 , providing an actual authenticity , -in fact , the production got permission to shoot the scenes in a real , ancient convent : Fossanova Abbey in Priverno, Latina, Italy-, when the Roman Inquisition and the witch-hunt were in complete action and torture is authorized in the trials , while the people live in misery , despair and fear , leading eventually to degradation and punishments , resulting in an inquisitive process in which various sisters are tortured and made to confess . Interpretations are acceptable enough , such as Anne Heywood as a powerful ecclesiastic who aspired to the title of abbess of the convent and is willing to do anything to get it . She's well accompanied by a number of gorgeous actresess usual in B-films in the Seventies and Eighties , such as : Ornella Muti , Martine Brochard , Muriel Catalá and Claudia Gravy . Le monache di Sant'Arcangelo (1973) belongs to nunsploitation tendry , being one of the first fims in this peculiar exploitative sub-genre that would be politically incorrect for nowadays's standards. The main representives of this kind of genre with full of lesbian-nun sex , luridness , erotism, delirium and sleaziness were the Italians with directors as Joe D'Amato , Bruno Mattei, Claudio Fragasso and others , with pictures as "The Nun of St. Monza", Joe D'Amato's "Images from a Convent", ¨Suor Emanuelle¨ by Giuseppe Vari with Laura Gemser, "Flavia, the Heretic", Bruno Mattei's ¨The True Story of the Nun of Monza¨, ¨Le couvent infernal¨, Walerian Borozyx's "Behind Convent Walls" . And Spanish directors also made some films like Jess Frank's "Love Letters of a Portugese Nun" and Jorge Grau's ¨Love Letters of a nun¨. And in the 2000s prevailed supernatural , terrifyng and pseudo-slasher ghost stories in which find evil nymph nuns seeking vendetta against unfortunate people, such as : ¨The Nun¨ 2005 by Luis de la Madrid with Anita Brien , Belén Blanco and The nun (2018) by Corin Hardy with Demián Bichir and Taissa Farmiga.

The motion picture was professionally directed by Domenico Paolella, though it has some flaws, gaps and failures . He was a director and writer, known for filming all kind of genres such as Nunexploitation : ¨The nun and the devil¨, ¨Unholy Convent¨ , Peplum : ¨Maciste Nell'inferno Di Gengis Khan¨, ¨Il Gladiatore Che Sfidò L'Impero¨ , ¨Golia Conquista Di Bagdad¨ , ¨Ercole Contro Tiranni , ¨Maciste against Mongols¨, among others . Rating : 5.5/10 . Acceptable and passable .