Flavia la défroquée

In 1400, in Puglia, Southern Italy, the nobleman father of Flavia (Florinda Bolkan) beheads her lover and locks her away in a seaside convent. Flavia questions the submissive treatment of women and is submitted to the repressive Catholic system in the convent. When Flavia has the chance, she flees from the convent with the Jew friend Abraham (Claudio Cassinelli). However, they are captured by her father and Flavia is whipped and Abraham is imprisoned in the dungeons. During the Musulman invasion of Italy, Flavia becomes the lover of their Muslin leader Ahmed (Anthony Corlan) and uses him to revenge against the nuns that have humiliated her and her father.

I was curious to see this 1978 movie of nunsploitation, not because I am fan of this subgenre of exploitation film, but because of the Brazilian Florinda Bolkan. "Flavia, la Monaca Musulmana" is a brutal nunsploitation, associating the usual themes of sexual repression and religious oppression with revenge. There is no historical background and most of the situations are only pretext for nudity, torture and violence. Now I am satisfied but this film is only recommended to very specific audiences since it is very offensive specially for religious viewers. In the Extras of the DVD, there is an interview with Florinda Bolkan. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Flávia, a Freira Muçulmana" ("Flavia, the Muslin Nun")

This is the most notorious of the "nunsploitation" movies but it's also very atypical of the genre (if "nunsploitation" can be called a genre). For one thing it is serious, believable, and fairly historically accurate. For another thing it generally avoids being merely crass exploitation. There is sex and nudity but it is all in the context of the film. There is also A LOT of violence, but it is truly unpleasant and ugly violence--it is obviously not meant to simply titillate the audience. (I actually saw the edited version but I doubt it is any less powerful--what you picture in your mind when you realize what is happening on screen is at least as terrible as anything that could have been achieved with cheesy 1970's special effects). This film could also be considered part of the "rape-revenge" genre except that after the rape and revenge there is in turn yet more revenge against the avenging woman, and each time the violence escalates a little more until all the characters are tainted and the movie ends up being a wholesale condemnation of human cruelty and a powerful statement on the ultimate futility of violence. I'm sure many people will find this movie tasteless or offensive but when you consider how many movies--especially mainstream Hollywood movies--glorify and romanticize violence, presenting it as a valid way to resolve any problem, you truly realize how courageous and refreshing a movie like this is.

Too many sources routinely lump this thought-provoking period drama in part based on historical fact together with the superficially similar "nunsploitation" which was a mainstay in '70s Euro trash cinema, overlooking the righteous anger that drives the whole endeavor. Perhaps coincidentally it was also director Gianfranco Mingozzi's singular attempt at narrative film-making outside of many well-received documentaries.

Safely set within a historical context, FLAVIA charts the growing rebellion of an early 15th century Italian nun (Florinda Bolkan's career performance, even surpassing her sterling work in Lucio Fulci's devastating DON'T TORTURE A DUCKLING), locked away in convent by her not so nobleman father in a desperate attempt to curb the girl's budding sensuous nature. Wondering why women are relegated to secondary roles at best in life as in holy scripture, she is confronted by ways in which male domination can rupture female lives, inspiring revolt fueled by the ranting of semi-crazed older Sister Agatha (indelibly portrayed by veteran actress Maria Casarès from Marcel Carné's LES ENFANTS DU PARADIS) and - more constructively - by a Muslim invasion. Joining the oppressors and perhaps unwittingly manipulating them to do her bidding, Flavia truly becomes the outcast she already felt herself to be, with expected tragic results.

With its breathtaking widescreen compositions by Alfio Contini, who shot Michelangelo Antonioni's ZABRISKIE POINT, this is an uncompromising and austere account of one woman's fierce yet ultimately futile fight against patriarchal society which allotted her no rights beyond childbearing or whoring as Sister Agatha wryly remarks. A lengthy drug-induced fantasy sequence clearly modeled on Ken Russell's otherwise far more flamboyant DEVILS notwithstanding, the movie turns out relatively stingy in the skin department, making something of a mockery out of its semi-porn reputation. This is a serious work deserving rediscovery and restoration of its unjustly tarnished reputation.

A young woman is sent to a nunnery by her domineering father in 15th century southern Italy, while there she is subject and witness to many atrocities. She later flees and becomes the lover of the leader of an invading Muslim army and with his muscle underpinning her; she enacts grisly revenge on those who have wronged her.

Flavia the Heretic is one of the prime examples of the sub-genre known as nunsploitation. Along with The Devils (1971), it combines some serious drama along with gruesome exploitative material. Although it could be argued that in both of these films the nasty scenes are pretty necessary in reflecting the grimness of their respective stories. Both films look at the dubious actions of the church in the middle ages but Flavia more specifically has a feminist outlook as well and considers the role of women at that time. Consequently, this is an unusually serious minded bit of nunsploitation. It is considerably helped in this regard by a standout turn from the always impressive Florinda Bolkan in the lead role. She essays the emotional story arc of Flavia quite expertly and certainly elevates the drama of the story. This is a very interesting central female character of a type you don't see very often leading a movie, especially in a film of this type.

In regards to the more visceral aspects, there were a few very grim scenes of torture and graphic excess, including a borderline unwatchable castration of a horse and a gruesome climax. Some of the horrible scenes have a definite overall point though, such as a sequence where a rich and decadent duke rapes a servant girl in a pig sty. It's a scene that illustrates the way that women were treated like animals by the ruling classes who were at liberty to act as they saw fit. On the whole, Flavia the Heretic is an Italian genre film with a more art-house sensibility than was typical. It provides both vicarious thrills and something to actually think about. And that's not a bad achievement really.

Young nun Flavia (Florinda B0lkan) was a women's libber before there was even such a thing. Set in Southern Italy in the 1400s, this film sees its titular character striking a blow for the fairer sex, her fight for equality stemming from her troubled childhood, when her father hacked the head off a Moslem soldier she took a shine to, and then forced her into a convent to spend her days in religious contemplation. Parenting wasn't his strong point.

But the life of a nun is not for rebellious Flavia, and after witnessing a friend of hers being tortured for wanton acts (the old 'hot oil and nipple slicing' treatment), she flees the convent in the company of male pal Abraham. The pair don't get far though, and Flavia is returned to the nunnery and Abraham flung into jail. A miffed Flavia seeks revenge for her mistreatment, and that of her sisters, and teams up with an army of Moslem invaders to make her father and other miscreants atone for their wrongdoings.

Don't be fooled by Flavia The Heretic's apparent female empowerment message... the film's women's lib device is simply there to try and lend proceedings an air of respectability. They shouldn't have bothered. This is very obviously an exploitation flick first and foremost, with scenes of rape, abuse, misogyny and murder, and as such is unlikely to find favour with staunch feminists. If it's sex, violence and general deviancy you're after, then this one offers such dubious delights as forced sex in a pig-sty, a graphic spot of horse castration (symbolic of Flavia's desire to castrate all men), nun urination, decapitation, a drug-fuelled orgy (during which a naked nun climbs inside the gutted carcass of a cow!), a man being lowered ass-first onto a spear, and skin-flaying. Unfortunately, director Gianfranco Mingozzi's pretenses cause the film to drag in places, meaning that those looking for a consistently satisfying slice of sleaze and depravity may also come away feeling a tad disappointed.

5.5/10, rounded up to 6 for IMDb.