Flavia la défroquée

Flavia the Heretic has been put in with the 'nunsploitation' sub-genre, although personally I'd say it fits in closer with the historical period epic genre. Most of the time when these films say that they're "based on actual events", you have trouble believing it; but that's not the case here, as although I don't know anything about Italy in the 1600's, the film is of a far higher quality than most nunsploitation garbage, so it could well actually be based on a true story. I have to admit I prefer the trashier side of nunsploitation myself; Joe D'Amato's masterpiece "Images in a Convent" being my favourite so far, but this film deserves respect for its classy and bloodthirsty historical portrait. The film focuses on the title character: Flavia. Flavia is a nun at convent that is invaded by a 'Tarantula Sect', and this sect proceeds to insult the nuns and their Christian beliefs by defiling their place of worship. Flavia decides that she cannot take this blasphemy, and flees the convent, with revenge in mind...

The blood, sex and violence in this film actually has more power than that in a lot of similar movies. The whole film is very realistic, and this is a huge benefit to it as this allows director Gianfranco Mingozzi to create a truly macabre and morbid atmosphere. Much of the plot goes towards building up the central character, and this sets Flavia the Heretic apart from many of it's seventies counterparts as it means that the character gets developed in a way that makes sense, and it's clear that the director and everyone involved wanted to make a serious piece of art. Florinda Bolkan is excellent in the title role, and brings some real credibility to the film alongside a good support cast. There are some truly nasty sequences in this film; including many shots of people being spiked, a decapitation, a very realistic 'skinning' scene and plenty of rough sex. But none of this appears out of place as the director ensures that the graphic violence fits with the rest of the film. Overall, I can't call Flavia the Heretic a favourite of mine; but it deserves more respect than a lot of these films do, and it's definitely worth seeing.

There is so much that can be said about this film. It is not your typical nunsploitation. Of course, there is nudity and sex with nuns, but that is almost incidental to the story.

It is set in 15th Century Italy, at the time of the martyrdom of 800 Christians at Otranto. The battle between the Muslims and the Christians takes up a good part of the film. It was interesting when everyone was running from the Muslim hoards, that the mother superior would ask, "Why do you fear the Muslims,; they will not do anything that the Christians have done to you?" Certainly, there was enough torture on both sides.

Sister Flavia (Florinda Bolkan) is sent to a convent for defying her father. In the process, she witnesses and endures many things: the gelding of a stallion, the rape of a local woman by a new Duke, the torture of a nun who was overcome during a visit by the Tarantula Sect, and a whipping herself when she ran off with a Jew. The torture was particularly gruesome with hot wax being poured on the nun, and her nipples cut off.

Sister Flavia is bound to continue to get into trouble as she questions the male-dominated society in which she lives. She even asks Jesus, why the father, son and holy ghost are all men.

Eventually, she joins the leader of the Muslims as his lover and they sack the convent. Here is where you see more flesh than you can possible enjoy at one time. But, tragedy is to come. She manages to exact sweet revenge on all, including the Duke and her father, but finds that the Muslim lover treats her exactly the same. She is a woman and that is all there is to it.

I won't describe what the holy men of the church did to this heretic at the end, but it predates the torture of Saw or Hostel by decades.

Nunsploitation fans will be satisfied with the treats, but movie lovers will find plenty of meat to digest.

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.

Flavia(Florinda Bolkan of "Don't Torture a Duckling" fame)is locked away in a convent of carnal desires by her father.Tired of all of the sadism she sees around her(rape of a young woman in a pigsty,sexual cravings,horse castration)Flavia decides to run from the convent with her Jewish friend from the outside,Abraham.The two don't get very far before they are captured and then brought back to be tortured and forced to repent.After punishment she joins up with a band of Muslims called the Tarantulas,who had invaded the convent prior and leads a crusade that turns into nothing short of a bloody battle behind the convent walls."Flavia the Heretic" is a well-directed and fairly notorious piece of Italian nunsploitation.The film is slightly gruesome and sleazy at times.The acting is great and the characters are well-developed.Overall,"Flavia the Heretic" is a genuinely moving and intelligent movie with plenty of nudity and gore.You can't go wrong with it.8 out of 10.

Whoops, it happened again! I was all set to watch the harmless sounding Violent Bloodbath when my finger slipped off the keyboard, grabbed this DVD and accidentally put in the in the DVD player. Fathers of teenage daughters during the early 15th century: When you notice that your teenage daughter is taking a bit of a shine to the last surviving muslim invader on a bloody battlefield, it's probably not a good idea to capture that invader, behead him, then stick his head on a pike right in front of her. That kind of things makes a lasting impression, and throwing your daughter into a convent shortly afterwards isn't going to help the situation. Flavia the Heretic is a grim document of what occurs when this happens.

Years later Flavia is still a sexually repressed nun who is about to learn a lesson that all men are bastards. The hard way. Not only does her father continually berate her, she also witnesses an arrogant Duke raping a farm girl and get away with it, and her nun friend tortured to death for letting her sexual urges get the better of her. Flavia begins to question why the world is male dominated, from religion to war to God himself, and bitter rage wells up inside. Seeing your best friend's nipple sliced off by your father's cronies will do that to you.

Of course, this being a film by Gianfranco Mingozzi, who thought it was okay to have someone drive a car into a herd of sheep in the film Island of Crime, we also get to see a horse getting castrated while Flavia watches. As Ralf Wiggum would say in the Simpsons: the castration stands for obviousness.

With the encouragement of a grizzled old nun, Flavia begins to break free from her male-dominated shackles and seeks to destroy the convent and the all the men who have supressed her all her life, except good guy Claudio Cassanelli, who plays her friendly Jew sidekick. Flavia achieves this by doing what every woman does: by joining forces with an invading muslim army and hitting it off with their leader, then using his army to kill everyone.

Whilst having a very serious point to make about male dominance and the various ways male society has crushed and controlled women in various ways (and the sad fact it seems to happen in most cultures), the film still has plenty of exploitation elements that go way beyond the boundaries of taste. For every angry speech about female power you have the rape-happy Duke getting revenge bummed by a mob of Islamic soldiers. The part that takes the biscuit for me is when Flavia drugs the entire convent and everything breaks down into a surreal orgy where one woman jumps into, that's into, the empty carcass of a bull hanging from a ceiling. When she jumps back out again and hits her head on the still attached knackers of the bull, I really did start to wonder why I watch these things.

That said, beyond all the symbolism, naked women, and suspicious absence of lesbian activity there's a good, serious film. Florinda Bolkan is no trash actress, and Claudio Cassanelli, moody as usual, supports her well.

So there you go. Flava Flav: The Movie.