Storia di una monaca di clausura

Nunsploitation has to be just about the most bizarre of all the exploitation variants, and usually these films are good fun to watch. Most of the nunsploitation that I've seen has been rather nasty, featuring brutal rapes as well as the token nudity. This one, however, bucks that trend; as while Domenico Paolella's Story of a Cloistered Nun features a good deal of nudity, lesbianism and general blaspheming; it certainly doesn't have the nasty edge of films such as Images in a Convent and The Killer Nun, and that's actually not a bad thing! The plot is "based on a true story", but that doesn't mean it isn't your usual nunsploitation fare. The story concerns a young girl who was supposed to marry a man from another family due to an 'arranged at birth' marriage, but she falls in love with another man. Naturally, her parents are none too pleased; and the girl is swiftly sent off to a convent where she is degraded and humiliated, and then becomes the object of a sexually repressed lesbian nun's desires.

Considering that this is an obscure movie, made in Italy in 1973; the cinematography and production values are surprisingly good, and Story of a Cloistered Nun is actually not really a trash film at all. This is likely to annoy some viewers; and indeed, I do watch this sort of stuff mainly to see sex and violence, but I can't be too hard on the film as the director manages to keep things interesting throughout, and it's obvious that a lot of work went into it. The acting is largely good, with Suzy Kendall providing the highlight role as 'Mother Superior'. The fact that the film isn't very nasty certainly helps it when it comes to the lesbian plot as the fact that it isn't brutal or forced actually means that the film is more erotic than it otherwise might have been (NO disrespect to Images in a Convent, though). I wouldn't say that this film should be at the top of every nunsploitation fan's wishlist, but it provides something a little different from the norm and it definitely is a film worth seeing.

This is one of the earlier Italian "nunsploitation" films and as such may disappoint those expecting a Joe D'Amato style sex romp like "Images in a Convent" or the bloody satanic pandemonium of the later Jess Franco/Hispanic variety. It is also not nearly as gruelingly realistic and incendiary as "Flavia, the Heretic", probably the best of these films. It most resembles the two films before it--"The Nuns of St. Archangel" and "The Sinful Nuns of St. Valentines". These films don't quite make up a trilogy since they are all more or less the same. A young woman is confined to a convent after she refuses a marriage arranged by her strict father. There she finds herself caught between the kindly but strict Mother Superior and a libertine bisexual nun from an influential family who is able to obtain favors like drunken, naked parties and rendezvous with men on the outside. After the young nun becomes pregnant by her boyfriend a scandal erupts and all the nuns have to unite against a common enemy--the corrupt and brutal patriarchal authority.

Although the story is pretty mind-numbing, this movie really works because of the acting. Suzie Kendall really manages to flesh out what is usually a pretty two dimensional Mother Superior role. Catherine Spaak is equally good as the wicked, libertine nun. Eleanora Giorgi plays the young novice, the role occupied by Ornella Muti and Jenny Tamburi in earlier movies, and she is more than adequate. And if you don't blink you might also see an early unclothed appearance by Paola Senatore who was later in "Images in a Convent" (and apparently hardcore Italian porn). There is some nudity, mostly by the beautiful Giorgi and the extras (Kendall, characteristically, and Spaak, quite uncharacteristically, both keep their habits on), but there is a general lack of the depravity fans have come to expect from this genre. There is one scene where Giorgi (half-naked, of course) is tied up and whipped, and a scene where Spaak is made to crawl across the floor licking it with her tongue--a striking if perhaps not really very erotic image.

This is kind of tame but definitely worth watching, especially for nunsploitation fans and other demented perverts.

Honest love - my finger slipped when I was trying to click on the film 'violent bloodbath'. I didn't mean to click on Domenico Paolella's other 1973 nun film (which confusingly features stills from The Nun and The Devil in the opening credits).

Carmella is from a noble family and has forgotten that she was promised to marry a guy from another noble family when she cops off with a local soldier. Family enraged, the only thing they can do is throw her in a convent, where we can all rest easy knowing that she will be kept pure and sheltered from the outside world.

That's if she can avoid the advances of cruel mother superior Suzy Kendall (lesbian), Sister Elizabeth (lesbian), who appears nice at first and is also knocking boots with soldier Umberto Orisini, who gets his kicks hearing about all the lesbian (lesbian) activity at the convent, or the other two novices (lesbians).

Carmella has a hard time adjusting to convent life, and no wonder - it looks awful! When not grassing each other in for everything, the nuns make passes at each other, have affairs with the outside, and Carmella has Suzy Kendall crawling into her room every night while Sister Elizabeth takes her OUT of the room every night. Sounds like a bean-fest, right?

Wrong! Just like The Nun and The Devil, this isn't a sex filled exploitation film, rather than a serious commentary on the suppression of female sexuality in a brutal male society, and just like the previous film, this one looks gorgeous. It's also rather touching in a way, especially the last ten minutes of the film, where those expecting nuns in high heels actually end up with actual acting. Suzy Kendall, who usually just screams her way through a film (not her fault - they are usually gialli) do good here as the internally torn Mother Superior, who shows herself to be someone with hidden depths.

A beautiful nunsploitation epic,sweet and tender where the lovely Eleonora Giorgi plays a blond virgin forced to live behind convent walls. Catherine Spaak is excellent and even more sexy than she was in her early giallos. Suzy Kendall is beautifull in the role of the mother superior who want to be a new mother for her "sister" Carmella She's more sensitive and sad than ever. I prefer this one as THE NUNS OF ST ARCHANGELLO also from Domenico Paolela. beautifull photography, beautifull music, beautifull nuns...

I have watched different movies on the sub-genre Nunsploitation, this is one of the quite suitable and fitting movies on the subject. The theme is analogous to various movies on the subject; it has been handled skillfully with a balanced approach. I am of the opinion that this movie has been slightly underrated.

The movie, claimed at the ending to be a true account, pertains to the life of Carmela Simoni (Eleonora Giorgi) who is forcefully sent to be cloistered at the convent so as to restrain her from marrying at her won will. Set in the 17th century Italy, the movie depicts the tough life at nunnery including flaws, intrigues, and sufferings of the nuns.