Behind Convent Walls

This is the fourth movie by Walerian Borowczyk that I've seen (after 'Goto, the Island Of Love', 'The Beast', and 'Dr Jekyll and His Women', all of which I highly recommend), and the more I see of his work, the more I like it, but also the less I understand where he is coming from. Jess Franco and Jean Rollin were blurring the boundaries between art and exploitation movies around the same time as Borowczyk, but they are both a little easier to get a handle on. What Borowczyk was aiming for in 'Behind Convent Walls' is difficult to work out, but it's fascinating viewing nevertheless. I suppose "nunsploitation" is an apt description of the movie, but it is quite unlike other examples of that genre I have seen that were made after the success of Ken Russell's 'The Devils' (e.g. 'The Sinful Nuns Of Saint Valentine' or my personal favourite 'Flavia The Heretic'). Borowczyk's approach is very different from those other movies, and 'Behind Convent Walls', despite it's most notorious scene (more on that in a minute), is quite tame compared to the eye-popping quasi-porn of 'The Beast'. This movie is mainly silly and smutty and not all that explicit as you would imagine from the title and Borowczyk's reputation. There are lots of shots of half naked nuns or nuns in their undies cavorting around,etc.etc. and it is even quite innocent for the most part. The most notorious scene in the movie, which has gone down in exploitation movie legend, is often censored from most prints (but fortunately not the version I watched), and involves an amorous nun using a homemade dildo with the face of Jesus stuck on it. It's quite a surprise when it happens, and unlike most of the rest of the movie. In some ways I was disappointed with 'Behind Convent Walls', but in other ways it was better than I expected. If that sounds confused, yes it is, but it's an honest reflection of how I feel about Borowczyk's perplexing work. He's without doubt one of the most interesting and unusual directors of all time, and his movies will make you question your preconceived ideas of what a movie can/should be. Cynical smut peddler or misunderstood maker of art movies? You decide. I'm still thinking about it!

What supposedly goes on 'behind convent walls' is the subject matter of pretty much every nunsploitation film ever made, and this film is director Walerian Borowczyk's take on the theme. Given that he previously directed The Beast; I have to say that I was expecting something a little stranger from the director, and while the film does have some quirks not seen in other nunsploitation efforts; it has to be said that it's pretty much a textbook entry and that is really the most disappointing thing about it. As ever, its sex, Satanism and general sinning that is the order of the day; although the film does not really follow a set narrative. The film is apparently based on a novel by someone called 'Stendhal' and focuses on a convent, where most of the nuns are beautiful and like to do everything except what nuns are supposed to do (despite having seen so many films about nuns, I actually don't know what that is!). Basically, what we get is the leaders of the convent trying to instill proper values in the nuns, while the nuns ignore them.

This genre is best known for its hardcore entries by directors such as Joe D'Amato, but this one is actually surprisingly soft. The director delights in showing the nuns half dressed; we get plenty of shots of naked women wearing the nun's headgear and while it could be considered blasphemous, it's not particularly offensive. The most noteworthy scene of the movie goes against the flow a little bit and sees a nun pleasuring herself with a carving featuring the face of Jesus! Outside of that, however, the film doesn't feature the hardcore atrocities that Joe D'Amato delights in filming. The plot is really unimportant and it soon becomes apparent that the film is only going to be an excuse to show what (or rather, what probably doesn't) go on behind convent walls. The women are all rather beautiful and the cinematography is too which ensures that the film is at least nice to look at. Overall, I don't think this film will do a lot for those wanting hardcore pornography from their nunsploitation; but it's a decent film and provides enough for the average nunsploitation fan.

BEHIND CONVENT WALLS tells the disturbing story of what really goes on in these bastions of female sanctimony. As suspected, once they're done with their duties and devotions, off go the clothes! As if dancing and wearing straw hats weren't bad enough, these sisters of sin engage in all manner of carnal activity! Not-at-all surprisingly, they're all young, nubile beauties, ready for action!

What is an ancient, shrewish Reverend Mother to do? Why, scream, condemn, and bring down the law, of course! This method works in the same way that gasoline can be used to extinguish a bonfire! As a result, fleshly fun-time explodes exponentially!

So, the Reverend Mother institutes harsher rules. Nudity skyrockets. You haven't truly lived until you've witnessed a nun, dressed only in her habit, playing a violin!

Ugly, hairy men are introduced to carry on with the naked novitiates. Annnd, if hairy men aren't available, well, it's like the song says, "Sisters are doing it for themselves". You'll never look at Jeezuz in quite the same way again. Guaranteed.

For fans of the nun exploitation sub-genre, this is certainly one of the more blasphemous examples. Religious symbols and iconography have rarely been mingled with sensuality so blatantly. This makes KILLER NUN look like a Sunday school play!...

A stern Mother Superior tries to maintain order in the convent, and to protect the nuns from evil temptation in this beautifully wrought 'nunsploitation' film from cult director Walerian Borowczyk. While the plot here is standard fare, it is the breathtaking imagery that takes center stage, and makes this film so special. One of the most 'fluid' films I have ever seen, the characters and the images are constantly moving, an effect helped to some degree by the hand-held camera technique. White is the predominant color here, as sunlight streams through the windows of the convent, illuminating the naturally beautiful nuns as they go about their days, gathering roses, preparing food, masturbating and copulating (!). All this while the mother superior races around, spying and searching the bed chambers of the nuns, forever looking for evidence of sin. Religious imagery abounds, in the form of bleeding stigmata and a dildo with the face of Jesus etched onto it. Light and comical at times, but turning considerably darker towards the films climax. The cinematographer also worked on Argento's 'Suspiria', which explains this films gorgeous look. It would certainly be a shame and do great injustice to Borowczyk's beautiful film to place it in the same category as the 'nusploit' dreck of Joe D'Amato and some of the others, as 'Interno di un Convento' is on another level entirely. This is my favorite film from Borowczyk next to his "La Marge" with Sylvia Kristel and Joe Dallesandro. And of the 'nunsploit genre, 'Behind Convent Walls' is one of the absolute finest examples, along with "The Nuns of Verona", "Sacrilege", and the dazzling Japanese "Convent of the Holy Beast". I have yet to see Jess Franco's "Love Letters of A Portuguese Nun", but I heard this is quite good as well. For Behind Convent Walls' there is a great new DVD featuring a beautiful widescreen transfer, and including extra information on Borowczyk's work.

This is one of the more notable nunsploitation films (shot in Italy), which was rushed into production after a proposed project starring Monica Vitti fell through. Being the Borowczyk fan that I am (even if about a third of his work that I've watched has proved disappointing to a degree!), I had wanted to purchase the R2 DVD ever since it was released but kept postponing it for a couple of reasons - one, because it's only available in an English-dubbed version (though it's not too bad as these things go) and, two, the somewhat prohibitive price (in fact, it's only while in London recently that I managed to find the most affordable copy, albeit still not cheap at $25!).

As is to be expected from this Polish film-maker, we're treated to an artier kind of erotica (some of the sex surprisingly involving Ligia Branice, Mrs. Borowczyk herself!) - with lush soft-focus cinematography by the renowned Luciano Tovoli. However, despite being a Stendhal adaptation, Borowczyk here pays little regard for the usual necessities of plot and characterization (in fact, apart from Branice and future muse Marina Pierro, the nuns are virtually indistinguishable from one another): this semi-improvised approach does render the whole somewhat inconsequential (especially in comparison to some of his other work), to say nothing of aloof - which eventually detracts from the impact the tragedy at the end ought to have (despite involving murder, a couple of suicides and a determined effort by the higher echelons of the church to hush up the affair altogether)!

Even so, the director's hand is unmistakable throughout, inevitably reaping the occasional reward - not only his customary fetishizing of props (such as the controversial and oft-censored scene in which the face of Christ is carved on a piece of wood, then utilized by one of the nuns as a dildo!) but also his fervent attack on figures of authority, class structure and especially the repressiveness of Catholicism (linking the film with, among others, such earlier Borowczyk fare as BLANCHE [1971], IMMORAL TALES [1974] and THE BEAST [1975]).