Story of a Cloistered Nun

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.

Italian nunsploitation set in Italy in the 1600s. A young noblewoman named Carmela, promised as a child in an arranged marriage, decides instead she wants to marry a lover of her choice. This brings huge disgrace on her family. The only solution is for them to have her forcibly admitted to a convent, as becoming a nun is the one socially acceptable reason for backing out of the deal. The convent (surprise) turns out to be a hotbed of drinking, partying, and same-sex relationships. Carmela's arrival creates increased tensions in an already strained relationship between the Mother Superior and a Sister Elisabeth, as both women take a romantic interest in the new arrival. She isn't interested in either of them in that way, and only wishes to escape and rejoin her lover so that they can wed.

Despite sounding like the usual sleazy nun-fest, it actually isn't. There's some nudity, including one flogging; but the story has some substance and the characters are fleshed-out (no pun intended) to the point where you actually care about them. British actress (and giallo queen) Suzy Kendall gets to show her acting chops for once as the Mother Superior (a role that Joan Collins was to play, before she backed out), the late, beautiful Catherine Spaak is great as the scheming Sister Elisabeth, and the gorgeous Eleonora Giorgi (in her first lead role) makes an impression as the radiant Carmela. Some nunsploitation fans might find themselves feeling a bit let down it's not.. sleazier, and it's a tad slow at times with a few scenes feeling over-long; but it's certainly a change to see one of these that doesn't rely solely on T&A to draw an audience. 6.5/10.

Possibly the best of the Italian "Nunsploitationers" – even if, apart from ample nudity (the violence here is quite mild), the film's character-driven nature is liable to disappoint hardened genre fans…not to mention a denouement which could be deemed anti-climactic! It was made by the same people behind THE NUN AND THE DEVIL (1973; see above) yet, being inspired by real events and therefore more 'serious' in tone than its predecessor, director Paolella was not afraid to attach his name to it. While the plot per se is rather thin and offers no real surprises (especially after having watched 9 of these in a brief span of time!), the end result is immeasurably elevated by spot-on central casting: Catherine Spaak (as a rebellious bisexual nun), Suzy Kendall (as the quietly perturbed Mother Superior) and Eleonora Giorgi (arguably the loveliest actress to feature in this type of film and whom the makers miss no opportunity to parade sans clothing); by the way, Martine Brochard from the previous film returns in the role of a crazy nun. The males figure less prominently this time around – even Umberto Orsini is no more than a narcissist relishing his prohibited liaison with a cloistered nun (Spaak). Following on from THE NUN AND THE DEVIL, Piero Piccioni contributes another lush yet moody score to complement the film's striking visuals (courtesy of cinematographer Armando Nannuzzi, a Pasolini regular, and the stark production design). Interestingly, the credits are accompanied by stills depicting vintage artwork but also scenes from the previous film itself!; a small gripe I have with this particular presentation of STORY OF A CLOISTERED NUN is that the admittedly tiny English subtitles are non-removable (which, being fluent in Italian, I did not require).

Well, most reviewers seem to class this as "nunsploitation" but this production is, simply, much too good to be classified as anything sleazy, in fact I felt reminded more of "The Nun's Story" than anything else. Sure, there's some nudity, but never gratuitous - even the "sisterly love" and corporal punishment scenes were handled with taste and respect. And there's real acting here, some very intense and touching scenes. The costumes and sets are simple but top-notch, the music is good, camera and light are not outstanding but serviceable, and the story progresses at a slow (fitting the theme) but relentless pace - never during the 90min runtime did I feel the need to fast-forward.

The story itself is simple enough, with the young heroine banned to a convent against her will - from there it progresses along predictable ways as she slowly gets to know the ways of the convent, a community balanced on a precarious equilibrium of powers, centered around the mother superior on the one hand and sister Elisabeth on the other (a simple nun but with family connections up to the archbishop). The mistrust between everyone is palpable, every small gesture, condescending look and so on carries meaning. Despite the slow pace the tension is high all the way through. It's no surprise that the balanced powers come crashing down in the last act, still I was a bit shocked about how cruel the resolution was. The post-credits claim that this is based on true events; I don't want to dig deeper but the bleak ending does indeed have a most realistic appeal.

This film did not have the typical features of a usual nunsploitation film. Sure, it had nudity and a whipping, but the sex was all off camera.

Eleonora Giorgi played Carmela, who was promised as an infant to unite two families. She fell in love with another and her father locked her away in a convent. Giorgi was really good in the role and made the film worth watching.

Sister Elisabetta (Catherine Spaak) assisted her in meeting her lover while in the convent. Spaak was also very good. Unfortunataly, Sister's motives were not just to befriend Carmela; she was actually in love with her. Spurned, she took revenge.

Also good was Suzy Kendall who played Mother Superior. She was also in love with Carmel, but never really expressed it.

Just watching this film as a romance is worthwhile. You'll have to look elsewhere for real nunsploitation.