Behind Convent Walls

Young nuns dance, play musical instruments, walk around their convent naked and indulge in various sexual activities, much to the displeasure of Mother Superior. That's pretty much the plot, boredom had set in about half way through. Lots of female full frontal nudity, including close ups of genitals. Is this a Borowczyk art-house movie or just an excuse for some softcore porn? Probably a bit of both but for me it was unimpressive on both counts. I did watch the cut Redemption VHS but I doubt an extra 24 seconds of footage would change my mind. There are much better "nunsploitation" movies out there.

I've watched quite a number of so called "Nunsploitation" or "Convent Erotica" movies and at least eight of Walerian Borowczyk's erotic escapades and I think that "Interno di un Convento" aka "Behind the Convent Walls", truly deserves the term "Art-House Movie". In my opinion, it has to be considered one of the few artistic peaks, among the several dozens stinkers (mainly purely exploitative), which crowded European screens, during the '70 and '80s. The director shows us here more then a glimpse of his cinematic genius, crafting a little movie on a "shoestring budged", full of mesmerizing images and sounds. The cinematography (the movie seems almost entirely shot on a hand-held camera and in natural light) is simply gorgeous. Streams of bright sunlight flow towards the viewers from the background windows of beautiful Renaissance settings, creating dream-like visuals, in which the bodies of the female interpreters, quite often involved in steamy erotic games, appear almost floating weightlessly at mid air. By the way, Marina Pierro as "Sister Veronica" and Ligia Branice as "Sister Clara", are unbelievably beautiful even in (or half out) their rough monastic robes. The Mediaeval harpsichord, violin and organ scores, which underline the most climatic sequences, provide the proper musical frame for this dark tale of forbidden love affairs, sacrilegious erotic rituals, psychological and physical abuse and murder. The movie has a few dull moments where it seems that it is going nowhere, but then it gets back on track with a few pleasant surprises. There are two sequences which, personally, I consider among the most outstanding of the whole picture. The first begins with a flock of nuns busy cleaning up and decorating the chapel using straws of red carnations. Suddenly one of them, practicing on her violin, strikes a few musical notes of what seems to be a very lively tune. This attracts the attention of all the other nuns, who start looking at her in great expectation...Encouraged by her sisters, she strikes another series of notes, which immediately originates giggling of approval from the audience... Another nun joins right in playing the organ and they both start an improvised duet playing a very captivating "pagan" tune. Like stricken by a sudden electric discharge, the nuns immediately forget all about their work duties. The whole Sisterhood improvises a party and start dancing and jumping around happy and thoughtlessly. The camera jumps right in the middle of this improvised party, cavorting around with the nuns, by means of circular dancing movements at the rhythm of the music. It's an amazing apotheosis of flying black veils, black gowns, white undergarment and red carnations... You can almost feel the sense of relieve of the poor nuns, who get carried away in a temporary escape from the frustration of their austere and mortifying living routine. The other sequence is the one everybody who has seen the movie, obviously talks about... It's probably the only really explicit and graphic scene of the whole movie, but I think that the way it has been shot and directed, makes this sequence beautiful and not disturbing. Borowczyk unveils here the deepest roots of his erotic fantasies. He shows us a nun deeply (and desperately) in love with Christ. Spiritual love is not sufficient for her; her repressed senses demand to be also physically possessed by him. She reaches her objective, with the help of a home-made wooden dildo, with a Christ-like face painted on one end and a mirror...and a big deal of imagination. WOW! Definitely eroticism at his peak and definitely... not a movie for everyone! I give this one an (enthusiastic) 8 out of 10.

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]).

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!...