Director Paul Verhoeven hits back at fury over his Cannes lesbian nun film Benedetta
- The big-budget film, which delights in its rather obvious eroticism, is in the running for Cannes top prize, the Palme d’Or
- The director, who has also long drawn the ire of feminists, told reporters at the Cannes Film Festival that he had nothing to be ashamed of
Veteran film provocateur Paul Verhoeven hit back on Saturday at Catholics who have condemned his lesbian nun film Benedetta as blasphemous over scenes in which a statue of the Virgin Mary is used as a sex toy.
The Basic Instinct and Showgirls director, who has also long drawn the ire of feminists, told reporters at the Cannes Film Festival that he had nothing to be ashamed of.
“How you can you be blasphemous about something that happened, that is true?” asked the 82-year-old, speaking to reporters in response to social media outrage over the illicit relationship at the heart of the film between a 17th-century Italian abbess and one of her novices.
“You cannot talk about blasphemy about something that happened four hundred years ago. I think that is wrong,” he added.
The big-budget film, which delights in its rather obvious eroticism, is in the running for Cannes top prize, the Palme d’Or.
Belgian star Virginie Efira – who also featured in Verhoeven’s Oscar-nominated Elle about a woman’s rape fantasies – plays the errant abbess Benedetta Carlini, who is stripped of her authority (and just about everything else) when her passion for a fellow nun is revealed.
