Paul Verhoeven Rejects Notion ‘Benedetta’ Is Blasphemous, Laments Changing Attitudes Towards Nudity – Cannes

Cut through the noise by getting the day's biggest stories sent direct to your inbox

Cut through the noise by getting the day's biggest stories sent direct to your inbox

Get the latest United transfer window updates, pre-season news and analysis delivered straight to your inbox every day for free

Peter Debruge Chief Film CriticFor all those hoping that the in-person 2021 edition of the Cannes Film Festival would mark a return to “normal,” the winner of this year’s Palme d’Or must have been a shocker — not the choice by Spike Lee’s jury (the choice was solid) so much as the movie itself: “Titane,” a radical queer take on the monster movie that bends the rules of genre, gender and gore.That this punk sensation was directed by a woman (only the second to win the Palme, after “The Piano”

Cut through the noise by getting the day's biggest stories sent direct to your inbox

Of the many films playing at Cannes which have gained in resonance since the coming of the pandemic, “Zero F*cks Given” from French duo Julie Lecoustre, and Emmanuel Marre does not represent the creepiest, most alarming kind of coincidence — that description would better fit “Benedetta” from Dutch master Paul Verhoeven, which features an actual plague, face coverings and quarantine measures.

his latest film Benedetta.Speaking after critics questioned some of the scenes, including one where an effigy of the Virgin Mary is used as a sex toy, Verhoeven said (per Variety): “I don’t really understand how you can really blaspheme about something that happened, even in 1625.“You cannot change history, you cannot change things that happened, and I based it on the things that happened.

CANNES, France -- The veteran provocateur Paul Verhoeven premiered his lesbian nun drama “Benedetta” at the Cannes Film Festival with a solemn vow to resurrect sexuality in movies.“Benedetta” predictably stirred the French Riviera festival over the weekend. In it, the Belgian actor Virginie Efira stars as Benedetta Carlini, a 17th-century French nun who communicates directly with Jesus and who falls in love with a farm girl saved by the convent (Daphné Patakia).

K.J. Yossman “Basic Instinct” director Paul Verhoeven slammed the new “puritanism” he perceives has taken over cinema during a charged Cannes press conference for his latest film “Benedetta,” saying critics “don’t want to look at the reality of life.”The Belgian auteur has received a generally positive response to his risqué new film, which stars Virginie Efira and Daphne Patakia as two nuns embarking on an illicit lesbian affair in their convent.

Video: Behind the scenes at a fashion shoot with Laurent Dombrowicz, master of eccentricity (France 24)Tensions on the rise at Armenia-Azerbaijan borderNora AlMatrooshi, UAE's first female astronaut: 'This is a huge responsibility'An unwelcome neighbour? Residents angered over sprawling SpaceX launch siteChina's worldwide harvest of genomesGoogle faces new US legal action over competition in app storeEuro 2021: England beat Denmark to reach first major tournament final since 1966MSF halts work

For just a moment, as a particularly sepulchral stretch of Anne Dudley‘s liturgical score plays over a solemn black screen emblazoned with the words “inspired by real events,” you might think Paul Verhoeven‘s gone and gotten serious on us, and that “Benedetta,” his hotly lusted-after Cannes title is going to be, whisper it, tasteful.

Ever the bad boy even into his 80s, director Paul Verhoeven stirs the pot and turns the heat up to the boiling point in Benedetta, a medieval brew of religious fervor, illicit lesbian sex in a convent, Catholic church politics and — to incidentally add a contemporaneous touch — a plague sweeping the land.

Ramin Setoodeh Executive EditorRacy sex in a convent? Explicit dreams about Jesus Christ? A coming-of-age lesbian love story? Paul Verhoeven’s “Benedetta” featured all that and more, leaving its premiere audience at the Cannes Film Festival searching for words to describe the movie they’d just seen.But in the end, the French approved.

#Cannes premiere. ‘Lesbian nuns’ is only the half of it.”“Benedetta” is an erotic drama directed by Verhoeven about a young nun in 17th century Italy who carries on an affair with another nun, and it’s inspired by a nonfiction book by historian Judith C.

Sharon Stone recently shocked everyone with her comments related to the filming of one of Basic Instinct's explicit scenes. The actress in her recently released memoir opened up about the infamous interrogation scene and suggested that she was tricked into it.

He may be barred from leaving Russia and thus unable to travel to Cannes, but arthouse cinema favorite Kirill Serebrennikov is refusing to let that dampen his spirit ahead of the premiere of his latest movie, Petrov’s Flu, in the French fest’s Competition.

Basic Instinct‘s famous leg-crossing scene.In her recent memoir The Beauty Of Living Twice, Stone stated Verhoeven tricked her into shooting the scene without underwear – among various other anecdotes about sexism and intimidation in the industry – by suggesting that Stone’s underwear was reflecting the light poorly, and asking her to remove them with the caveat that no frontal nudity would appear in the final film.“My memory is radically different from Sharon’s memory,” the director told