Paul Verhoeven’s Benedetta is a weirdly compelling account of a mystic nun

The career of veteran Dutch provocateur Paul Verhoeven might seem to have taken an unlikely turn with Benedetta, his shaky but weirdly compelling account of a mystic nun in 17th-century Italy. Or maybe not. The director of Basic Instinct among other hot potatoes once wrote a secular biography of Jesus. Beyond that, his signature themes of sex, power and self-realisation are all in play. You might even wonder how much of himself Verhoeven sees in the real-life Benedetta Carlini, portrayed here entering a Tuscan convent at the age of eight. “Intelligence can be dangerous,” the novice is told, a warning that echoes into adulthood. As played by Virginie Efira, the adult Benedetta is soon reporting stigmata. For the devout film-lover, the true miracle might be the scowl of Charlotte Rampling as an unconvinced Mother Superior.

On one level then, Benedetta is a searching examination of faith. On another, a knives-out workplace drama. On a third — well, Verhoeven fans may nod knowingly on finding the director drawn to a story that comes to centre on convent lesbianism. In fact, Carlini’s sex life registers as more than mere mischief from the film-maker, a worldly affront to what the movie rails against as the dirty business of religious piety. It could only be more deeply Paul Verhoeven if RoboCop strode in to take the veil.

★★★☆☆

In UK cinemas from April 15