Flavia the Heretic

Italy, circa 1400: In spite of her years in the convent Flavia Gaetani (Florinda Bolkan) has never really accepted the rule of the fathers:

"Why? Why is God a man. The Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost all men. Each of the 12 apostles. All 12 males."

It's a dangerous line of thinking to pursue in this time and place, especially when the chain of events leads Flavia to act on her thoughts.

When a group of Tarantula cultists visit the convent one of the nuns, Sister Livia, succumbs to their madness. This carnivalesque transgression is not permitted her, Flavia's father Don Diego decreeing that she be tortured to death for her blasphemies.

Disgusted by her father's actions, compounded by his refusal to do anything against the French Duke who she has just witnessed brutally rape a young woman, Flavia runs away with Abraham (Claudio Cassinelli), the Jewish scholar whose presence is tolerated only because of his administrative skills and understanding of the way things are:

"It's dangerous to go beyond one's own boundaries. The poor cannot invade the rich man's realm. The Jew has to accept the boundaries assigned to him by the Christians. The woman has to accept the man's"

Flavia's freedom and happiness are, alas, short lived. After a night away from the convent she and Abraham are apprehended by the Don's men. Abraham is imprisoned – he is too valuable to simply kill – while Flavia is returned to the convent for a good whipping.

Time passes. Flavia meets Sister Agatha (Maria Casares), an older woman who shares similar sentiments to her own and dares to imagine the heretical fantasy of becoming Pope. Noticing a commotion at the shore, the pair at first take it to be some mariolatrists – "see how the crowds flock to worship the female" – then notice the Muslim vessels approaching.

Where the rest of the civilian population flee in panic, Agatha is delighted. Why should the women flee when, as she says, "the Moslem cannot do anything to you the Christians haven't already done".

After Agatha is slain by Don Diego Flavia throws in her lot with the invaders. Becoming the consort of their commander (Anthony Corlan), she leads them to the convent, the Duke and her father in turn

Soon, however, the Muslems prove just as brutal and patriarchal as the Christians. Meet the new boss, same as the old boss…

Gianfranco Mingozzi's Flavia the Heretic presents us with an intriguing blend of arthouse and exploitation approaches to film-making. Whether the result is a film that contains something to appeal to both audiences or something to repel just about everyone is the question. Or, to use the different vocabularies of the likely audience(s), can naughty nuns and feminist discourse really go together? Or, in terms of theory and practice, can Annie Sprinkle and Mary Daly?

A sequence that sees a naked nun climb inside a cow carcass followed by a blasphemous reinterpretation of the Last Supper in which a mixed male and female group of apostles devour a naked female host epitomises the viewer's dilemma. Reminiscent of the performance art of Hermann Nitsch, it raises the same question: Is there a serious point being made here or is this just shock for shock sake?

Whatever the answer Flavia the Heretic is emphatically not Mystery Science Theatre 3000 material. Nor can it easily be approached in that ironic/knowing/camp manner that one would normally take towards WIP/nunsploitation/Nazi concentration camp genre entries.

While the dialogue is awkward and self-conscious ("Aren't you taking this male protector role just a little too seriously?") the approach taken by the film-makers, with the cast inhabiting their characters rather than presenting them in quotation marks, prevents the (re)viewer from a similarly distanced double-take.

Regardless of whether one approaches Flavia from the perspective of the arthouse or grindhouse and of ones evaluation of its success in combining the two approaches, other aspects of the film are beyond reproach, with good performances – especially that from Florinda Bolkan, an under-rated actress who brought a touch of class to many an Italian production during this period – and quality production design, costuming and scoring to convey an authentic period look and feel.

A/V quality on this Region 0 DVD from Synapse is good, given the age and nature of the materials. Though the visuals have a somewhat soft/grainy and dull look at times this seems to be due more to the design of the film, with its washed-out, naturalistic colour pallete and lighting schemes, than anything Synapse have(n't) done. Likewise with the audio which, while not really offering anything in the way of impressive effects, isn't really supposed to.

Extras on the DVD include a 12 minute interview with Bolkan, proferring some perceptive comments on Flavia and feminism that futher illustrate the seriousness with which she approached the production, and a gallery of production stills and promotional materials.

With something for – or to offend – most sensibilities, Flavia the Heretic is a good buy for the Euro sleaze fan in need of spurious intellectual justification for naked nuns and wanton violence.