HOME |  CULT MOVIES | COMPETITIONS | ADVERTISE |  CONTACT US |  ABOUT US
 
 
 
Newest Reviews
American Fiction
Poor Things
Thunderclap
Zeiram
Legend of the Bat
Party Line
Night Fright
Pacha, Le
Kimi
Assemble Insert
Venus Tear Diamond, The
Promare
Beauty's Evil Roses, The
Free Guy
Huck and Tom's Mississippi Adventure
Rejuvenator, The
Who Fears the Devil?
Guignolo, Le
Batman, The
Land of Many Perfumes
Cat vs. Rat
Tom & Jerry: The Movie
Naked Violence
Joyeuses Pacques
Strangeness, The
How I Became a Superhero
Golden Nun
Incident at Phantom Hill
Winterhawk
Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City
Maigret Sets a Trap
B.N.A.
Hell's Wind Staff, The
Topo Gigio and the Missile War
Battant, Le
Penguin Highway
Cazadore de Demonios
Snatchers
Imperial Swordsman
Foxtrap
   
 
Newest Articles
3 From Arrow Player: Sweet Sugar, Girls Nite Out and Manhattan Baby
Little Cat Feat: Stephen King's Cat's Eye on 4K UHD
La Violence: Dobermann at 25
Serious Comedy: The Wrong Arm of the Law on Blu-ray
DC Showcase: Constantine - The House of Mystery and More on Blu-ray
Monster Fun: Three Monster Tales of Sci-Fi Terror on Blu-ray
State of the 70s: Play for Today Volume 3 on Blu-ray
The Movie Damned: Cursed Films II on Shudder
The Dead of Night: In Cold Blood on Blu-ray
Suave and Sophisticated: The Persuaders! Take 50 on Blu-ray
Your Rules are Really Beginning to Annoy Me: Escape from L.A. on 4K UHD
A Woman's Viewfinder: The Camera is Ours on DVD
Chaplin's Silent Pursuit: Modern Times on Blu-ray
The Ecstasy of Cosmic Boredom: Dark Star on Arrow
A Frosty Reception: South and The Great White Silence on Blu-ray
You'll Never Guess Which is Sammo: Skinny Tiger and Fatty Dragon on Blu-ray
Two Christopher Miles Shorts: The Six-Sided Triangle/Rhythm 'n' Greens on Blu-ray
Not So Permissive: The Lovers! on Blu-ray
Uncomfortable Truths: Three Shorts by Andrea Arnold on MUBI
The Call of Nostalgia: Ghostbusters Afterlife on Blu-ray
Moon Night - Space 1999: Super Space Theater on Blu-ray
Super Sammo: Warriors Two and The Prodigal Son on Blu-ray
Sex vs Violence: In the Realm of the Senses on Blu-ray
What's So Funny About Brit Horror? Vampira and Bloodbath at the House of Death on Arrow
Keeping the Beatles Alive: Get Back
   
 
  Flavia the Heretic It's So Unfair!
Year: 1974
Director: Gianfranco Mingozzi
Stars: Florinda Bolkan, María Casares, Claudio Cassinelli, Anthony Higgins, Spiros Focás, Diego Michelotti, Raika Juri, Jill Pratt, Franca Grey, Laura de Marchi, Eduardo Filipone
Genre: Horror, HistoricalBuy from Amazon
Rating:  5 (from 1 vote)
Review: Southern Italy early in the thirteenth century, and Flavia (Florinda Bolkan) was placed in a convent by her domineering father when she was a child, yet the image of a Muslim soldier she witnessed her father putting to death has stayed with her for years. Now, she is growing more and more dispirited with her world and its constrictions, not to mention its liberally applied torture, but can only confide in her Jewish friend Abraham (Claudio Cassinelli). Today, the Tarantula cult arrive at the convent doors, banging on them to be let in and the Mother Superior relents, allowing them the run of the place as they cannot control their religious frenzy; this makes Flavia question all the more...

If you were under the impression that the Middle Ages in Europe were a great old time, then co-writer and director Gianfranco Mingozzi's Flavia the Heretic should shatter your illusions pretty comprehensively. Misery is the order of the day as we follow the title character's consciousness awakening, based on a true incident from history according to the caption at the end credits, and this being a seventies film, the influence of feminism is deeply felt. Flavia, we are meant to realise, was some kind of pioneer in the cause of modernising the church.

Of course, her idea of modernising was to bring it down from within with the willing assistance of an army of marauding Muslims, which probably won't be your idea of an improvement. Before we get to that stage, Flavia is disgusted by the torture of Livia (Raika Juri), one of her fellow nuns who fell under the spell of the Tarantula cult and went into a frenzy, for which she is brutalised to snap her out of it (no surprises when it makes her worse). That same day, Flavia witnesses the rape of a peasant girl by a French nobleman, which fills her with righteous anger.

What gives men carte blanche to treat women exactly how they wish just because they are the leaders of the religion? wonders Flavia, and further to that muses on why God has to be male, and whether the organised religion she is a part of is any better than the crazies of the Tarantula cult. She's a very resentful woman, and played by Bolkan with her masculine looks she comes across as the prototype for all the clichés of the women's liberation movement of the decade the film was made, as if to prove herself the equal of the men.

After fleeing into the countryside with Abraham, the couple are caught and punished by the authorities, injustice being one of the themes. After further instruction by the eccentric and strong-minded Sister Agnes (María Casares), Flavia decides to secure her revenge, and the rebel nun eventually invites the Muslim army into the convent to bump off the leaders and free the nuns from the yoke of religion. She even gets a new boyfriend, Ahmed (Anthony Higgins) and hallucinates in a bizarre passage that sees naked nuns cavorting, climbing onto the cross and clambering into a cow's carcass for reasons which remain obscure. Ken Russell has a lot to answer for. This can't last, and Mingozzi seems determined to shock the viewer out of presumed complacency with the unjustness of it all, siding with Flavia all the way. More likely the sullen tone to the provocation will sabotage many feelings to that end, however. Music by Nicola Piovani.
Reviewer: Graeme Clark

 

This review has been viewed 7212 time(s).

As a member you could Rate this film

 
Review Comments (0)


Untitled 1

Login
  Username:
 
  Password:
 
   
 
Forgotten your details? Enter email address in Username box and click Reminder. Your details will be emailed to you.
   

Latest Poll
Which star probably has psychic powers?
Laurence Fishburne
Nicolas Cage
Anya Taylor-Joy
Patrick Stewart
Sissy Spacek
Michelle Yeoh
Aubrey Plaza
Tom Cruise
Beatrice Dalle
Michael Ironside
   
 
   

Recent Visitors
  Stuart Watmough
Paul Shrimpton
Darren Jones
Mary Sibley
Enoch Sneed
Mark Le Surf-hall
  Louise Hackett
Andrew Pragasam
   

 

Last Updated: