What Nunsploitation Films Are Saying About The Catholic Church

A scene from “Agnes,” a Magnet release. Photo by Stephan Sutor. Photo courtesy of Magnet Releasing Considering how prevalent images of demonically possessed and sexually “perverse” nuns are on screen — from 1947’s “Black Narcissus” to this month’s “Agnes” — you might wonder how convents haven’t all been struck by lightning by now. In September, members of the Catholic Church even protested outside the New York Film Festival premiere of writer-director Paul Verhoeven’s “Benedetta,” calling it a “blasphemous lesbian nun movie.” But that discomfort and focus on the real-life 17th-century nun’s sexuality, and not the fuller, more complicated portrait of… Read Full Article