kosmasp Let's get the obvious out in the open right away: She'll have nun of that. Never gets old, though if we're talking old nun, she does get old. Also doesn't want the other nuns to have fun. Well she won't become Cyndi Lauper anytime soon then. But the nuns are resourceful and find "wood" in the strangest places ... both literally and metaphorically speaking if you know what I mean.If you don't let me tell you that this is sleaze at its finest (if that's your cup of tea of course). Still it does drag and it feels very episodic with all the nuns and their different ways to "heaven" (or climax that is). If I make this sound better than the actual experience of you watching this will be, don't blame me. I had to write something and describing penetration scenes or torture (physical or other kind) isn't the way I wanted to go. Suffice to say, this is not for any church goers .. well not the "right" ones

Scarecrow-88 Walerian Borowczyk's contribution to the nunsploitation genre, shot, mostly hand-held, by the extraordinary cinematographer Luciano Tavoli who expertly uses authentic locations(and, not to mention, his impeccable use of light) exceptionally well.Debauchery and carnal desires, yearnings of the flesh, a lust which defiles the very soul, in director Walerian Borowczyk's BEHIND CONVENT WALLS young nuns, blossoming into women with burgeoning hormones and sexual appetites appeased by the order, educated by their superiors in the church to remain loyal to their "spouse", Jesus Christ.Promiscuous, chatty, talking over each other, loud and playful, these are girls buried away into a repressive, reclusive environment, where the older nuns go through their things, nosy busybodies trying in every way possible to eliminate any outside world influence which might "coerce them to sin." Blasphemous, Sacrilegious satire includes one young nun whose obsessive love for Jesus borders on the absurdly sexual as she masturbates herself with a wooden dildo with Christ's drawn face at the end(she uses a mirror so she can see his face!)...not to mention that she prays to him in the nude! This nun, Sister Clara, with her unhealthy devotion to Christ, allows herself to be erotically drawn to Father Confessor's artist nephew, Rodrigo(known for his pious portraits which don't sell as well as other works). Sister Martina loves a fellow named Silva and is coerced by Sister Lucretia in spiking the Mother Superior's tea with an opiate! Clara considers Mother Superior(and her damned black cane)of being the anti-Christ because she interrupted a "session with her Savior". The confessions can be so lurid, as in the case of Clara, that Father Confessor has to wipe his brow constantly of sweat! In regards to the dreaded black cane, it's actually a sword in a case for which the Mother Superior uses to stab beds looking for provocative materials. Sister Veronica cuts her hands while intensely grasping roses creating bloody wounds having her believe she has stigmata! One nun collects flower petals she keeps in her front drawer. One nun is pregnant, her punishment being that she's not allowed to say Hail Marys out loud or keep her window open. One nun gorges herself on grapes. Another loves her violin, fighting Mother Superior with all her might when she attempts to take the musical instrument away as punishment for playing non-religious music(the violin is later used as a "pleasure device"). All this in one convent shows that no matter how hard you try to keep sin from young women hidden away from the world, the craving for pleasure and ecstasy finds it's way to the flesh. Clara, who had dedicated so much to Christ, gives herself over to Rodrigo who introduces her to the joys of oral bliss.I imagine director Walerian Borowczyk was enjoying himself, showing this convent evolving into essentially a den of hedonism and depravity. It gets serious(well, probably meant as humorous considering Borowczyk's stance towards the Catholic Church) when, because the door to the convent was opened, the Mother Superior winds up dead from the opiate put in her tea to keep her asleep so the nuns could conduct themselves in whatever way they so pleased. By the end, three nuns are dead, one is responsible for the poison which killed them(and for opening the convent door which produced the final result), and a cardinal is covered in the blood of a raving Sister Veronica blaming him for the crucifixion of Christ..this nunsploit is quite a wild ride. I noticed in a documentary of this movie that the masturbation-wooden dildo scene is cut from most prints..purists may want to seek this Cult Epics release out for the official version.

MARIO GAUCI This is one of the more notable nunsploitation films (shot in Italy), which was rushed into production after a proposed project starring Monica Vitti fell through. Being the Borowczyk fan that I am (even if about a third of his work that I've watched has proved disappointing to a degree!), I had wanted to purchase the R2 DVD ever since it was released but kept postponing it for a couple of reasons - one, because it's only available in an English-dubbed version (though it's not too bad as these things go) and, two, the somewhat prohibitive price (in fact, it's only while in London recently that I managed to find the most affordable copy, albeit still not cheap at $25!).As is to be expected from this Polish film-maker, we're treated to an artier kind of erotica (some of the sex surprisingly involving Ligia Branice, Mrs. Borowczyk herself!) - with lush soft-focus cinematography by the renowned Luciano Tovoli. However, despite being a Stendhal adaptation, Borowczyk here pays little regard for the usual necessities of plot and characterization (in fact, apart from Branice and future muse Marina Pierro, the nuns are virtually indistinguishable from one another): this semi-improvised approach does render the whole somewhat inconsequential (especially in comparison to some of his other work), to say nothing of aloof - which eventually detracts from the impact the tragedy at the end ought to have (despite involving murder, a couple of suicides and a determined effort by the higher echelons of the church to hush up the affair altogether)! Even so, the director's hand is unmistakable throughout, inevitably reaping the occasional reward - not only his customary fetishizing of props (such as the controversial and oft-censored scene in which the face of Christ is carved on a piece of wood, then utilized by one of the nuns as a dildo!) but also his fervent attack on figures of authority, class structure and especially the repressiveness of Catholicism (linking the film with, among others, such earlier Borowczyk fare as BLANCHE [1971], IMMORAL TALES [1974] and THE BEAST [1975]).

netwallah This movie isn't sure where it belongs. In part it is a well-realized historical period picture based on a novel by Stendahl. The photography is very fine, as are the settings and costumes.Then it's also a movie that exists for the many opportunities to show nuns and novices without clothing, often involved in some sort of sexual activity. A somewhat trite them runs through this level, something about the unnatural state of confinement and the irresistible need for pleasure that nuns must feel. So we see kissing and fondling and masturbation with a hand-carved dildo and several tasteful scenes of copulation with men. The corollary theme is that sexual deprivation in women produces either a grimly authoritarian repression—the abbess (Gabriela Giacobbe) who carries a cane with a concealed sword she uses to find contraband in the bedding—or madness, as in the case of the nun who is convinced Jesus has taken her to bed and whose rose-thorn wounds she represents as stigmata. Or in the case of one of the main characters, Sister Clara (Ligia Branice), who begins the story as a truly devout nun, but in the last twenty minutes she seeks out the handsome artist Rodrigo (Howard Ross) and has ecstatic sex in the convent courtyard, crying out phrases that mirror the devotional language she's used earlier as a mystical bride of Christ. Then, inexplicably, she is mad, exposing herself with defiant, mocking, leering words and laughter to the priest, and then she is dead of the same poison that killed the abbess, as is the other nun, Sister Martina (Loredano Martínez), who'd been having sex with the virile male helper Silva (Alessandro Partexano) and who gave the abbess the poison she thought was just opium useful for mellowing her out a little, and opened the door for her lover as well. The cardinal, Clara's uncle, arrives and prays for assistance in ensuring that no word of this business will go beyond the convent walls, and he flashes a wicked grin. The nun earlier shown in late pregnancy smiles a different smile as she nurses her newborn baby; it is typical of the contradictions of this movie that the abbess, so firmly opposed to all forms of carnality, is kind to the pregnant nun.The third element derives from making the film a vehicle for Ligia Branice, who happened to be married to the director. She has a striking, tapered face, with wide-set eyes and a generous mouth. Somehow she manages to acquire more and more exaggeratedly sexy make-up as the movie progresses. Her range as an actor is limited, however. She does fine as a quiet, devout nun, but as a lover and a madwoman she grimaces and chews the scenery, as they say, looking a little like a slim female impersonator trying to mimic Sophia Loren at fever pitch. She's much better than she is in Blanche, but she's still the weakest part of the film.