Interno di un convento (1978)

Director:

Walerian Borowczyk

Writers:

Walerian Borowczyk (writer)
Stendhal (novel)

Release Date:

26 January 1978 (Italy)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

A zealous, handsome priest, who is the confessor for a convent full of women, encourages the equally...

Plot Keywords:

Scandal | Abbess | Convent | Lesbian | Priest

Cast

Ligia Branice	...	Sister Clara
Howard Ross	...	Rodrigo Landriani
Marina Pierro	...	Sister Veronica
Gabriella Giacobbe	...	Abbess Flavia Orsini
Rodolfo Dal Pra	...	Bishop
Loredana Martínez	...	Sister Martina
Mario Maranzana	...	Father Confessor
Alex Partexano	...	Silva (as Alessandro Partexano)
Olivia Pascal
Gina Rovere
Dora Calindri
Francesca Balletta
Maria Cumani Quasimodo		(as Maria Cumari Quasimodo)
Carole Fouanon
Miana Merisi
Simona Villani
Paola Arduini
Silvano Bernabei
Brid Cranitch
Stefania D'Amario
Elisabeth Jane Long
Imelde Marani
Patrizia Mauro
Paola Morra
Mike Morris
Antonietta Patriarca
Elisabetta Pedrazzi
Rossella Pescatore
Valeria Pescatore
Paola Prosdogemi
Romano Puppo
Jole Rosa
Romana Monti
Greta Vayan

Directed by
Walerian Borowczyk

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Walerian Borowczyk		writer
Stendhal		novel "Roman Walks"

Produced by
Giuseppe Vezzani	....	producer

Original Music by
Sergio Montori

Cinematography by
Luciano Tovoli

Film Editing by
Walerian Borowczyk

Set Decoration by
Francesco Chianese
Luciano Spadoni

Costume Design by
Maria Laura Zampacavallo

Makeup Department
Andreina Ambrosini	....	assistant makeup artist
Maria-Luisa Fraticelli	....	hair stylist (as Maria Luisa Fraticelli)
Mario Michisanti	....	assistant makeup artist
Franco Rufini	....	key makeup artist

Art Department
Filippo Bufo	....	assistant set decorator

Sound Department
Carlo Palmieri	....	sound
Alberto Tinebra	....	sound mixer

Special Effects by
Giulio Molinari	....	special effects

Camera and Electrical Department
Maurizio Lucchini	....	assistant camera
Giuseppe Tinelli	....	still photographer

Editorial Department
Roberto Olivieri	....	assistant editor
Elvira Zincone	....	assistant editor

Other crew
Bruno Bagella	....	production secretary
Anna Maria Bifarini	....	script supervisor
Mario Longardi	....	press attache
Alessandrina Pellegrini	....	production secretary

Production Companies

• Lisa-Film
• Trust International Films

Distributors

• Trash Mountain Video - Epcott K.K. (Japan) (DVD)
• Video Search of Miami (2009) (USA) (DVD) (dubbed)

Also Known As:

"Behind Convent Walls" -
"Sex Life in a Convent" -
"Within a Cloister" - USA (video title)
"Within the Convent" - UK (festival title)
"Atrás dos Muros do Convento" - Brazil (imdb display title)
"Egy kolostor belsejében" - Hungary (imdb display title)
"Freiras Perversas" - Portugal
"Intérieur d'un couvent" - France
"Interior de un convento" - Spain
"Salainen puutarha" - Finland
"Sex sto... monastiri" - Greece (video title)
"T'apokryfa enos monastiriou" - Greece (transliterated ISO-LATIN-1 title)
"Unmoralische Novizinnen" - West Germany
"Za murami klasztoru" - Poland (imdb display title)

Runtime:

95 min

Country:

Italy

Language:

Italian

Color:

Color (Telecolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Germany:16 (re-rating) (2007) | West Germany:18 (original rating) | Portugal:M/18 | Finland:K-18 | France:-16 | UK:18 | Iceland:16

Company:

Lisa-Film

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Ban the Sadist Videos! (2005) (V)

BEHIND CONVENT WALLS (Walerian Borowczyk, 1977) **1/2

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]).