The Nun and the Devil

Based on a story by Stendhal and 16th century records, this ostensibly offers a tale of intrigue and power politics in a Naples nunnery, caused by the death of the Mother Superior, whose appointment carries a charter for rifling gold mines in the New World. A mood of Jacobean intensity is occasionally promised as the plot dwells on obsession, lust and deceit, developing a sufficiently disenchanted view of humanity. But instead the film opts for much close-up goggling at nuns' habits, and heavy breathing as stockings are unfurled and feet kissed. Hence any attempt to convey the petty jealousies, frictions and sexual frustrations of convent life becomes so obtuse as to discourage much interest in what's going on.