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Forbidden love behind convent walls
How does a movie originally named Le Scomunicate di San Valentino (which I believe translates into something like 'The Excommunicates of Saint Valentine') in its native Italy suddenly turn into The Sinful Nuns of Saint Valentine for the English markets, thereby slapping it with the not very respectable 'sleaze' label? For obvious reasons this new title sounds significantly more salacious, and since sex often equals scandal (which is known to attract attention from quite a few people) this 'slight' alteration makes perfect sense from a purely commercial point of view. Then again, technically speaking there is in fact a lot of sinful things going on within the convent walls of Saint Valentine in this film, far surpassing offences like accidentally using swear words and forgetting to say grace - in this otherwise holy place abominable acts of lesbianism (uhm!) is taking place. As well as unnatural death.
Being a member of the female sex cannot have been much fun in the dark ages. Back in those days (in what was clearly a patriarchal society) it wasn't uncommon that women were forced into a life of chastity (which to some must have felt like capital punishment) simply because they were suffering from some serious, incurable illness or weren't considered pretty enough to marry, for instance. Neither, however, can be said about the ill-fated Lucita Fuentes (played by a favorite cult actress of mine, angelic Jenny Tamburi) who's one of the nuns in Saint Valentine - her serene, otherworldly beauty is impossible to call into question and one can't help but wonder how someone like her ended up donning the habit. But, not surprisingly, it's revealed early on she didn't do it by choice, - no, she just made the mistake of daring to love a man, which in itself doesn't exactly constitute a cardinal sin.
But when this target of Lucita's affections, Esteban de Albornos (Paolo Malco), happens to come from a family that her family has been warring for generations (sort of reminds you of Romeo & Juliet, doesn't it), then it presents a serious problem, so in trying to keep them apart her wealthy father Alfonso Fuentes (Franco Ressel) then immediately decided to ship her to the convent and falsely accuse her boyfriend of heresy and killing a bishop. So that's why we at the beginning of the movie see Esteban fleeing from soldiers of the Inquisition, but before defeating his pursuers he gets wounded whereupon he seeks refuge at a nearby convent, which - incidentally - is where his loved one resides. Here the helpful verger Joaquin finds him a secret hiding place, tends to his injury and then Esteban arranges with Lucita to elope as soon as he's regained his strength - only it has to be soon since she has to take her vows in 5 days.
Alas, one day on her way back from one of her illegal visits to Esteban she finds her amorous roommate Josefa in front of their living quarters, stabbed to death, but almost simultaneously she hears approaching footsteps and then by reflex scurries into her own bed. Shortly thereafter she's found there by the stern abbess Diez de Montalbo (Françoise Prévost), but as she can't very well explain why she's fully clothed without thereby disclosing the presence of the excommunicated heretic Esteban, Lucita remains silent and is then immediately accused of murder. In order to solve the mystery, the rabid inquisitor Father Onorio de Mendosa (Corrado Gaipa) and his slimy scribe Isidrio, are called in, but unwilling to reveal anything whatsoever, poor, pure hearted and innocent Lucita is then subjected to Onorio's infamous interrogation methods which are known to make even the dumb speak.
Eventually she succumbs to the degrading, painful torture and confesses to the killing of Josefa - in the desperate hope that her father in one way or another will be able to use some of his considerable influence to save her from an otherwise certain death. But the situation only becomes more and more critical. Lucita is transferred to a prison in Seville where she's going to be sentenced to death and when Esteban gets wind of this it becomes pretty obvious that something (or rather someone) wants to prevent him from leaving the convent. This someone is also directly implicated in Josefa's murder and as soon as the true identity of the killer is exposed, many more dark secrets start rising to the surface in Saint Valentine. But suddenly Lucita is nowhere to be found and the only one who knows of her whereabouts is a man who feels called on by God to make an example of her.
Although fitting well within the exploitation category with its scenes of nudity and torture, the movie is by no means nearly as excessive as many other thematically similar genre efforts (e.g. the grotesquely violent Flavia the Heretic). The graphic elements actually seem to be secondary to the plot and on the whole The Sinful Nuns ... plays a lot more like a romantic adventure, albeit a very strange and dark one. The bleak interiors, the small rooms and the narrow hallways where most of the drama takes place make for an appropriately claustrophobic setting that enhances the tense atmosphere of foreboding death, sexual malice and repressed, carnal desires, and to the sounds of Lallo Gori's eerie, ominous and psychedelic score the movie reaches its most bizarre zenith when a group of nuns get walled in, lose their inhibitions and spin into a wild, manic frenzy. A highlight reminiscent of - but significantly more restrained than - the notorious and most heavily cut scene ever in history - the mass exorcism from Ken Russell's The Devils (I'll worship those who'll eventually see fit to release this influential landmark film in its full, uncut glory on DVD).
Surprisingly, the unlikely mix of clichéd and corny (but no less enjoyable) melodrama and cruel, unpleasant incidents works rather well and instead of being jarring and off-putting, the sometimes sudden, drastic changes in mood prove efficacious in creating a pervasive sensation of unease and uncertainty, lending the love story an air of immediacy and keeping the viewers on shaky ground. Unfortunately the proceedings are punctuated with a couple of ill-timed attempts at comic relief that are just plain silly and not very amusing - I'm usually not one to complain about campy performances (in unbelievably terrible and goofy movies, for example, they're prerequisite and sometimes the only saving grace), but although never striving for subtlety or artistic acclaim the story gains absolutely nothing by having the character Joaquin fumble around and act like a bumbling clown.
Luckily the rest of the cast is by and large quite good. As the Inquisitor, Corrado Gaipa's slightly manic style of acting is in keeping with the fanatical nature of his character and certainly leaves an impression, in a few instances great Françoise Prévost unexpectedly manages to let brief glimpses of humanity slip through her icy cold facade and add some believability to an otherwise stereotypical role, but (as you might have guessed) I'm without a doubt most partial to adorable Jenny Tamburi. During the 70's she appeared in a large number of primarily sex comedies and exploitation fares, however, judging her talent just by looking at her resume would be prejudiced and totally misleading, - not only is she an eyeful, her extremely fine features also come with acting skills and in The Sinful Nuns ... she delivers a credible, emotive and dignified performance. And her effort severely puts dull leading actor Paolo Malco to shame.
Somewhat uneven in terms of narrative and a little rough around the edges technically speaking, the film, however, wouldn't have been the same had it been a major studio production with a lot of money behind it. As with people, it's the slight blemishes and imperfections that add character and personality and even if The Sinful Nuns ... may strike many as being too quirky, this is exactly what makes it unusual, intriguing and quite entertaining. As far as nunsploitation goes, this one definitely ranks among the better acted efforts in the genre and while it was never meant to be refined or achieve true, cinematic splendor, it's nowhere near as dirty, lurid and outrageous as that thankless, cheap English title suggests. Whether this is a good or a bad thing is entirely a matter of taste ... but I must confess, a little more 'sister interaction' (and a few more 'naturalistic' shots of shapely Tamburi) wouldn't have been entirely unforgivable. 
N.B: It recently came to my attention that leading lady Jenny Tamburi, who later in her career worked as a casting agent, had given in to lengthy illness and passed away on March 1, 2006 - merely 53 years old. This review is dedicated to the memory of this radiant, appealing actress.
René Pedersen, May 17th, 2006
Picture: 6/10
This is a tough one to grade as the quality isn't consistent throughout the feature. Some scenes seem overly bright thereby causing the image to lose depth and appear a bit too flat, and save for a few instances, the color scheme arguably could have benefited from a slight boost - however, I'm not entirely opposed to the idea of this drab look to some extent being a deliberate choice as it certainly reflects the cold, moody atmosphere of the story, but evidently a certain degree of print deterioration has also been taking place. But the skin tones are well rendered for the most part. The biggest drawback, however, is that a distinct softness is noticeable for long stretches of time (most apparent in the opening credits sequence, though), which means that you shouldn't go looking too hard for fine details. But aside from some dust and minor scratches popping up here and there as well as some brief grain the image is clean and virtually free from damage, and surprisingly none of the aforementioned imperfections proved so overwhelming as to detract from the viewing experience. Overall a very watchable transfer and a good job by Redemption, especially considering the obscurity of this title - a shame, though, that the movie, presented in a magnificent 2.21:1 aspect ratio (wrongly stated as 2.35:1 on the back cover), isn't anamorphically enhanced.
Sound: 5/10
The only audio option here is the original Italian Mono soundtrack and it's quite serviceable. There's some constant minor crackling present as well as a few occasional pops, but these shortcoming never prove distracting and are easily diminished by the good, clear rendition of the dialogue and relatively wide dynamic range of the score. As long as you don't expect high end this is a rather decent soundtrack presentation.
Extras: 2/10
Enjoy plentiful, lavish and informative supplementary features? Not here, I'm afraid. Inside the snap case packaging there are some very brief liner notes and the only thing you're going to find on the DVD - besides the movie, of course - is the original theatrical trailer which runs 2.38 minutes - without English subtitles
Final thoughts:
A far cry from Ken Russell's notoriously blasphemous and spellbinding Holy Grail of nunsploitation cinema, The Devils, and without the same dizzying impact, The Sinful Nuns of Saint Valentine is nevertheless a fine little movie with gloomy ambience and a good cast being major assets. And although it may only find a limited audience in that it probably isn't sordid enough for exploitation fans to care and art house devotees may dismiss it as being too sleazy, a 'thank you' must be extended to Redemption for having the good sense of saving this curiosity gem from oblivion.
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