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CANNES, France -- The veteran provocateur Paul Verhoeven premiered his lesbian nun drama “Benedetta” at the Cannes Film Festival with a solemn vow to resurrect sexuality in movies.“Benedetta” predictably stirred the French Riviera festival over the weekend. In it, the Belgian actor Virginie Efira stars as Benedetta Carlini, a 17th-century French nun who communicates directly with Jesus and who falls in love with a farm girl saved by the convent (Daphné Patakia).

At the Cannes Film Festival press conference for Paul Verhoeven’s competition title Benedetta this morning, director and cast fielded a series of questions about the film’s use of nudity and sex while Verhoeven bristled at the suggestion Benedetta is in any way blasphemous. “I do not understand really how you can be blasphemous about something that happened… You cannot basically change history after the fact.

K.J. Yossman “Basic Instinct” director Paul Verhoeven slammed the new “puritanism” he perceives has taken over cinema during a charged Cannes press conference for his latest film “Benedetta,” saying critics “don’t want to look at the reality of life.”The Belgian auteur has received a generally positive response to his risqué new film, which stars Virginie Efira and Daphne Patakia as two nuns embarking on an illicit lesbian affair in their convent.

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For just a moment, as a particularly sepulchral stretch of Anne Dudley‘s liturgical score plays over a solemn black screen emblazoned with the words “inspired by real events,” you might think Paul Verhoeven‘s gone and gotten serious on us, and that “Benedetta,” his hotly lusted-after Cannes title is going to be, whisper it, tasteful.

Maggie Gyllenhaal looks stunning while walking the red carpet at the premiere of Benedetta during the 2021 Cannes Film Festival on Friday (July 9) in Cannes, France.

Ever the bad boy even into his 80s, director Paul Verhoeven stirs the pot and turns the heat up to the boiling point in Benedetta, a medieval brew of religious fervor, illicit lesbian sex in a convent, Catholic church politics and — to incidentally add a contemporaneous touch — a plague sweeping the land.

Ramin Setoodeh Executive EditorRacy sex in a convent? Explicit dreams about Jesus Christ? A coming-of-age lesbian love story? Paul Verhoeven’s “Benedetta” featured all that and more, leaving its premiere audience at the Cannes Film Festival searching for words to describe the movie they’d just seen.But in the end, the French approved.

Peter Debruge Chief Film CriticLest anyone think Paul Verhoeven’s latest shocker was intended to be a serious look at sexuality in religious service, the promotional poster for the film plastered around the Cannes Film Festival — where “Benedetta” bowed in competition — depicts actor Virginie Efira dressed as a 17th-century Italian nun, her white habit pulled open to reveal an airbrushed nipple.

Sharon Stone recently shocked everyone with her comments related to the filming of one of Basic Instinct's explicit scenes. The actress in her recently released memoir opened up about the infamous interrogation scene and suggested that she was tricked into it.

"Basic Instinct" director Paul Verhoeven refuted Sharon Stone's claim that she was "tricked" into showing frontal nudity in the film. "My memory is radically different from Sharon’s memory," Verhoeven told Variety in an interview published Wednesday.

Basic Instinct‘s famous leg-crossing scene.In her recent memoir The Beauty Of Living Twice, Stone stated Verhoeven tricked her into shooting the scene without underwear – among various other anecdotes about sexism and intimidation in the industry – by suggesting that Stone’s underwear was reflecting the light poorly, and asking her to remove them with the caveat that no frontal nudity would appear in the final film.“My memory is radically different from Sharon’s memory,” the director told

tricked into removing her underwear for the infamous scene in 1992’s “Basic Instinct.” The now-63-year-old actress wrote in her recent memoir that she was under the impression that no frontal nudity of her would appear in the film’s final cut. Verhoeven, however, finds this inconceivable. “She knew exactly what we were doing,” the 82-year-old Dutch director told Variety in an interview Wednesday.

Dutch director Paul Verhoeven (“RoboCop,” “Total Recall,” “Elle“) will finally debut his erotic lesbian nun drama “Benedetta” at the Cannes Film Festival this week, following a year of waiting around for the COVID-19 pandemic to subside. READ MORE: Watch 3 Clips From Paul Verhoeven’s Erotic Lesbian Nun Thriller ‘Benedetta’ Premiering At Cannes During the pandemic, the director seemingly had a lot of time to consider his next couple of movies.

He shocked the Netherlands in the ’70s and ’80s and scandalized Hollywood in the ’90s. Now Paul Verhoeven is bringing his lesbian nun saga to Cannes. What could go wrong?

Even if you’ve never seen Paul Verhoeven’s “Basic Instinct,” you’re likely familiar with the scene that shocked the world where the film’s star, Sharon Stone, seductively opens her legs while wearing a dress and allowing everyone to see that she wasn’t wearing underwear. It’s a scene that overshadowed the entire film and became a pop culture touchstone that was referenced for years to come.

“Basic Instinct” director Paul Verhoeven has responded to Sharon Stone’s claims about that famous leg-crossing scene.

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and MediaPaul Verhoeven has made a career out of pushing cinematic boundaries, particularly when it comes to depicting sex or violence on screen.In films like “Basic Instinct” and “Showgirls,” he battled the ratings boards, while blockbusters like “Total Recall” and “Robocop” popularized R-rated action.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentIFC Films will be out in force at the Cannes Film Festival with three highly-anticipated films set for the competition: Jacques Audiard’s black-and-white drama “Paris, 13th District,” Mia Hansen-Løve’s English-language melodrama “Bergman Island” and Paul Verhoeven’s subversive period drama “Benedetta.” This comeback Cannes edition will also mark Arianna Bocco’s first year on the ground as IFC president.

After gaining prominence with American studio films such as “RoboCop,” “Total Recall,” “Basic Instinct,” “Starship Troopers,” and “Hollow Man,” it’s clear Dutch director Paul Verhoeven has gone in a different direction with his later works. He made a big transition with the WWII Dutch resistance film “Black Book” led by future “Game of Thrones” and “Valkryie” actress Carice van Houten.

It’s that time of year again, though a little delayed. Following the cancellation of the 2020 Cannes Film Festival last year, thanks to the global pandemic, Cannes is triumphantly back this year with a whopper of a line-up, And it’s one that’s perhaps overflowing with things that were due to appear at the festival last year (Wes Anderson‘s “The French Dispatch,” Paul Verhoeven’s “Benedetta”) and instead were held for an entire year by the filmmakers and producers.

Sharon Stone is reclaiming THAT “Basic Instinct” scene.

Mubi has acquired all UK and Ireland rights for Leos Carax’s Annette which is due to open the Cannes Film Festival in competition on July 6, a day ahead of its French release. The distributor and streamer has set a theatrical UK and Ireland release on September 3. This is the second recent UK deal for Mubi on a Cannes title, following its pick-up of Paul Verhoeven’s Benedetta last month.

After a pandemic-induced delay of 14 months, cinema is returning to la Croisette. The 74th Festival de Cannes will finally take place this July, and we now know what films will join the previously announced titles “The French Dispatch,” “Annette,” and “Benedetta.” And if you’re fans of filmmakers such as Andrea Arnold, Sean Baker, Asghar Farhadi, François Ozon, Mia Hanson-Love, Justin Kurzel, Jacques Audiard, and Apichatpong Weerasethakul, you should be very excited.

By HollywoodNews.com

MAIN COMPETITION“Ahed’s Knee,” Nadav Lapid“Annette,” Leos Carax“Benedetta,” Paul Verhoeven“Bergman Island,” Mia Hansen-Love“Drive My Car,” Ryusuke Hamaguchi“Flag Day,” Sean Penn“The French Dispatch,” Wes Anderson“Haut et Fort” (“Casablanca Beats”), Nabil Ayouch“A Hero,” Asghar Farhadi“Hytti Nro 6” (“Compartment No.

After a pandemic-induced delay of 14 months, cinema is returning to la Croisette. This July the 74th Festival de Cannes will finally take place and we now know what films will join the previously announced titles “The French Dispatch,” “Annette” and “Benedetta.” And if you’re fans of filmmakers such as Andrea Arnold, Sean Baker, Asghar Farhadi, François Ozon, Mia Hanson-Love, Justin Kurzel, Jacques Audiard, and Apichatpong Weerasethakul you should be very excited.

Naman Ramachandran In today’s Global Bulletin, U.K.’s National Theatre filmed plays to stream on Amazon Prime Video in the U.K.

“Sparkles It’s confirmed, official, and it’s going to be hard to wait: #Benedetta by Paul Verhoeven with Virginie Efira joins the #Cannes2021 #Competition! Projected in World premiere in Cannes on July 9th, the film will be released in theatres in France on the same day,” and with that, the Cannes Film Festival finally announced the new Paul Verhoeven film, “Benedetta,” at their festival, a year after it was supposed to initially premiere.

“Sparkles It’s confirmed, official, and it’s going to be hard to wait: #Benedetta by Paul Verhoeven with Virginie Efira joins the #Cannes2021 #Competition! Projected in World premiere in Cannes on July 9th, the film will be released in theatres in France on the same day,” and with that, the Cannes Film Festival finally announced the new Paul Verhoeven film, “Benedetta,” at their festival, a year after it was supposed to initially premiere.