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{{unreferenced|date=June 2015}}
{{Infobox film
{{Infobox film
| name = Images in a Convent
| name = Images in a Convent
| caption =
| caption =
| image = Images in a Convent FilmPoster.jpeg
| image = ImagesInAConvent.jpg
| director = [[Joe D'Amato]]
| director = [[Joe D'Amato]]{{sfn|Grattarola|Napoli|2014|p=333}}
| producer =
| producer = Kristal Film [Franco Gaudenzi]{{sfn|Grattarola|Napoli|2014|p=333}}
| writer = Joe D'Amato (as Tom Salima)
| writer = Tito Carpi (as Tom Salima){{sfn|Grattarola|Napoli|2014|p=333}}
| starring = [[Paola Senatore]]
| starring = [[Paola Senatore]], [[Marina Hedman]]{{sfn|Grattarola|Napoli|2014|p=333}}
| music = [[Nico Fidenco]]
| music = [[Nico Fidenco]]{{sfn|Grattarola|Napoli|2014|p=333}}
| cinematography =
| cinematography = Joe D'Amato (as Aristide Massaccesi){{sfn|Grattarola|Napoli|2014|p=333}}
| editing =
| editing = Vincenzo Vanni{{sfn|Grattarola|Napoli|2014|p=333}}
| distributor =
| distributor = [[Variety Distribution]]
| released = February 4, 1979
| released = {{Film date|1979|08|07|ref1={{sfn|Grattarola|Napoli|2014|p=333}}}}
| runtime = 82 minutes<br>93 minutes (USA uncut)
| runtime = 83 minutes (2266 m)<br>93 minutes (NTSC hard version)<br>85 minutes (soft version){{sfn|Grattarola|Napoli|2014|p=333}}
| country = Italy
| country = Italy
| language = Italian
| language = Italian
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}}
}}


'''''Images in a Convent''''' ({{lang-it|'''Immagini di un convento'''}}) is a [[1979 in film|1979]] [[sexploitation]] film by [[Italy|Italian]] [[cult film|cult]] [[filmmaker]] [[Joe D'Amato]]. The film stars Paola Senatore and Donald O'Brien. It was released direct to video in the US and UK, in Italian language with subtitles.
'''''Images in a Convent''''' ({{langx|it|'''Immagini di un convento'''}}) is a [[1979 in film|1979]] [[sexploitation]] film by [[Italy|Italian]] [[cult film|cult]] [[filmmaker]] [[Joe D'Amato]] starring Paola Senatore, Marina Hedman and Donald O'Brien.


This film marks D'Amato's entry into the [[nunsploitation]] subgenre of [[trash film]]s, and it was followed by ''[[Convent of Sinners]]'' in 1986. The film contains strong scenes of graphic violence relating to [[demonic possession]] and violent rape, as well as [[hardcore pornography]] (including explicit [[lesbian]]ic depictions of [[digital penetration]] and [[cunnilingus]]).
The film belongs to the '[[nunsploitation]]' subgenre. It contains strong scenes of graphic violence relating to [[demonic possession]] and is among few films containing original [[hardcore pornography]] that already passed Italian censorship in 1979 and were projected in some Italian cinemas.{{sfn|Grattarola|Napoli|2014|p=333}}<ref>{{cite web |title=Images In A Convent/Review |url=https://www.grindhousedatabase.com/index.php/Images_In_A_Convent/Review |website=www.grindhousedatabase.com |access-date=15 August 2019}}</ref> It includes explicit [[lesbian]]ic depictions of [[digital penetration]] and [[cunnilingus]].{{citation needed|date=October 2017}}


== Plot ==
== Plot ==
Behind the walls of a secluded convent, the nuns commit sexual acts at night with each other, while living in fear that their Mother Superior may learn of their transgressions. One day, an injured man appears at the convent and the sisters take him in. One by one, the nuns become attracted to the man and take turns visiting his room at night. Unbeknownst to them, Satan has also entered the convent and is turning the nuns into horny sinners. Finally an exorcist (Donald O'Brien) is sent to the convent, to drive out Satan and restore godliness to the monastery's lustful inhabitants.
Behind the walls of a secluded convent, the nuns commit sexual acts at night with each other, while living in fear that their Mother Superior may learn of their transgressions.
One day, an injured man appears at the convent and the sisters take him in. One by one, the nuns become attracted to the man and take turns visiting his room at night. Unbeknownst to them, Satan has also entered the convent and is turning the nuns into horny sinners.
Finally, an exorcist is sent to the convent to drive out Satan and restore godliness to the monastery's lustful inhabitants.


== Cast ==
== Cast ==
Credited:
* [[Paola Senatore]]: Isabella
* [[Paola Senatore]]: Isabella
* [[Marina Hedman]]: suor Marta
* [[Marina Hedman]]: suor Marta
* [[Paola Maiolini]]: suor Consolata
* Paola Maiolini: suor Consolata
* Angelo Arquilla: Lieutenant Guido Bencio
* [[Donald O'Brien (actor)|Donald O'Brien]]: exorcist
* [[Aïché Nana]]: Madre Superiore
* [[Aïché Nana]]: Sister Angela, the [[Religious sisters|Mother Superior]]
* Maria Rosaria Riuzzi: Sister Giulia
* Angelo Arquilla
* Giovanna Mainardi: Sister Veronica
* Maria Rosaria Riuzzi
* Ferrucio Fregonese: [[Cardinal (Catholic Church)|Cardinal]] Del Lario
* Giovanna Mainardi
* Plard Sylviane Anne Marie
* Pietro Zardini
* Pietro Zardini: Cesco, the gardener
* Brunello Chiodetti: Don Ascanio, Isabella's uncle and lover
* [[Donald O'Brien (actor)|Donald O'Brien]]: Father Arnoldo, the [[exorcist]]
Uncredited:
* Giuseppe Curia: one of the two bandits who rape Sister Marta
* Sisto Brunetti: the other bandit{{sfn|Grattarola|Napoli|2014|p=333}}

==Production==
The film's working title was ''La casa del dio sconosciuto'' (literal translation: "The house of the unknown god"). {{sfn|Grattarola|Napoli|2014|p=333}}
The initial cast as officially deposited was [[Gloria Guida]] as Isabella and [[Gabriele Tinti (actor)|Gabriele Tinti]] as Guido Bencio, Paola Arduini as Sister Lucrezia and Anna Maria Romoli as Sister Marta.{{sfn|Grattarola|Napoli|2014|p=333}}

==Literary and cinematic influences==
On the pages preceding the copy of the script deposited at the Ministerio Dello Spettacolo on February 24, 1979, it says that the film is "very loosely inspired by [[Prosper Mérimée]]'s ''[[La Vénus d'Ille]]'' before quoting [[Blaise Pascal]]'s saying, "The last function of reason is to recognize that there are an infinity of things which surpass it".{{sfn|Grattarola|Napoli|2014|p=333}}

The main cinematic influence was [[Walerian Borowczyk]]'s ''Interno di un convento'' (1977; literally: ''Interior of a Convent''; English title: ''Behind Convent Walls''), which claimed to be influenced by [[Stendhal]]'s ''Promenades romaines'' just as ''Immagini di un convento'' claims to be inspired by ''[[La Religieuse (novel)|La Religieuse]]'' by [[Denis Diderot]].{{sfn|Grattarola|Napoli|2014|p=333}}{{sfn|Grattarola|Napoli|2014|p=334}} However, the only parallels between the film and Diderot's novel are the general immorality of the clergy, the arrival of an aristocratic [[novice]] without [[vocation]] at a convent, and the wounded officer.{{sfn|Grattarola|Napoli|2014|p=334}}

== Release ==
===Theatrical===
The film was released in Italy on August 7, 1979, and was screened in 4 cities (including [[Turin]] and [[Milan]]) with a total of 14.307 spectators in the first year.{{sfn|Grattarola|Napoli|2014|p=334}}

In France, the film was released theatrically in February 1981 under the title ''Les amours interdites d'une religieuse''.{{sfn|Grattarola|Napoli|2014|p=334}}

===Home video===
In Italy, the film was released on VHS in its soft version by Avo, Vega Video, and New Video, and in a hard version by Shendene & Moizzi, which however lacks the introductory part with Paola Senatore and Brunello Chiodetti. {{sfn|Grattarola|Napoli|2014|p=334}}

In the Netherlands, the Italian version was published under the title ''Intieme Kloosterbeelden'' by VFP (Video for Pleasure).{{sfn|Grattarola|Napoli|2014|p=334}} In Greece, the hard version was published on VHS in Italian with Greek subtitles with a few cuts, among them the sequence with Senatore and Chiodetti.{{sfn|Grattarola|Napoli|2014|p=334}}

In the United States, the film was released on June 14, 2005, as ''Images in a Convent'' on DVD by [[Media Blasters]] in its hard version from which three minutes of Marina Ambrosini's scene of diabolical possession were cut.{{sfn|Grattarola|Napoli|2014|p=334}} It contains the film only in its Italian dub with non-removable yellow English subtitles.<ref>{{cite web |title=Images in a Convent : DVD Talk Review of the DVD Video |url=https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/16978/images-in-a-convent/ |access-date=8 October 2018}}</ref>

== Film connections ==
In 1986, D'Amato directed another nunsploitation film, ''[[Convent of Sinners]]''.<ref>Roberto Curti; Tommaso La Selva. Sex and Violence: Percorsi nel cinema estremo. Edizioni Lindau, 2015. {{ISBN|9788867084371}}.</ref>

==Reception==
When he first saw the film at the red light cinema "Il Filodrammatico" in [[Trieste]], film critic Marco Giusti remembers being impressed, also because he did not expect real penetrations; "after all, it was about nuns...".{{sfn|Giusti|1999|pages=343-344}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Bibliography==
{{refbegin}}
* {{cite book|last1=Giusti|first1=Marco|title=dizionario dei film italiani STRACULT [''sic'']|date=1999|publisher=Sterling & Kupfer|location=Cles|isbn=88-200-2919-7}}
* {{cite book|last1=Grattarola|first1=Franco|last2=Napoli|first2=Andrea|title=Luce Rossa. La nascita e le prime fasi del cinema pornografico in Italia|date=2014|publisher=Iacobelli Editore|location=Roma|isbn=9788862522137}}
{{refend}}


== External links ==
== External links ==
*{{IMDb title|id=0165325|title=Images in a Convent}}
*{{IMDb title|id=0165325|title=Images in a Convent}}
*[https://www.varietydistribution.it/en/catalogue/images-of-a-convent/ ''Images in a Convent''] at [[Variety Distribution]]


{{Joe D'Amato}}
{{Joe D'Amato}}


[[Category:1979 films]]
[[Category:1979 films]]
[[Category:Italian films]]
[[Category:1970s Italian-language films]]
[[Category:Italian-language films]]
[[Category:Films directed by Joe D'Amato]]
[[Category:Films directed by Joe D'Amato]]
[[Category:Nunsploitation films]]
[[Category:Nunsploitation films]]
[[Category:Sexploitation films]]
[[Category:Italian sexploitation films]]
[[Category:Italian pornographic films]]
[[Category:Italian pornographic films]]
[[Category:1970s erotic films]]

[[Category:Films set in Italy]]
[[Category:Films set in Italy]]
[[Category:Films scored by Nico Fidenco]]

[[Category:1970s Italian films]]

[[Category:Films about incest]]
{{1970s-Italy-film-stub}}
{{exploitation-film-stub}}

Latest revision as of 19:08, 24 November 2024

Images in a Convent
Directed byJoe D'Amato[1]
Written byTito Carpi (as Tom Salima)[1]
Produced byKristal Film [Franco Gaudenzi][1]
StarringPaola Senatore, Marina Hedman[1]
CinematographyJoe D'Amato (as Aristide Massaccesi)[1]
Edited byVincenzo Vanni[1]
Music byNico Fidenco[1]
Distributed byVariety Distribution
Release date
  • August 7, 1979 (1979-08-07)[1]
Running time
83 minutes (2266 m)
93 minutes (NTSC hard version)
85 minutes (soft version)[1]
CountryItaly
LanguageItalian

Images in a Convent (Italian: Immagini di un convento) is a 1979 sexploitation film by Italian cult filmmaker Joe D'Amato starring Paola Senatore, Marina Hedman and Donald O'Brien.

The film belongs to the 'nunsploitation' subgenre. It contains strong scenes of graphic violence relating to demonic possession and is among few films containing original hardcore pornography that already passed Italian censorship in 1979 and were projected in some Italian cinemas.[1][2] It includes explicit lesbianic depictions of digital penetration and cunnilingus.[citation needed]

Plot

[edit]

Behind the walls of a secluded convent, the nuns commit sexual acts at night with each other, while living in fear that their Mother Superior may learn of their transgressions.

One day, an injured man appears at the convent and the sisters take him in. One by one, the nuns become attracted to the man and take turns visiting his room at night. Unbeknownst to them, Satan has also entered the convent and is turning the nuns into horny sinners.

Finally, an exorcist is sent to the convent to drive out Satan and restore godliness to the monastery's lustful inhabitants.

Cast

[edit]

Credited:

  • Paola Senatore: Isabella
  • Marina Hedman: suor Marta
  • Paola Maiolini: suor Consolata
  • Angelo Arquilla: Lieutenant Guido Bencio
  • Aïché Nana: Sister Angela, the Mother Superior
  • Maria Rosaria Riuzzi: Sister Giulia
  • Giovanna Mainardi: Sister Veronica
  • Ferrucio Fregonese: Cardinal Del Lario
  • Plard Sylviane Anne Marie
  • Pietro Zardini: Cesco, the gardener
  • Brunello Chiodetti: Don Ascanio, Isabella's uncle and lover
  • Donald O'Brien: Father Arnoldo, the exorcist

Uncredited:

  • Giuseppe Curia: one of the two bandits who rape Sister Marta
  • Sisto Brunetti: the other bandit[1]

Production

[edit]

The film's working title was La casa del dio sconosciuto (literal translation: "The house of the unknown god"). [1] The initial cast as officially deposited was Gloria Guida as Isabella and Gabriele Tinti as Guido Bencio, Paola Arduini as Sister Lucrezia and Anna Maria Romoli as Sister Marta.[1]

Literary and cinematic influences

[edit]

On the pages preceding the copy of the script deposited at the Ministerio Dello Spettacolo on February 24, 1979, it says that the film is "very loosely inspired by Prosper Mérimée's La Vénus d'Ille before quoting Blaise Pascal's saying, "The last function of reason is to recognize that there are an infinity of things which surpass it".[1]

The main cinematic influence was Walerian Borowczyk's Interno di un convento (1977; literally: Interior of a Convent; English title: Behind Convent Walls), which claimed to be influenced by Stendhal's Promenades romaines just as Immagini di un convento claims to be inspired by La Religieuse by Denis Diderot.[1][3] However, the only parallels between the film and Diderot's novel are the general immorality of the clergy, the arrival of an aristocratic novice without vocation at a convent, and the wounded officer.[3]

Release

[edit]

Theatrical

[edit]

The film was released in Italy on August 7, 1979, and was screened in 4 cities (including Turin and Milan) with a total of 14.307 spectators in the first year.[3]

In France, the film was released theatrically in February 1981 under the title Les amours interdites d'une religieuse.[3]

Home video

[edit]

In Italy, the film was released on VHS in its soft version by Avo, Vega Video, and New Video, and in a hard version by Shendene & Moizzi, which however lacks the introductory part with Paola Senatore and Brunello Chiodetti. [3]

In the Netherlands, the Italian version was published under the title Intieme Kloosterbeelden by VFP (Video for Pleasure).[3] In Greece, the hard version was published on VHS in Italian with Greek subtitles with a few cuts, among them the sequence with Senatore and Chiodetti.[3]

In the United States, the film was released on June 14, 2005, as Images in a Convent on DVD by Media Blasters in its hard version from which three minutes of Marina Ambrosini's scene of diabolical possession were cut.[3] It contains the film only in its Italian dub with non-removable yellow English subtitles.[4]

Film connections

[edit]

In 1986, D'Amato directed another nunsploitation film, Convent of Sinners.[5]

Reception

[edit]

When he first saw the film at the red light cinema "Il Filodrammatico" in Trieste, film critic Marco Giusti remembers being impressed, also because he did not expect real penetrations; "after all, it was about nuns...".[6]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Grattarola & Napoli 2014, p. 333.
  2. ^ "Images In A Convent/Review". www.grindhousedatabase.com. Retrieved 15 August 2019.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Grattarola & Napoli 2014, p. 334.
  4. ^ "Images in a Convent : DVD Talk Review of the DVD Video". Retrieved 8 October 2018.
  5. ^ Roberto Curti; Tommaso La Selva. Sex and Violence: Percorsi nel cinema estremo. Edizioni Lindau, 2015. ISBN 9788867084371.
  6. ^ Giusti 1999, pp. 343–344.

Bibliography

[edit]
  • Giusti, Marco (1999). dizionario dei film italiani STRACULT [sic]. Cles: Sterling & Kupfer. ISBN 88-200-2919-7.
  • Grattarola, Franco; Napoli, Andrea (2014). Luce Rossa. La nascita e le prime fasi del cinema pornografico in Italia. Roma: Iacobelli Editore. ISBN 9788862522137.
[edit]