True Story of the Nun of Monza

AKA: La Vera storia della monaca di Monza, Les Novices libertines

A Nunsploitation.Net review

For the sake of saving money, they filmed both movies at once. While one movie was being made upstairs, another crew was filming the second movie downstairs. All the while, they swapped props and even actors between the two sets. How serious of a production could this be?

I guess it's time for me to eat my words. The True Story of the Nun of Monza is one of the freshest and sexiest versions of the Monza story I've seen to date.

Mattei doesn't get caught up in being historically accurate. Instead, he uses liberal artistic license to play up the most scandalous aspects of the tale. As dubious as the real Monza incident was, I have a hard time believing that half the nuns in the convent were lecherous nymphomaniacs, but that doesn't stop Mattei from making his movie based on that premise!

As Virginia kneels before the altar, uncensored scenes of explicit horse sex are shown, at the same time flashing between Virgina and Gianpaolo -- a not-so-subtle forshadowing of their relationship to come.

Now, in previous films, Ossio is usually portrayed as brash, sometimes violent, but justified in his actions. He's usually defending his land from Portuguese imperialists, or some other noble cause. In this movie, Mattei stays far away from such tedious tidbits of history that usually weigh down a plot. Instead, he simply portrays Ossio as being CrAZy!!! Yes, this guy is a playboy, a letcher, a drunkard and a murderous psychopath. He's always in trouble with the law, he's killing people left and right, and he's making jokes about it to boot.

With all his character flaws, it's hard to imagine why he's friends with a priest? What does he have in common with a man like Father Arrigone? What else? SEX!

Arrigone involves himself in the impossible melodrama between Sister Virginia and Gianpaolo Ossio to gain leverage over Virginia so that he can continue his amorous affair when she is elected Mother Superior.

A noblewoman herself, Virginia becomes the Lady of Monza when her father dies. She lords her new title over the Mother Superior of the convent, Mother Imbergatta (played by Franca Stoppi who was also starring in the The Other Hell).

When the Mother Superior becomes sick, Sister Virginia easily wins the election to take her place and she appoints the lustful lesbian nun Sister Bernedetta (Paola Montenero) as her second-in-command.

When Ossio arrives, they strip Virginia for him and stand by while he violently rapes her in one of the lengthiest rape scenes I've seen in a movie. The accomplices just stand and watch while he forces Virginia again and again. They actually get turned on by the wanton display of lust. Sister Candida and Father Arrigone begin fondling each other and Sister Bernedetta masturbates to the rythm of their sex.

Again, true tot he historical account, the first child is stillborn. Mattei doesn't waste any time with the long drawn out account of how Ossio and Virginia managed to have two more children together -- in secret -- while Virigina was still Mother Superior of the convent. Instead, he just goes straight for the action and turns Ossio into a psycho who kills people left and right until they all get caught by the Inquisition.

The movie ends with Virginia being walled up in a tiny cell, the masons close her doorway, brick by brick as she is sentenced to spend the rest of her life in that room. This is a true account. Sister Virginia was indeed walled up in her cell. She was imprisoned in that room for fourteen years (some accounts say ten) before she was released. Although allowed to leave her cell, she never again set foot outside the grounds of the Santa Valeria convent.

While the movie is based on a real historical event, director Bruno Mattei doesn't forget that the goal of this film is to entertain. In fact, it's not just entertainment, it's sleazy entertainment and he has no delusions that this movie is anything else. He cuts through many of the tedious details (he knows we don't care about the intricacies of Italian/Portugues politics of the 16th century) and he embellishes where necessary to create a delightfully sleazy and enjoyable nunsploitation film.

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The Nun Of Monza (La Monaca Di Monza) [DVD](1969) DVD
On the run from the law after killing a tax collector, Giampaolo (Antonio Sabato) is given sanctuary inside a convent, much to the chagrin of the Mother Superior, Virginia de Leyva (Anne Heywood). She is soon raped by the fugitive, later giving birth to their child and escaping with Giampaolo into the Italian countryside. This scorching, fact-based sexual drama set in the 17th century is an early effort in the "nunsploitation" genre. Hardy Kruger, Anna Maria Alegiani also star. AKA: "The Lady of Monza." 145 min. Soundtrack: English (dubbed). Dubbed in English.