User Reviews

A young woman is sent to a nunnery by her domineering father in 15th century southern Italy, while there she is subject and witness to many atrocities. She later flees and becomes the lover of the leader of an invading Muslim army and with his muscle underpinning her; she enacts grisly revenge on those who have wronged her.

Flavia the Heretic is one of the prime examples of the sub-genre known as nunsploitation. Along with The Devils (1971), it combines some serious drama along with gruesome exploitative material. Although it could be argued that in both of these films the nasty scenes are pretty necessary in reflecting the grimness of their respective stories. Both films look at the dubious actions of the church in the middle ages but Flavia more specifically has a feminist outlook as well and considers the role of women at that time. Consequently, this is an unusually serious minded bit of nunsploitation. It is considerably helped in this regard by a standout turn from the always impressive Florinda Bolkan in the lead role. She essays the emotional story arc of Flavia quite expertly and certainly elevates the drama of the story. This is a very interesting central female character of a type you don't see very often leading a movie, especially in a film of this type.

In regards to the more visceral aspects, there were a few very grim scenes of torture and graphic excess, including a borderline unwatchable castration of a horse and a gruesome climax. Some of the horrible scenes have a definite overall point though, such as a sequence where a rich and decadent duke rapes a servant girl in a pig sty. It's a scene that illustrates the way that women were treated like animals by the ruling classes who were at liberty to act as they saw fit. On the whole, Flavia the Heretic is an Italian genre film with a more art-house sensibility than was typical. It provides both vicarious thrills and something to actually think about. And that's not a bad achievement really.

Whoops, it happened again! I was all set to watch the harmless sounding Violent Bloodbath when my finger slipped off the keyboard, grabbed this DVD and accidentally put in the in the DVD player. Fathers of teenage daughters during the early 15th century: When you notice that your teenage daughter is taking a bit of a shine to the last surviving muslim invader on a bloody battlefield, it's probably not a good idea to capture that invader, behead him, then stick his head on a pike right in front of her. That kind of things makes a lasting impression, and throwing your daughter into a convent shortly afterwards isn't going to help the situation. Flavia the Heretic is a grim document of what occurs when this happens.

Years later Flavia is still a sexually repressed nun who is about to learn a lesson that all men are bastards. The hard way. Not only does her father continually berate her, she also witnesses an arrogant Duke raping a farm girl and get away with it, and her nun friend tortured to death for letting her sexual urges get the better of her. Flavia begins to question why the world is male dominated, from religion to war to God himself, and bitter rage wells up inside. Seeing your best friend's nipple sliced off by your father's cronies will do that to you.

Of course, this being a film by Gianfranco Mingozzi, who thought it was okay to have someone drive a car into a herd of sheep in the film Island of Crime, we also get to see a horse getting castrated while Flavia watches. As Ralf Wiggum would say in the Simpsons: the castration stands for obviousness.

With the encouragement of a grizzled old nun, Flavia begins to break free from her male-dominated shackles and seeks to destroy the convent and the all the men who have supressed her all her life, except good guy Claudio Cassanelli, who plays her friendly Jew sidekick. Flavia achieves this by doing what every woman does: by joining forces with an invading muslim army and hitting it off with their leader, then using his army to kill everyone.

Whilst having a very serious point to make about male dominance and the various ways male society has crushed and controlled women in various ways (and the sad fact it seems to happen in most cultures), the film still has plenty of exploitation elements that go way beyond the boundaries of taste. For every angry speech about female power you have the rape-happy Duke getting revenge bummed by a mob of Islamic soldiers. The part that takes the biscuit for me is when Flavia drugs the entire convent and everything breaks down into a surreal orgy where one woman jumps into, that's into, the empty carcass of a bull hanging from a ceiling. When she jumps back out again and hits her head on the still attached knackers of the bull, I really did start to wonder why I watch these things.

That said, beyond all the symbolism, naked women, and suspicious absence of lesbian activity there's a good, serious film. Florinda Bolkan is no trash actress, and Claudio Cassanelli, moody as usual, supports her well.

So there you go. Flava Flav: The Movie.

This is the most notorious of the "nunsploitation" movies but it's also very atypical of the genre (if "nunsploitation" can be called a genre). For one thing it is serious, believable, and fairly historically accurate. For another thing it generally avoids being merely crass exploitation. There is sex and nudity but it is all in the context of the film. There is also A LOT of violence, but it is truly unpleasant and ugly violence--it is obviously not meant to simply titillate the audience. (I actually saw the edited version but I doubt it is any less powerful--what you picture in your mind when you realize what is happening on screen is at least as terrible as anything that could have been achieved with cheesy 1970's special effects). This film could also be considered part of the "rape-revenge" genre except that after the rape and revenge there is in turn yet more revenge against the avenging woman, and each time the violence escalates a little more until all the characters are tainted and the movie ends up being a wholesale condemnation of human cruelty and a powerful statement on the ultimate futility of violence. I'm sure many people will find this movie tasteless or offensive but when you consider how many movies--especially mainstream Hollywood movies--glorify and romanticize violence, presenting it as a valid way to resolve any problem, you truly realize how courageous and refreshing a movie like this is.

In 1400, in Puglia, Southern Italy, the nobleman father of Flavia (Florinda Bolkan) beheads her lover and locks her away in a seaside convent. Flavia questions the submissive treatment of women and is submitted to the repressive Catholic system in the convent. When Flavia has the chance, she flees from the convent with the Jew friend Abraham (Claudio Cassinelli). However, they are captured by her father and Flavia is whipped and Abraham is imprisoned in the dungeons. During the Musulman invasion of Italy, Flavia becomes the lover of their Muslin leader Ahmed (Anthony Corlan) and uses him to revenge against the nuns that have humiliated her and her father.

I was curious to see this 1978 movie of nunsploitation, not because I am fan of this subgenre of exploitation film, but because of the Brazilian Florinda Bolkan. "Flavia, la Monaca Musulmana" is a brutal nunsploitation, associating the usual themes of sexual repression and religious oppression with revenge. There is no historical background and most of the situations are only pretext for nudity, torture and violence. Now I am satisfied but this film is only recommended to very specific audiences since it is very offensive specially for religious viewers. In the Extras of the DVD, there is an interview with Florinda Bolkan. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Flávia, a Freira Muçulmana" ("Flavia, the Muslin Nun")

Not me at least.

The movie is very boring n apart from a few scenes of gory stuff, there is nothing horror bah it.

I saw this for the first time recently n felt utterly disappointed aft reading so many glowing reviews.

Too many sources routinely lump this thought-provoking period drama in part based on historical fact together with the superficially similar "nunsploitation" which was a mainstay in '70s Euro trash cinema, overlooking the righteous anger that drives the whole endeavor. Perhaps coincidentally it was also director Gianfranco Mingozzi's singular attempt at narrative film-making outside of many well-received documentaries.

Safely set within a historical context, FLAVIA charts the growing rebellion of an early 15th century Italian nun (Florinda Bolkan's career performance, even surpassing her sterling work in Lucio Fulci's devastating DON'T TORTURE A DUCKLING), locked away in convent by her not so nobleman father in a desperate attempt to curb the girl's budding sensuous nature. Wondering why women are relegated to secondary roles at best in life as in holy scripture, she is confronted by ways in which male domination can rupture female lives, inspiring revolt fueled by the ranting of semi-crazed older Sister Agatha (indelibly portrayed by veteran actress Maria Casarès from Marcel Carné's LES ENFANTS DU PARADIS) and - more constructively - by a Muslim invasion. Joining the oppressors and perhaps unwittingly manipulating them to do her bidding, Flavia truly becomes the outcast she already felt herself to be, with expected tragic results.

With its breathtaking widescreen compositions by Alfio Contini, who shot Michelangelo Antonioni's ZABRISKIE POINT, this is an uncompromising and austere account of one woman's fierce yet ultimately futile fight against patriarchal society which allotted her no rights beyond childbearing or whoring as Sister Agatha wryly remarks. A lengthy drug-induced fantasy sequence clearly modeled on Ken Russell's otherwise far more flamboyant DEVILS notwithstanding, the movie turns out relatively stingy in the skin department, making something of a mockery out of its semi-porn reputation. This is a serious work deserving rediscovery and restoration of its unjustly tarnished reputation.

One of the more notorious films to come out of the 'nunsploitation' sub- genre, Flavia the Heretic is certainly a curious oddity, obeying the traditions of the genre with titillation and torture, while at the same time producing moments of art, exploring themes such as feminism, religion and sex. It tells the story of a 14-century nun, Flavia Gaetani (Florinda Bolkan), who after being placed into the church by her overbearing father, embarks on a journey through a world dominated by men. She witnesses one of her fellow nuns being brutally tortured after losing her way during a visit from the 'tarantula sect', sees rape at the hands of powerful men, and is even captured and whipped by her own father.

After the Moslems invade, Flavia falls in love with one of their leaders Ahmed (Anthony Higgins) and the two start a love affair. Returning to her convent, Flavia, with a band of Moslem warriors behind her, wreaks revenge on all those who have wronged her and succumbs to an orgy of sex and violence. It is here, within the last forty minutes where the film certainly ignites the interest. The juxtaposition of sexual violence (which includes male rape and sex with swords) with the violence is quite disturbing in the same way as Pasolini's Salo (1975) was, but came out the year before. Pasolini's controversial movie is by far a better film, but Flavia did surprise me with its world cinema attitude and scenes of almost avant-garde strangeness (a naked woman crawls inside a hanging animal carcass as the violence explodes around her).

Although I would say it is unfair to label this as simply 'exploitation', the film does succumb to the Grindhouse audiences desire for cheap thrills. The endless array of 1970's flesh does become tiresome in the first half, where the events that are supposed to be developing Flavia's feelings of injustice come across as nothing more as an excuse to get more tits on the screen. This causes the majority of the first film to be extremely slow-moving and often quite tiresome. Yet overall, when you peel back the layers of exploitation, there is an interesting movie beneath that does a lot with its apparent small budget, just as long as you can stomach scenes of sexual mutilation and human skinning.

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Reportedy based on actual historical events, this disturbingly violent, bloody, and shocking period epic sustains viewer interest by creating a verisimilitude missing in the majority of films set in a remote era. Ms. Bolkan's portrayal of the rebellious nun is a tour de force. Her gradual transformation in character from an obedient if unwilling complicitor in social injustices of her day is adeptly evidenced by telling sequences: her witnessing of the hated local Duke's casual rapist activity, her forbidden love affair with a Jew, her criminal defection to the invading Moslem forces of the sensual Prince Ahmed (Anthony Corlan) There are some painfully realistic gory sequences (human flaying) in this film that are not for the squeamish, but viewers with strong stomachs and an interest in medieval history should find ample interest. Deserves to be seen, if only as an antidote to Hollywood depictions of the medieval world.

Young nun Flavia (Florinda B0lkan) was a women's libber before there was even such a thing. Set in Southern Italy in the 1400s, this film sees its titular character striking a blow for the fairer sex, her fight for equality stemming from her troubled childhood, when her father hacked the head off a Moslem soldier she took a shine to, and then forced her into a convent to spend her days in religious contemplation. Parenting wasn't his strong point.

But the life of a nun is not for rebellious Flavia, and after witnessing a friend of hers being tortured for wanton acts (the old 'hot oil and nipple slicing' treatment), she flees the convent in the company of male pal Abraham. The pair don't get far though, and Flavia is returned to the nunnery and Abraham flung into jail. A miffed Flavia seeks revenge for her mistreatment, and that of her sisters, and teams up with an army of Moslem invaders to make her father and other miscreants atone for their wrongdoings.

Don't be fooled by Flavia The Heretic's apparent female empowerment message... the film's women's lib device is simply there to try and lend proceedings an air of respectability. They shouldn't have bothered. This is very obviously an exploitation flick first and foremost, with scenes of rape, abuse, misogyny and murder, and as such is unlikely to find favour with staunch feminists. If it's sex, violence and general deviancy you're after, then this one offers such dubious delights as forced sex in a pig-sty, a graphic spot of horse castration (symbolic of Flavia's desire to castrate all men), nun urination, decapitation, a drug-fuelled orgy (during which a naked nun climbs inside the gutted carcass of a cow!), a man being lowered ass-first onto a spear, and skin-flaying. Unfortunately, director Gianfranco Mingozzi's pretenses cause the film to drag in places, meaning that those looking for a consistently satisfying slice of sleaze and depravity may also come away feeling a tad disappointed.

5.5/10, rounded up to 6 for IMDb.

Just got this uncut on DVD, because I`m getting into sleazy horror and exploitation films. However, I was a touch disappointed with Flavia the Heretic. Yeah, there are a couple of nasty scenes, like the nipple slicing and stuff, but I`ve seen a lot worse. A generally good film, it dragged a little sometimes, and for the seventies, yeah, it was out there and controversial. I`ve just ordered Salo on DVD, I hope that`s more like what I want.

I watched Flavia The Heretic a while ago, and found it to be quite a good film, It is set in around Italy 1600, about a Nun called A convent of nuns are invaded by the Tarantula Sect on their annual pilgrimage. The cultists invade the place of worship, orgying in the chapel and desecrating the altars well as many other things. One nun Flavia decides she can not take the religious invaders any longer and flees the convent from where she is staying. She is not very happy that all the leaders of the cult are male so see sets out to fight against them. This was a good nun exploitation film. which i think that others will enjoy.

I first read about this "Nunsploitation" effort – considered among the most extreme of its type (infamously featuring a scene in which a naked girl climbs inside the hanging carcass of a cow!) – in the Leslie Halliwell Film Guide, but became even more interested in checking it out in the wake of online reviews for the R1 DVD from Synapse. However, I somehow never got around to acquiring it – chiefly because the print included was English-dubbed…though, in retrospect, that's what the actors are speaking (with leading lady Florinda Bolkan providing her own voice). Then, just last week – coincidentally, on the very same day I acquired an even more obscure entry within the same genre (albeit of a much-filmed source i.e. THE NUN OF MONZA [1969]) – I stumbled upon a copy of FLAVIA itself and, at this stage, I simply could not let the opportunity pass me by. The film's reputation for gory depictions of carnage and torture was not exaggerated but, seeing how these scenes are part and parcel of its unflinching portrayal of the Middle Ages (stunningly shot in earthen tones by Alfio Contini), they do not feel gratuitous or sensationalistic; besides, the whole comes wrapped in an evocatively beautiful soundtrack courtesy of future Oscar-winner Nicola Piovani. Bolkan, able to convey much without the benefit of dialogue, is impressive as ever: she convinces in her character's every facet (including donning a soldier's armor), and this is possibly her signature role. Maria Casares (best-known for playing Death in Jean Cocteau's ORPHEUS [1950]) is animated and uninhibited, despite her time-ravaged looks a' la Alida Valli: for the record, I thought she would be playing the convent's obligatory stern Mother Superior but is actually the one to inspire Flavia towards rebellion. Claudio Cassinelli appears as a Jew befriended by the heroine, whereas Anthony Corlan (later Higgins) – of Hammer's 1972 outing VAMPIRE CIRCUS – is the young leader of the Muslim invaders (none of whom look remotely Arabic!) aiding the heroine in accomplishing her male/Christian-hating campaign…until she rejects marriage and conversion to his own religion. While having undeniably greater significance and scope than most films of its ilk (though the expected hysterical writhing is still present in the form of a wandering sect afflicted by the bite of a tarantula!), plot development is curiously lacking here – which, coupled with the trademark deliberate pacing of the "Euro-Cult" style, makes for an altogether muddled (if never less than interesting) affair. An unexpected touch involves fantasy sequences showing various religious paintings come to life, often as a result of the nuns' (typical) sexual repression. Naturally, we get plenty of nudity and, for violent highlights, anything from numerous beheadings, the castration of a horse(!), rape, sodomy, cannibalism, boiling oil being poured on a girl's naked body, nipple-slashing, impaling and skinning alive is the order of the day! One final thing: viewers of the Synapse edition had regretted the lack of a trailer on that disc; incidentally, a German one has been made available among the extras accompanying the X-Rated Kult R2 DVD of the afore-mentioned THE NUN OF MONZA

Flavia(Florinda Bolkan of "Don't Torture a Duckling" fame)is locked away in a convent of carnal desires by her father.Tired of all of the sadism she sees around her(rape of a young woman in a pigsty,sexual cravings,horse castration)Flavia decides to run from the convent with her Jewish friend from the outside,Abraham.The two don't get very far before they are captured and then brought back to be tortured and forced to repent.After punishment she joins up with a band of Muslims called the Tarantulas,who had invaded the convent prior and leads a crusade that turns into nothing short of a bloody battle behind the convent walls."Flavia the Heretic" is a well-directed and fairly notorious piece of Italian nunsploitation.The film is slightly gruesome and sleazy at times.The acting is great and the characters are well-developed.Overall,"Flavia the Heretic" is a genuinely moving and intelligent movie with plenty of nudity and gore.You can't go wrong with it.8 out of 10.

Flavia the Heretic has been put in with the 'nunsploitation' sub-genre, although personally I'd say it fits in closer with the historical period epic genre. Most of the time when these films say that they're "based on actual events", you have trouble believing it; but that's not the case here, as although I don't know anything about Italy in the 1600's, the film is of a far higher quality than most nunsploitation garbage, so it could well actually be based on a true story. I have to admit I prefer the trashier side of nunsploitation myself; Joe D'Amato's masterpiece "Images in a Convent" being my favourite so far, but this film deserves respect for its classy and bloodthirsty historical portrait. The film focuses on the title character: Flavia. Flavia is a nun at convent that is invaded by a 'Tarantula Sect', and this sect proceeds to insult the nuns and their Christian beliefs by defiling their place of worship. Flavia decides that she cannot take this blasphemy, and flees the convent, with revenge in mind...

The blood, sex and violence in this film actually has more power than that in a lot of similar movies. The whole film is very realistic, and this is a huge benefit to it as this allows director Gianfranco Mingozzi to create a truly macabre and morbid atmosphere. Much of the plot goes towards building up the central character, and this sets Flavia the Heretic apart from many of it's seventies counterparts as it means that the character gets developed in a way that makes sense, and it's clear that the director and everyone involved wanted to make a serious piece of art. Florinda Bolkan is excellent in the title role, and brings some real credibility to the film alongside a good support cast. There are some truly nasty sequences in this film; including many shots of people being spiked, a decapitation, a very realistic 'skinning' scene and plenty of rough sex. But none of this appears out of place as the director ensures that the graphic violence fits with the rest of the film. Overall, I can't call Flavia the Heretic a favourite of mine; but it deserves more respect than a lot of these films do, and it's definitely worth seeing.

There is so much that can be said about this film. It is not your typical nunsploitation. Of course, there is nudity and sex with nuns, but that is almost incidental to the story.

It is set in 15th Century Italy, at the time of the martyrdom of 800 Christians at Otranto. The battle between the Muslims and the Christians takes up a good part of the film. It was interesting when everyone was running from the Muslim hoards, that the mother superior would ask, "Why do you fear the Muslims,; they will not do anything that the Christians have done to you?" Certainly, there was enough torture on both sides.

Sister Flavia (Florinda Bolkan) is sent to a convent for defying her father. In the process, she witnesses and endures many things: the gelding of a stallion, the rape of a local woman by a new Duke, the torture of a nun who was overcome during a visit by the Tarantula Sect, and a whipping herself when she ran off with a Jew. The torture was particularly gruesome with hot wax being poured on the nun, and her nipples cut off.

Sister Flavia is bound to continue to get into trouble as she questions the male-dominated society in which she lives. She even asks Jesus, why the father, son and holy ghost are all men.

Eventually, she joins the leader of the Muslims as his lover and they sack the convent. Here is where you see more flesh than you can possible enjoy at one time. But, tragedy is to come. She manages to exact sweet revenge on all, including the Duke and her father, but finds that the Muslim lover treats her exactly the same. She is a woman and that is all there is to it.

I won't describe what the holy men of the church did to this heretic at the end, but it predates the torture of Saw or Hostel by decades.

Nunsploitation fans will be satisfied with the treats, but movie lovers will find plenty of meat to digest.

FLAVIA THE HERETIC is a strange entry in the nunsploit genre - equal parts sleaze, feministic journey, and "history" as we follow Flavia on her strange trip.

We start off with Flavia in a convent...she ain't too happy there cuz she doesn't believe in all the male-dominated "rules" and macho-ism of the world around her and escapes from the convent with her Jewish pal, Abraham. They are both eventually caught and Flavia is brought back to the convent where she joins another "non-believing" nun in hastening a Moslem invasion. Flavia hangs out with the Moslems who take over the convent and get "busy" with the nuns in a strange set of scenes. Eventually the Moslems roll-out and Flavia is punished as a traitor to Christianity in another singularly brutal scene...

This one has pretty much all the stuff that I like to see in a 70's era exploit film - some good gore, including nipple-removal, and a nice leg-skinning scene, some decent nudity - including the requisite full-frontal, and a decent storyline as well. I will say that it sorta dragged in a few points, but not enough to get truly bored with it. I would definitely recommend this one to nunsploit/70's exploit fans...8/10

Described as nun exploitation film of the 1970's, this film is far beyond such a description. Vastly underrated, this film is Intelligent, though gory. It is both a complex feminist tract and a radical anti-war film.

Flavia is a beautiful and intelligent 14th century young lady forced to live the life of an obedient nun in a strict convent by her father. Flavia questions the oppressive and inferior position of women, not just in the church, but in scriptures and the world at large. She witnesses and endures many things, including the rape of a poor local woman, a young stallion having his testicles removed, and a nun tortured to death by the so-called church fathers.

For sister Flavia, male-dominated Christian society is brutal and the position of women is either to be an obedient child-bearing wife, prostitute, or celibate nun. In a scene difficult to forget, she goes so far as to question a statute of Jesus why it is that the father, son, and holy ghost are all male? The Muslims come to invade the coast and in another great scene the old nun Agatha asks the women in the town why they are running? After all, the Muslims can't do anything more to them the Christian men already have. Trapped by a male-dominated cruel Christian world, in the Muslims she hopes to find saviors; but hoping and reality are not the same. There is no escape. Nor is there fulfillment in revenge as seen in some of the most disturbing and gory scenes in the film. Is the solution in acquiring justice and ending female oppression based based upon male violence and becoming like the brutish men that enslave them? Not for the faint at heart.