What a beautiful movie!

Load of rubbish!!

An absolute waste of money

I didn’t really have many expectations going into the movie (good or bad), but I actually really enjoyed it. I really liked the characters and the banter between them.

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.

Several months back, I watched Brazilian actress Florinda Bolkan play the part of a vengeful modern-day nun in the 1978 Italian exploitation film "The Last House on the Beach." As it turns out, though, four years earlier, Florinda had also played the role of a vengeful sister, in the infamous Italian/French coproduction "Flavia the Heretic." This earlier, film, however, takes place around the year 1400, in the Pulia region of southern Italy. In the film, Flavia Gaetani is forced into a nunnery by her monstrous father. She witnesses the ugliness and brutality of the era and, protofeminist that she is, wonders why men have all the power, both in the Church and secular life. She decides to run away from the nunnery, is captured and punished, and ultimately seeks her sexual awakening--as well as her vengeance on the convent and her father--with an army of invading Muslims. Florinda, who appears in virtually every scene in the film, has rarely been better--she is a terrific actress--the picture's lovely and memorable score by Nicola Piovani does much to establish a medieval atmosphere, and director Gianfranco Mingozzi's work here is assured and imaginative. The picture looks very authentic, with excellent attention to period detail; it was largely filmed in the town of Trani, in Pulia, on the Adriatic, near where the actual events of this story transpired. A word of warning to prospective viewers: This is an extremely violent film, featuring fairly graphic depictions of beheadings, various impalements, nipple slicing, equine castration, burning tar torture...not to mention Flavia's stomach-churning ultimate fate. The picture also contains several fantasy segments that would make Bunuel smile with approbation. In all, a serious film that should please not only feminists of all stripes, but also the gorehounds, as well as fans of nunsploitation and Euro horror. A rare interview with Florinda today, an extra on this great-looking DVD from Synapse, is the icing on the cake. Pair this film with 1970's "Mark of the Devil"--another picture that features brutal violence in the name of the Church, and also set hundreds of years ago and to a gorgeous score--for a double feature that may require several glasses of holy wine before venturing in....

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

Flavia the Heretic is an undeniable work of art and probably my number one recommendation to state that the euro-exploitation cinema is severely underrated and not to be ignored. This is an intelligent and complex film, beautifully realized and – surprise – pretty damn accurate! This is more than just meaningless sleaze or gratuitous violence and it's about time those prudish film committees who categorize Flavia as forbidden trash reckon this as well. Flavia is a beautiful 14th century adolescent, forced to live the life of an obedient nun in a strict convent. She refuses to accept her being inferior just because she's female and she curses her fellow sister for being so tolerant about this. After a fruitless attempt to escape, she befriends another rebellious nun and she even guides a troop of bloodthirsty Muslims into the walls of the convent.Flavia is a downright mesmerizing film! Almost impossible to believe that director Gianfranco Mingozzi managed to make it appear so realistic and so disturbing. I challenge you to come up with a title that centers on the topic of pioneer-feminism more intensely than Flavia does. Several sequences are quite shocking (on the verge of nightmarish, actually) as the camera zooms in on brutal rapes, torture and mutilation. Yet all this raw footage isn't just used to satisfy perverted gorehounds, mind you. I'm strongly convinced that they're part of the statement 'Flavia' is trying to communicate: Humanity (the Catholic Church in particular) historically proved itself to be a hypocrite and discriminating race and there's no use in denying it any further. Films like "Flavia, the Heretic" have the courage to question and openly condemn our precious ancestors and I truly admire them for it. Flavia is an outstanding and fundamental exploitation film because of its substance, but it's even brought to an higher level by the wondrous cinematography, the glorious costumes & scenery and a breathtaking musical score by Nicola Piovani. Florinda Bolkin is very convincing as the ambitious and headstrong nun but it's María Casares who steals the show as Sister Agatha. She's a man-hating and loud-mouthed nun who likes to urinate in the open field! Amen, sister!