MUBI, the streaming home of beautiful, interesting and incredible films, has announced a huge slate of additions for July 2022.
From renowned provocateur Paul Verhoeven (Elle, Basic Instinct), Benedetta (2021) – the subversive erotic drama based on the true story of a 17th century nun entangled in a forbidden lesbian affair – arrives exclusively on MUBI this month.
Virginie Efira stars as the titular Benedetta, a nun who, devoted to the Virgin Mary as a child, is granted entry to the Theatine Convent of the Italian city of Pescia. As an unwaveringly faithful adult, Benedetta’s religious fervour begins to manifest in increasingly sensual and violent visions of Jesus. These hallucinations arouse the suspicions ofCharlotte Rampling’s shrewd abbess, Sister Felicita, whose distrust grows when a farm girl called Bartolomea (Daphné Patakia) enters the convent seeking refuge, and quickly develops an attraction to Benedetta.
Set to the backdrop of a country overcome by a gruesome plague, this outrageous cinematic spectacle is a mischievous and unique twist on the period drama. Verhoeven’s intoxicating latest is a transgressive and alluring look at faith, power and religion, and is every bit as scandalous as you would expect from the controversial filmmaker.
Alongside the release of Benedetta, MUBI presents a focus on an additional selection of transgressive Nunsploitation films, including the recently restored Mother Joan of the Angels (1961). The films range from art cinema to erotica – often set within the repressive confines of convents – criticising religious hypocrisy and the constraints placed on women.
This July, MUBI kicks off the series Turn It Up: Music on Film with the exclusive streaming premiere of Andrew Dominik’s breathtaking fusion of performance and documentary, This Much I Know To Be True (2022). A companion piece to his previous Cave documentary One More Time With Feeling (2016), Dominik reteams with musical collaborators Nick Cave and Warren Ellis capturing their deep friendship and exceptional creative relationship as they bring to life songs from two of their last studio albums: ‘Ghosteen’ and ‘Carnage’.
Shot on location in London and Brighton by Oscar® nominated cinematographer Robbie Ryan (The Favourite), and featuring extended performance sequences accompanied by singers, a string quartet, and a special appearance by long-term collaborator Marianne Faithfull, this absorbing documentary captures the mood and spirit of the central pair as they move through a new, optimistic phase.
Here’s the full listing for the month:
1 July | Benedetta | Paul Verhoeven | Luminaries | A MUBI Release
2 July | The Endless Summer | Bruce Brown
3 July | La notte | Michelangelo Antonioni | Focus on Michelangelo Antonioni
4 July | Blood and Black Lace | Mario Bava
5 July | Vers la tendresse | Alice Diop | Alice Diop Focus
6 July | Mother Joan of the Angels | Jerzy Kawalerowicz | Nunsploitation | A MUBI Release
7 July | Masques | Claude Chabrol
8 July | This Much I Know to Be True | Andrew Dominik | Turn It Up: Music on Film | A MUBI Release
9 July | Adolescents | Sébastien Lifshitz
10 July | While We’re Young | Noah Baumbach
11 July | Aloners | Hong Sung-eun | Debuts | A MUBI Release
12 July | A Touch of Sin | Jia Zhangke | Time Will Transform Mountains: A Jia Zhangke Triple Bill
13 July | Where Are You, João Gilberto? | Georges Gachot | Turn It Up: Music on Film
14 July | Happening | Audrey Diwan | MUBI Spotlight
15 July | Mediterranea | Jonas Carpignano
16 July | Support the Girls | Andrew Bujalski
17 July | Cold War | Paweł Pawlikowski
18 July | All the Crows in the World | Tang Yi
19 July | Visions of Ecstasy | Nigel Wingrove | Nunsploitation
20 July | North Terminal | Lucrecia Martel | Brief Encounters | A MUBI Release
21 July | A Wedding | Stephan Streker
22 July | Bergman Island | Mia Hansen-Løve | A MUBI Release
23 July | Mountains May Depart | Jia Zhangke | Time Will Transform Mountains: A Jia Zhangke Triple Bill
24 July | 5×2 | François Ozon | Ozon Double Bill
25 July | The Sinful Nuns of Saint Valentine | Sergio Grieco | Nunsploitation
26 July | Wilderness | Doug Aitken | Brief Enounters | A MUBI Release
27 July | Revenge | Yermek Shinarbayev
28 July | TBC
29 July | Greener Grass | Dawn Luebbe, Jocelyn DeBoer
30 July | Swimming Pool | François Ozon | Ozon Double Bill
30 July | TBC