Among the collection of films known as "nunsploitation", 'La Monaca di Monza' stands out as one of the finest achievements of them all. This is no Jess Franco or Joe D'Amato schlock, although Franco's 'Love Letters of A Portuguese Nun' is a fine film as well. The story of Virginia DeLeva, the nun who falls in love, or perhaps lust, with the handsome nobleman, whose affair brings down a convent, has been retold in several adaptations. This is the best version in my opinion. Featuring gorgeous sets, impressive camera work and high production values, and including some of the most wildly erotic soft core footage I have seen. Alessandro Gassman and Myriem Roussel are quite aesthetically pleasing to the eye, clothed or otherwise. A sense of foreboding, and evil permeates the convent as Sister DeLeva carries on her torrid affair with her less than holy lover. Beautiful, repressed nuns are forever hiding in shadows and wringing their hands. The tension builds nicely as the presence of this man inside the convent walls begins to corrupt the other nuns, eroding their own morals. As an erotic film this one is a must see. There is good nunsploitation, and there is trash. Among the good, "Nuns of Verona", "Love Letters of a Portuguese Nun", "Behind Convent Walls", and the Japanese epic "School of the Holy Beast". There is the bad; "Images in A Convent", "Les Demons" etc. This is one of the good ones, and deserves a proper DVD release. For fans of the genre, this is worth tracking down.
Review of The Devils of Monza
