Benedetta is a 2021 French and Dutch biographical drama film directed and co-written by Paul Verhoeven, starring Virginie Efira as Benedetta Carlini, a novice nun in the 17th century who joins an Italian convent and has a lesbian love affair with another nun. In the late 17th century, with plague ravaging the land, Benedetta Carlini joins the convent in Pescia, Tuscany, as a novice. Capable from an early age of performing miracles, Benedetta’s impact on life in the community is immediate and momentous.
The film is loosely based on the 1986 non-fiction book Immodest Acts: The Life of a Lesbian Nun in Renaissance Italy by Judith C. Brown, and brings back most of the key crew members from Verhoeven's previous film Elle (which co-starred Efira), including producer Saïd Ben Saïd, writer David Birke, composer Anne Dudley and editor Job ter Burg.
The film premiered at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival in competition for the Palme d'Or.