La vera storia della monaca di Monza (1980)

At her father Don Martino de Leyva’s behest, and for obscure family reasons, the very young Marianna de Leyva is confined to the convent of Santa Margherita and becomes a nun, taking the name Virginia Maria. Although she fears God, the girl’s vocation is not strong, and the monastery is far from holy: the chaplain, Don Arrigone, has affairs with the compliant nuns and facilitates the nighttime visits of his wealthy friend, Giampaolo Osio. Sister Virginia discovers same-sex love with her corrupt roommates, Sisters Benedetta and Candida, and, upon her father’s death, proclaims herself the feudal ruler of Monza and the convent’s superior. In this capacity, she becomes Osio’s lover and becomes pregnant, but the baby is stillborn despite the efforts of the novice Margherita, a country girl experienced as a midwife. Margherita, however, tries to charge too dearly for her silence and various services, and for this reason Giampaolo Osio kills her. There are too many crimes, even for a convent full of depraved people, and the older nuns—ousted by Sister Virginia—seize the opportunity to reclaim the power taken from them and call in an inquisitor friar to investigate what has happened. The friar quickly understands the situation and has the main culprits arrested and sentenced: Sisters Candida and Benedetta are given life imprisonment, Giampaolo Osio is stripped of all his possessions, Don Arrigone is sentenced to two years in prison, and Sister Virginia, whose fate is the worst of all, is walled up alive.