Sister Emanuelle (1977)

 

The Italian Emanuelle movies dipped their toe in so many exploitation genres [cannibal films, for example, with Emanuelle and the Last Cannibals (1977)], and here we have nunsploitation. 

Monica Catsabriaga (Mónica Zanchi) is being sent off to a convent.  Her stepmother (Dirce Funari) travels with her and the nuns to the train station.

Monica shares a train cabin with Sister Emanuelle (Laura Gemser).

Yes, Emanuelle has now become a nun to atone for her past degenerate behavior.

Monica gets undressed for bed.

Actress Mónica Zanchi also starred in Emanuelle and the Last Cannibals (1977) where she was amazing.  We talk about her more in that review.

Sister Emanuelle has a tough time staying focused with Monica naked.

Monica gets scared when they pass through a tunnel and jumps in bed with Sister Emanuelle.  She relates a nightmare about an event that's been haunting her...

She was on a beach and pursued by three boys.

The way Monica explains it, she was the victim.  However, we can see from the flashback, that Monica really was the initiator.

Monica describes it as a rape; however we can see she's egging them on.

They arrive at the convent and Monica freaks out and tries to run away.

Sister Emanuelle tackles her to the ground and they wrestle.

Sister Emanuelle is lectured to by the mother superior.  During the wrestling, she noticed that Emanuelle was not wearing approved underwear.

Monica meets her roommate, Anna (Vinja Locatelli) 

Anna is naive and a nerdy goodie-goodie; whereas, Monica is basically a nymphomaniac with oppositional defiance disorder.

The students go on a picnic.

Monica wanders off to use the bathroom and runs into Rene (Gabriele Tinti), a criminal hiding out from the law.

When Monica returns to the picnic, she lies and says the cabin is snake infested (to ensure no one goes out there).

Monica sneaks out at night and meets Rene, who now is hiding in the attic. He carries her to a mattress adn they have sex.

The next morning.

Monica needs to hurry back to school before her absence is discovered.

Anna looks for Monica.  (Vinja Locatelli providing gratuitous nudity here.) 

Monica returns, but it's too late.  Anna has sees that she's been out all night.

Beautiful Italian scenery.

And speaking of beautiful Italian scenery, Mónica Zanchi supplying full frontal nudity throughout this film. Stunning.

Monica returns to Rene in the attic and strips nude.

Rene likes what he sees.

Anna spilled the beans about Monica's nightly escapes to Sister Emanuelle, who is now looking for her in the attic.

Monica and Rene are discovered.

Monica explains to Sister Emanuelle why she was sent to this convent...

Remember Monica's stepmother (Dirce Funari)?  Yeah, they're having sex.

They caught by her father.  Hence the convent.

Sister Emanuelle gets undressed for another moment of gratuitous nudity.

Sister Emanuelle goes to the attic and gets naked - offering herself to Rene as an exchange for Monica.

All hell breaks loose.  The gardener finds Sister Emanuelle, Rene and the two girls in the attic.  He fires his shotgun into the air, and it's total chaos.

Monica blames the gardener. She lies that he tried to rape them. 

Sister Emanuelle takes Monica away from the convent.

Sister Emanuelle ties Monica up in an abandoned building.

Her clothes are stripped off.

Monica is forced to watch Sister Emanuelle and Rene have sex right in front of her.

Monica can't stand to watch - this is torture. She wants to participate.

Sister Emanuelle grabs a smoldering stick from the fire....

She approaches Monica's bush...

She is about to set her pubic hair on fire.  This movie has obvious religious themes; could this be an allusion to The Burning Bush?

Sister Emanuelle wakes up in the train cabin with Monica.  This was all a dream!

The dream was a wakeup call for Emanuelle who leaves the sisterhood, strutting out of the convent forever.

---

As far as nunsploitation films go, this is one of the better ones I've seen.  Gemser always rule, but here we also have Mónica Zanchi with an amazingly sexy performance. I don't think you can say this film didn't achieve what it set out to achieve. 

[see list of Emmanuelle Movies]

★★★★★★★☆☆☆7/10