Benedetta (2021) Timeline Explained – Every Event in Order

Benedetta's visions begin after she plays the Virgin Mary in a convent play. During the performance, she experiences a profound vision of Jesus calling her name. Her feelings intensify after Bartolomea kisses her, leading to increasingly vivid visions where she believes Jesus is urging her to undress and touch His hands, eventually manifesting in stigmata.

Foreshadowing: The visions first appear after Benedetta experiences a passionate moment with Bartolomea, suggesting a connection between her awakening desires and her spiritual experiences.

• visions
• jesus
• stigmata
• religious experience
• spiritual awakening

Bartolomea arrives at the convent seeking refuge from her abusive father, and Benedetta is assigned to guide her. A passionate kiss between them ignites Benedetta's awakening feelings. Their relationship deepens into a secret romance, with Bartolomea even crafting a dildo from Benedetta's wooden Virgin Mary statuette to use in their intimate encounters.

Foreshadowing: The kiss occurs shortly before Benedetta's visions intensify, linking her romantic awakening to her religious experiences.

• bartolomea
• relationship
• lesbian romance
• convent affair

The film deliberately leaves this ambiguous. Abbess Felicita grows skeptical because the stigmata appeared while Benedetta was asleep rather than in prayer, and her forehead lacks crown of thorns marks. Sister Christina discovers pottery shards nearby suggesting Benedetta may have inflicted her own wounds. However, the stigmata also appear later during her execution attempt, adding to the mystery.

Foreshadowing: Felicita notes the stigmata manifested during sleep, not prayer, raising immediate questions about their authenticity.

• stigmata
• miracle
• fake wounds
• religious fraud

Christina, the abbess's daughter, becomes convinced Benedetta is faking her miracles after finding pottery shards. She publicly accuses Benedetta, but her mother Felicita defends Benedetta by revealing Christina admitted she hadn't actually witnessed anything. In a twist, Benedetta, speaking in a male voice, orders Christina to flagellate herself while Felicita spies on Benedetta and Bartolomea's affair. Humiliated and desperate, Christina jumps from the convent roof.

Foreshadowing: Christina's discovery of the pottery shard earlier hints at her determination to expose Benedetta, making her ultimate humiliation and tragic end ironic.

• christina
• suicide
• humiliation
• flagellation

The papal nuncio arrives to investigate Benedetta's behavior. After Bartolomea confesses under torture and the wooden dildo is discovered hidden in a Bible, he orders Benedetta's arrest. During the execution attempt, Benedetta prophesies the nuncio's illness. When Felicita returns with the nuncio during the plague, she blames him for bringing calamity upon Pescia. The townspeople revolt, killing the nuncio before he can harm Benedetta.

Foreshadowing: Benedetta's male voice prophesies the nuncio's impending illness before the execution, which comes true when the plague strikes.

• nuncio
• papal nuncio
• lambert wilson
• execution
• death

After escaping during the chaos, Bartolomea pleads with Benedetta to stay and confess the truth about her stigmata. However, Benedetta chooses to return to the convent alone. The film implies she returns to maintain her position and power, or perhaps because she genuinely believes in her spiritual calling, the ambiguity reflects the film's thematic exploration of faith versus manipulation.

Foreshadowing: Benedetta's earlier rise to abbess demonstrates her ambition within the church hierarchy, suggesting she values her position.

• convent return
• ending
• confession
• abbey

A deadly plague sweeps through Pescia while Benedetta is imprisoned. She proclaims that Pescia will be spared, ordering the abbey closed to prevent contamination. When Felicita returns with the nuncio during the plague outbreak, she becomes afflicted. In a dramatic twist, plague-stricken Felicita blames the nuncio for bringing the calamity, which triggers the townspeople to revolt and kill him.

Foreshadowing: Benedetta's earlier proclamation that Pescia would be spared sets up the ironic outcome where the plague ultimately serves as divine justice.

• plague
• pescia
• disease
• divine punishment

Felicita initially supports Benedetta, defending her when Christina accuses her. However, she becomes suspicious of the stigmata and discovers Benedetta and Bartolomea engaging in their affair while spying on them. Ultimately, Felicita journeys to Florence to inform the papal nuncio of Benedetta's indiscretions, seeking to destroy her. After returning with the nuncio and being struck by the plague, she blames the nuncio for the calamity and allows the townspeople to kill him before immolating herself on Benedetta's pyre.

Foreshadowing: Felicita's spying on Benedetta and Bartolomea reveals her shift from defender to adversary, motivated by both religious duty and personal betrayal.

• felicita
• abbess
• motivationbetrayal

The film intentionally leaves this unresolved. Benedetta experiences what appear to be genuine religious visions and stigmata, yet evidence suggests she may fabricate wounds. She uses her male voice episodes to gain power, ordering Christina's self-flagellation. Yet she also accepts martyrdom and prophesies accurately. Her final return to the convent suggests either profound faith or a desire to maintain her position, or perhaps both.

Foreshadowing: The ambiguity of whether her male voice is genuine possession or performance runs throughout the film, making her true nature uncertain.

• faith
• manipulation
• believer
• hypocrisy
• ambiguity

During the chaos in the town square when Benedetta faces execution, the townspeople revolt against the nuncio. In the ensuing violence, Bartolomea manages to free Benedetta from imprisonment. They discover a bloody potsherd beside Benedetta, possibly a symbol of the instruments used to create her wounds, before escaping together into the countryside.

Foreshadowing: The bloody potsherd mirrors the earlier evidence that may have been used to create her stigmata, suggesting cycles of violence and deception.

• bartolomea
• prison break
• escape
• potsherd