This setup directly foregrounds critiques of patriarchal religious structures, female sexual autonomy, and hypocrisy in vows of chastity, drawing from Judith C. Brown’s book Immodest Acts.

Director Paul Verhoeven co-wrote the script to explore faith versus human desire and ambition in a plague-era convent, framing the story around these tensions without modern activist overlays. Casting remains period-appropriate with European actors like Virginie Efira as Benedetta and Lambert Wilson as the inquisitor, avoiding any source alterations for diversity.

Reception featured protests by Catholic groups like the American TFP over blasphemy and anti-Church content, with bans in places like Singapore, but no widespread labeling as contemporary 'woke' messaging—audience pushback focused on eroticism and sacrilege rather than identity politics. The lesbian relationship and systemic oppression themes are foundational to the premise and emotional driver, elevating it beyond incidental representation.