Love Letters of a Portuguese Nun – Delirium Home Video (Blu-ray)

Theatrical Release Date: Switzerland, 1977
Director: Jesús Franco
Writers: Mariana Alcoforado, Erwin C. Dietrich, Christine Lembach
Cast: Susan Hemingway, William Berger, Herbert Fux, Ana Zanatti, Aida Vargas, Vítor Mendes, Aida Gouveia, Herman José, José Viana

Release Date: March 17th, 2026
Approximate Running Time: 89 Minutes 14 Seconds
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 Widescreen / 1080 Progressive / MPEG-4 AVC
Rating: NR
Sound: DTS-HD Mono English, DTS-HD 5.1 English
Subtitles: English SDH
Region Coding: Region A
Retail Price: $41.98

"16-year-old Maria (the lovely Susan Hemingway) is taken by force into the dreaded Serra D'Aires convent, a sect secretly run by diabolical Satanists. Her confessor is in collusion with the Mother Superior (Ana Zanatti) and the not so pious pair almost immediately subject Maria to unspeakable tortures, forcing her into sex with men, women, and even the Devil himself. Gaslit into believing this supernatural debauchery is all a dream, she writes a letter to God begging for salvation, but the powers that be have other hideous plans in store for her..." - synopsis provided by the distributor

Video: 3.75/5

Love Letters of a Portuguese Nun comes on a 50 GB dual layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 27.4 GB

Feature: 22.3 GB

Outside of some very minor print debris, the bulk of the transfer looks excellent. Flesh tones and colors look correct, image clarity is solid, black levels are strong, and there are no issues with compression or digital noise reduction.

Audio: 3.5/5 (DTS-HD Mono English), 3.75/5 (DTS-HD 5.1 English)

This release comes with two audio options, a DTS-HD mono mix in English and a DTS-HD 5.1 mix in English. Although both tracks sound clear and balanced, the 5.1 track sounds notably more robust. Included are removable English SDH.

Extras:

Extras for this release include an English-language trailer (2 minutes 39 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), a German-language trailer (3 minutes 1 second, Dolby Digital mono German, no subtitles), an archival interview with Jess Franco and Lina Romay filmed in Munich (5 minutes 24 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo German and English with non-removable English subtitles), an archival featurette titled Memoirs of a Portuguese Nun, featuring comments by Jess Franco, Lina Romay, producer Erwin C. Dietrich, actor Herbert Fux, and cinematographer Peter Baumgartner, an audio commentary with Troy Howarth, trailers for Barbed Wire Dolls, Doriana Gray, Love Camp, and Satanic Sisters, and a spot glass slipcover (limited to 2,000 units).

Summary:

Love Letters of a Portuguese Nun was one of eighteen films that Jess Franco made with producer Erwin Dietrich over a three-year period. Their collaboration began with Downtown and ended with Girls After Midnight.

A perverse priest convinces a mother that her daughter is corrupted by the devil and that she should let him take her to a nearby monastery.

Although Jess Franco has directed several films that explore the perverse aspects of religion, such as Marquis de Sade's Justine, The Bloody Judge, and The Demons, his sole venture into the nunsploitation genre was Love Letters of a Portuguese Nun. A common theme linking Love Letters of a Portuguese Nun to those aforementioned films is that characters are accused of being in league with the devil, while the actual deviants are their accusers. That said, Jess Franco was known to take literature as a starting point and turn it into something wholly new; Love Letters of a Portuguese Nun is very loosely based on The Letters of a Portuguese Nun, originally published anonymously by Claude Barbin in Paris in 1669.

While watching Love Letters of a Portuguese Nun, I immediately noticed how much dialogue it has. Where most of Jess Franco's films from the early 1970s onward are mood-driven and rely heavily on atmosphere, Love Letters of a Portuguese Nun proves that Jess Franco is equally adept at crafting exposition. The well-crafted narrative does a superb job holding your attention and building momentum to a twist finale where the sinners receive what they deserve.

Throughout his career, Jess Franco had numerous actors and actresses who frequently worked with him. While Soledad Miranda and Lina Romay are the most notable actresses associated with Jess Franco, there are a few others worth mentioning, such as Susan Hemingway. Despite her limited filmography of only seven films, all directed by Franco, she deserves recognition for her contributions. Susan Hemingway makes her acting debut as Maria, the main character in Love Letters of a Portuguese Nun. She delivers an outstanding performance that beautifully conveys her character's innocence and naivety. Another noteworthy performance is by William Berger in the role of Father Vicente in Face to Face. He portrays a deviant priest who entices young girls to a monastery, where he is the sole male resident.

Out of the 18 films that Jess Franco made with Erwin Dietrich, Love Letters of a Portuguese Nun's production design sets it apart from all of those films except Jack the Ripper. Their other collaborations, apart from those two films, were quick, low-budget affairs that served up a healthy dose of exploitative cinema elements. Although the visuals lack a lot of Jess Franco’s quirks, the result is a beautifully photographed film that has plenty of visually striking moments. Another strength is Walter Baumgartner’s organ-heavy score, which perfectly underscores the mood. Ultimately, Love Letters of a Portuguese Nun is a well-crafted exploration of the sins of the flesh, and it is arguably the best film Jess Franco made for Erwin Dietrich.

Delirium Home Video gives Love Letters of a Portuguese Nun a first-rate release that comes with a strong audio/video presentation and a pair of informative extras. Recommended.

Written by Michael Den Boer