I have wondered for several years why Mile High Media's two premium labels Sweet Sinner and Sweetheart Video (both founded by Nica Noelle) failed to go for the soft-core market, primarily Pay-Cable outlets like Showtime, that routinely feature edited-down Late Night sex programming from porn labels such as Adam & Eve, Wicked or New Sensations. This very well-made nunsploitation feature starring talented Charlotte Stokely is the first I've seen where there is enough non-explicit coverage footage to justify such a crossover, and it was released as a double DVD by Mile High/Sweetheart with a 106-minute soft-core cut on the second disk, 40 minutes shorter than the complete feature.
And a feature movie it is, not the "TV mini-series" displayed in IMDb in its latter-day deference to websites and streaming over the still-extant DVD format. Eric S. Boisvert is listed in the database as writer, editor and co-director, credited on screen as "Ricky Greenwood".
Noelle made three wonderful hardcore nuns sex films for her since-defunct Girl Candy Films label out of Frisco, featuring Magdalene St. Michaels and Rebecca Bardoux as memorable Mother Superiors. Here we get an even bigger Adult star Nina Hartley, underplaying quite well in the role, and sympathetic for a change, as MS's tend to be crazed lunatics on screen in porn.
That reserve displayed by Nina is indicative of a timidity on the part of the pornographers here ("Ricky Greenwood" and Dana Vespoli are the auteurs credited on screen) that prevents "Confessions" from achieving classic status. It certainly goes against all current Adult Cinema/Video trends in its consistent tastefulness, warmth and by golly, uplifting approach, diametrically opposed to 21st Century audience's preferences for gonzo, sleaze and misogyny.
What we get is beautiful sister Charlotte's predicament, ably expressed by a literate screenplay and her voice-over narration of her innermost thoughts, wrestling with her fondness for her sister nuns and realization that she is a lesbian. Hence the sins she confesses to a priest (played by show's cameraman James Avalon, his face never shown), as the movie unfolds in a series of flashbacks. Some of the flashback sexual material depicts scenes Charlotte was not privy to, a bit of artistic license that is easy to forgive.
Fans have several arousing Sapphic couplings to chose from, notably Nina's mature/mature lady sex scene with her overbearing second in command Mona Wales (Mona is the only overacting cast member, but it works in context); big-bust pairing of Darcie Dolce and Penny Pax as randy nuns making love outdoors; and my favorite, of shaved-head ethereal beauty and sub Riley Nixon sensually serviced in a flashback within flashback by that talented Euro import Lea Lexis.
Charlotte gets her own sex time in, including a masturbation scene repeated as a separate Bonus on Disk Two of the set, leading to a romantic tryst climaxing the show with her lover new nun Lily Adams, extremely well-cast as a nubile young thing who doesn't look anything like a stereotypical porn actress.
It's well-shot, atmospheric and benefitting from an original musical score, just lacking that extra oomph and originality that Nica Noelle delivered in her hundreds of alas, hardcore-only feature videos.
