I believe there's a little mistake in the previous comment. Carmen Maura doesn't play the nun who fakes the stigmata. She's Mercedes Sampietro's accomplice on that. As to the matter of lesbianism, I'm not quite sure that they are sexually-active lovers. They love each other, there's no discussion about it but I think being XVI century's Spanish nuns they don't even conceive the idea of being engaged in a carnal-love relationship. They are two women who loves each other beyond reason or lust. Sex is just the consequence to all that. I don't agree either on the motive to fake the stigmata. In my opinion they do it not just to stay together, although that has an important weight on the matter, but to guarantee the subsistence of the community (wich is the word they use when they talk about the nun's sisterhood). I think power, subsistence and greed, as well as love, are central in this film. This is the problem with masterpieces, they have so much subtext as viewers or readers opinions on them. It's what caught one's eye what one sees.

This 1985 Spanish film reveals one of the many terrible aspects of 16th century Spain, still plagued by the radical Christian Inquisition, one of a plethora of difficulties Spaniards faced at the time.Spanish super star Carmen Maura plays a nun who agrees to a selfless scam, a fake stigmata, only to avoid separation from her lover, another nun. 'Extramuros' is edgy all right: a plot or scheme agreed upon between two lovers to escape their plight, but with a twist. The scheme is similar to some we've recently seen power couples of politicians, religious leader and the like, play out on the world in the last decade. But the twist this film throws in - literal and actual self-flagellation is original.It's a serious and passionate work, highlighting the theme of outspoken women-against-repression, seen in other good gay and lesbian films. This is not a lesbian "Nun sense" or another "Dark Habits" (by Almodovar, which also starred Carmen Maura, and also set in a Spanish convent, with some lesbian nuns).Perhaps, best of all, 'Extramuros' is realistic and frank. It isn't shy about its characters' sexuality. Their sexuality, and the film as a whole are genuine.