'Swept Away' and other films by Lina Wertmüller at the Castro Sept 23
By Moira Sullivan
In the annals of women and film history, Italian director Lina Wertmüller was the first woman to ever be nominated for an Academy Award for Seven Beauties made in 1975. Four of her films and a documentary made about her will be screened at the Castro Theater on Sept 23, sponsored by the Italian Cultural Institute– in a tribute to this prolific director who made over 20 feature films. The films to be screened are the ones most known outside of Italy - “Love and Anarchy” (1973), “Swept Away” (1974) "Seven Beauties” (1975) and "The Seduction of Mimi” (1972).
All feature Giancarlo Giannini who today appears in the James Bond films Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace as a rogue cop –and as Inspector Pazzi in Hannibal.
“Behind the White Glasses”, made in 2015, will also be screened in the program, a documentary by Valerio Ruiz featuring interviews on Wertmüller with Martin Scorsese, Sophia Loren, Nastassja Kinski, Rutger Hauer, and Harvey Keitel.
Swept Away - its original title Swept away by an Unusual Destiny in the Blue Sea of August was a controversial film when it was released in the early 70s at the beginning of the second wave of the women’s movement. It is the story of a boat trip with upper-class Italians who are serviced by a crew of Southern Italian proletariats. Looking back at the film today many of the beliefs of the lead character Raffaella (played by the late Mariangela Melato) are important today – free abortion, divorce sanctioned by the Catholic Church and concern for overpopulation and pollution. However, in her frequent and chaotic outbursts she makes fun of working class Italians. In particular, she stirs up the wrath of Gennarino (Giancarlo Giannini) who bides his time and endures her insults since the boating party will pay him and his colleagues a good wage when the yacht trip is over.
During the journey, Rafaella and Gennarino set out in a small dinghy at dusk so that she can find the rest of her party, but the boat breaks down and her friends do not look for them. They manage to get to a deserted island. Despite being marooned, Rafaella continues to lash out at Gennarino who finally snaps and refuses to share food with her that he catches from the sea. In order to "housetrain" Rafaella he has her wash his dirty underwear. The entire time on the island is a lesson in Italian Communism. He teaches her that many Italians are on a"strict diet called poverty". In between political lessons, he hits her. Eventually his domination results in her becoming so dependent on him that she eventually falls in love with him. The circumstances are typical of the "Stockholm Syndrome" where the abducted find alliances with their captors. When the marooned couple finally see a ship, they are reluctant to be rescued but eventually resume their places in the class society of Italy. For Gennarino he must resume his life as a poor fisherman in a loveless marriage; Rafaella returns to her privilege.
The screening in San Francisco when the film was first released was met by protests from feminist groups reacting to the treatment of Rafaella. Wertmüller's preoccupation in the film is with class differences but it was a miss on her part to not understand the inequality of gender. It is for this reason that her films have not been popular with women.
Wertmüller's style is audacious and colorful. Her characters are emboldened caricatures of Italian society that tradeoff between sexual politics and political engagement. In The Seduction of Mimi, a Sicilian miner loses his job because he refuses to back a Mafia politician. He leaves his wife to start a new life in Turin and abandons his political beliefs in the Communist Party much to the chagrin of his colleagues who despise him for being a coward. In Seven Beauties, Giancarlo Giannini plays a soldier who deserts the army and is sent to prison, a man with seven unattractive sisters who are forced into prostitution while he is incarcerated. To save himself he provides sexual favors to the female prison camp director. In Love and Anarchy Giancarlo Giannini plays an anarchist who lives in a brothel as he plans to assassinate Benito Mussolini.
Wertmüller's films are interesting today because of the political themes raised at the time, but also for her interesting and provocative film style.
Mariangela Melato and Giancarlo Giannini
All feature Giancarlo Giannini who today appears in the James Bond films Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace as a rogue cop –and as Inspector Pazzi in Hannibal.
“Behind the White Glasses”, made in 2015, will also be screened in the program, a documentary by Valerio Ruiz featuring interviews on Wertmüller with Martin Scorsese, Sophia Loren, Nastassja Kinski, Rutger Hauer, and Harvey Keitel.
Swept Away - its original title Swept away by an Unusual Destiny in the Blue Sea of August was a controversial film when it was released in the early 70s at the beginning of the second wave of the women’s movement. It is the story of a boat trip with upper-class Italians who are serviced by a crew of Southern Italian proletariats. Looking back at the film today many of the beliefs of the lead character Raffaella (played by the late Mariangela Melato) are important today – free abortion, divorce sanctioned by the Catholic Church and concern for overpopulation and pollution. However, in her frequent and chaotic outbursts she makes fun of working class Italians. In particular, she stirs up the wrath of Gennarino (Giancarlo Giannini) who bides his time and endures her insults since the boating party will pay him and his colleagues a good wage when the yacht trip is over.
During the journey, Rafaella and Gennarino set out in a small dinghy at dusk so that she can find the rest of her party, but the boat breaks down and her friends do not look for them. They manage to get to a deserted island. Despite being marooned, Rafaella continues to lash out at Gennarino who finally snaps and refuses to share food with her that he catches from the sea. In order to "housetrain" Rafaella he has her wash his dirty underwear. The entire time on the island is a lesson in Italian Communism. He teaches her that many Italians are on a"strict diet called poverty". In between political lessons, he hits her. Eventually his domination results in her becoming so dependent on him that she eventually falls in love with him. The circumstances are typical of the "Stockholm Syndrome" where the abducted find alliances with their captors. When the marooned couple finally see a ship, they are reluctant to be rescued but eventually resume their places in the class society of Italy. For Gennarino he must resume his life as a poor fisherman in a loveless marriage; Rafaella returns to her privilege.
The screening in San Francisco when the film was first released was met by protests from feminist groups reacting to the treatment of Rafaella. Wertmüller's preoccupation in the film is with class differences but it was a miss on her part to not understand the inequality of gender. It is for this reason that her films have not been popular with women.
Wertmüller's style is audacious and colorful. Her characters are emboldened caricatures of Italian society that tradeoff between sexual politics and political engagement. In The Seduction of Mimi, a Sicilian miner loses his job because he refuses to back a Mafia politician. He leaves his wife to start a new life in Turin and abandons his political beliefs in the Communist Party much to the chagrin of his colleagues who despise him for being a coward. In Seven Beauties, Giancarlo Giannini plays a soldier who deserts the army and is sent to prison, a man with seven unattractive sisters who are forced into prostitution while he is incarcerated. To save himself he provides sexual favors to the female prison camp director. In Love and Anarchy Giancarlo Giannini plays an anarchist who lives in a brothel as he plans to assassinate Benito Mussolini.
Wertmüller's films are interesting today because of the political themes raised at the time, but also for her interesting and provocative film style.
© 2017 - Moira Sullivan- Air Date: 09/20/17
Movie Magazine International
Movie Magazine International
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