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Seven Beauties (Pasqualino Settebellezze)
 | Year: 1975 |
| Country: Italy | |
| Writer: Lina Wertmüller | |
| Director: Lina Wertmüller | |
| Cast: Giancarlo Giannini, Fernando Rey, Shirley Stoler |
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Mark:Lina Wertmüller's most critically acclaimed film, Seven Beauties (Pasqualino Settebellezze), is both horrific and satirical, and yet the mixture produces an uncomfortable viewing experience.Pasqualino, the only son in a family of eight children in Fascist Italy, struggles to make ends meet for his family as a low-level gangster. Reputation and honour are more important than food, we can tell by the way he dresses in spite of the squalor his family reside in - he would rather spend money on clothes and shoes to garner respect than feed his sisters. When one of them becomes a prostitute, he vows to regain his family's honour by killing the man who led her to it, but is silly enough to say so in a room full of people, and thus becomes the obvious suspect when the man's body parts turn up all over Italy. Eventually making his way to the Army after a period in an asylum, he is captured by the Germans after deserting, and taken to a concentration camp.  This tale is told through the use of flashbacks - we meet Pasqualino in the war, and then we learn his life story as he introduces himself to a new friend, Francesco. Recounting the many errors that have lead him to this juncture, Pasqualino bears a 'what can you do?' kind of demeanor, as if events were outside his control. That much of his problems are consequent to his machismo attitude is Wertmüller's satire.Wertmüller relies heavily on Giancarlo Giannini's skill at portraying not only the absurd but the poignant, and she is lucky to have had such a master to work with. Just as in Swept Away (Travolti da un insolito destino nell'azzurro mare d'agosto), Giannini brings his wild eyes to the fore in an excellent performance, particularly in the final sequences in which he perfectly demonstrates the suffering he is forced to endure. Commencing this film is a bizarre montage of real-life footage of Italy, the war and Mussolini, all with a narration consisting of disconnencted sentences all finishing with 'Oh, Yeah!', which is, at best, bizarre. Whilst it did set the scene in a way, what it specifically has to do with Wertmüller's film wasn't immediately clear, although I'm sure the more learned of our readers could explain the significance of the chosen footage and voiceover. It takes far too long to get to the meat of this film, however, which occurs within the confines of the concentration camp. Pasqualino is forced to stoop to any means necessary to ensure his own survival, and this portion of Seven Beauties is very powerful indeed. What degradation will he suffer to live? Where do his allegiances lie? What of his friend Francesco? When it finally comes, the shocking scenes detailing Pasqualino's choices are well made and quite moving. This film is highly regarded by many, and it can only be for the final act and its powerful portrayal of self-interest winning over moral right. Sadly the impact of the final scenes is diminished by the ponderously slow journey we take in getting there. Review by Mark Lavercombe, 9th November 2005 Rating:  Hoopla Factor:  Stuart:is yet to review this film. |
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