SEVEN BEAUTIES - SEVEN BEAUTIES (1 DVD)

A parody of the Italian male, or a certain type of Italian male who thinks he’s God’s gift to women. A parody also of the worst sort of German, a Nazi. What have these two got in common? Absolutely nothing, which is what the humour hangs on.The Italian gigolo is Pasqualino, a petty thief from Naples. Women adore him. They hunger for him. It’s the conclusion he has come to in a career of making himself accessible to them, though it’s probably a numbers game with him: the more women he hits on, the more likely he is to score. God didn’t give him beauty for nothing. Like Joe Buck in “Midnight Cowboy”, all he’s ever been good for is lovin’.The female prison camp commandant is the standard caricatured Nazi: blonde, blue-eyed, burly, boorish, mean-tempered, aggressive. Ugly too. The Nazis in their narcissism thought they were beautiful, but it wasn’t true. Just more delusion and fantasy. Fascists are always ugly, too ugly to accept certain truths.Life has been good to Pasqualino, despite his petty thieving. He’s been on a long run of love. So many dark-haired Italian beauties. The world is gorgeous: sun, blue skies, sandy beaches, beautiful women, healthy libido. He seems blessed. And maybe he was, but then came the war, the ultimate killjoy.The world is degenerating. Stalin, Hitler and Mussolini are in power. At first they were clowns but then they became dangerous tyrants. Pasqualino gave little thought to politics and history. No need. But when the war came he had to pay attention in order to avoid fighting in it. He failed. The war found him. However, he didn’t fight all that much. Instead, he got arrested and imprisoned. Then he was sent in a cattle car to cold, frigid, grey, wretched, ugly Germany. There he is incarcerated in a camp as a slave labourer.Rotten luck, lousy life. But if there’s anything Pasqualino is good at it’s loving women. Trouble is, there aren’t a lot of them around in the camp, and those that exist are segregated from him, off limits.Is the camp commandant really a woman? Her voice is husky and loud. She wears her hair pinned up under her hat. If there are dresses in her life, Pasqualino has never seen them. Instead, he sees the uniform, the jack boots, the riding crop that doubles as a whip. Actually, he’s intimate with that riding crop, having been beaten with it on several occasions.This war is the worst waste of time he’s ever known. How to rid himself of it? In desperation he lights on a plan. The camp commandant is the key. Paqualino must do what he does best. He must make her love him.He’s short, scrawny, malnourished, dirty and homely. Or he’s homely now without the dandy wardrobe to make him look flashy and handsome. Pulling women in a striped prison hat and pyjamas is not the way to do it. However, he is determined.As previously stated, the camp commandant is nothing like him. She’s bulky, burly, big boned — a right bruiser. She’d crush him if he were crazy enough to let her climb on top. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. How can he win her heart, get her to put down her riding crop and stop shouting at him? The old way, that’s how, the only way he knows.And so it begins, the eternal dance, gradually and tentatively at first — the soft smile, cheerful chuckle, maybe even the little wink. The tender terms of endearment must come later — later when her granite-like heart has softened to a jiggling jelly.Some men think all women long to be beautiful. It’s what women live and strive for. Pasqualino subscribes to this theory. His mama told him it was true and experience has taught him the same. All women, without exception, want to hear the words, catch the little joyful smile, see the tender look in the eyes, the look of longing that says he is nothing, absolutely nothing, without her, especially without her naked. Could it be? Is it true? She has to wonder. But true or not, she wants to believe it. She’s conditioned by nature to believe it. She wants to be loved.So Pasqualino goes to work. No, not the usual work of breaking rocks or cleaning toilets. The real work. The timeless epic work of love.Being a parody, the love must be consummated. Has to be, no? How it happens is part of the absurdity of the film. In its day (mid-1970s) it delighted audiences around the world, perhaps in Germany too, as nowadays nobody hates the Nazis as much as many Germans do. They could teach the world a lesson, assuming the world has the ability to learn, which often seems doubtful, since history seems to be a tale told by an idiot or one to idiots.What will one do to survive? Just about anything, it seems. Lina Wertmüller, the director of this classic film, thinks so too. This is how desperate it gets. Even a bloated, boorish, brutal bully is better than the gallows. He can love her if he tries. Yes, he actually tries, and therein lies the beauty of the film.But there are seven beauties, right? The other six must have been left behind by him in Italy. So many hearts broken, so many tears, but so be it. The gigolo must soldier on. It is God’s will, and God bless God for that.In Italian with English subtitles.

If you like Fellini, you will love his protege's film "Seven Beauties". Lina Wertmuller (director) creates challenging and provocative scenes using her style as learned from Fellini. The filming is magnificent, the lighting superb and the acting so Italian. Giancarlo Giannini (leading man) displays his fabulous style with soft, dreamy eyes as well as a unique communicative ability for each scene. Very well acted by all particularly the female German Commandant. Superbly Italian in flavour.

Imagine Morecombe and Wise doing a movie on the Holocaust now, don't waste your time with this one .

Timeless and well worth watching. It is subtitles but try not to let that put you off this director's classic. The great actors are excellent.

Leider habe ich beim Kauf übersehen, daß diese BlueRay mit Regional Code 1 für USA versehen ist und daher auf europäischen DVD(BlueRay) Playern nicht abspielbar ist. Eine ausdrückliche, gut sichtbare Warnung wäre vorteilhaft!

映画「流されて」で有名な、イタリアの女流監督リーナ・ウェルトミュラーの戦争映画。第二次世界大戦時、腹をすかせたイタリア人兵士がドイツ人宅で食料を調達しようとするのだが、バレてナチスの強制収容所に入れられることになる。その収容所での苦労とそこからの脱出の話。主演のコミカルなジャンカルノ・ジャンニーニの好演が光る。

This is a rather unique film. All of the elements are good from acting, set, storyline and directing. In my opinion Seven Beauties is an important (albeit disturbing) and classic film. It's not for everyone but people who like it, love it.

Quite simply my favorite movie, period. From the world-weary opening montage to the jaw-dropping scene of Pasqualino and the mirror at the end, an astonishing work of art. Here is the human condition, filthy and beautiful and brutal and gentle. This movie is at once very funny and darkly tragic. Giancarlo’s eyes are eloquent beyond all measure. Throughout, his character makes horrible, indefensible decisions and yet it is the brilliant achievement of this film and Lina Wertmuller that we cannot be sure that we would not make the same choices. Sex, love, politics, death, and arguably the best insane asylum rape scene ever: it’s all here. Even the music is perfect. I am a cinephile and love Ozu and “Casablanca” and “Blue Velvet” and dozens of other wonderful movies. This is the best