Country: Italy
Year: 1975
Duration: 116'
Naples, 1930. Pasqualino Settebellezze is a young member of the Camorra; he is the only male child in a family composed of a father, a mother, and seven ugly and obese sisters (hence, by antiphrasis, the mocking last name Settebellezze, “seven beauties”). Pasqualino, cowardly and cynical, is in search of glory in order to gain the respect of the other criminals and by mistake he kills the man who had gotten one of his sisters pregnant. He is sentenced to twelve years in a psychiatric hospital for the criminally insane and is released when the war breaks out. During the war, he finds himself first in Russia and then in a German concentration camp, where he is willing to do anything to survive, including becoming the lover of a female guard, in turn becoming a persecutor and killing one of his companions. Wertmüller’s most famous movie, nominated for four Oscars, is the portrait of a desperate opportunist – perfectly embodied by Giancarlo Giannini – who is morally reprehensible and moved by a voracious instinct for survival.
Biography
film director
Lina Wertmüller
(Rome, 1928-2021), the pseudonym of Arcangela Felice Assunta Wertmüller von Elgg Spanol von Braueich, studied at the Theatre Academy directed by Pietro Sharoff and later worked with exponents of Italian theatre such as Guido Salvini, Giorgio De Lullo, and Garinei and Giovannini. She was involved in radio and television (she was the director of Canzonissima and the series Il giornalino di Gian Burrasca) and she was an assistant to Fellini for La dolce vita (The Sweet Life, 1960) and 8½ (1962). She debuted as a movie director with I basilischi (The Basilisks, 1963), which won the Silver Sail at the Locarno Film Festival. Her many films, characterized by strong social satire that is grotesque and overwhelming, were extraordinarily successful thanks to her artistic partnership with Giancarlo Giannini and Mariangela Melato in movies such as Mimì metallurgico ferito nell'onore (The Seduction of Mimi, 1972), Film d'amore e d'anarchia, ovvero stamattina alle 10 in Via dei Fiori nella nota casa di tolleranza (Love & Anarchy, 1973), and Travolti da un insolito destino nell'azzurro mare d'agosto (Swept Away, 1974). In 1975, her film Pasqualino Settebellezze (Seven Beauties, 1975) received three Oscar nominations, including best director (the first woman to be nominated). She continued her brilliant career until the 2000s, winning an Oscar for lifetime achievement in 2019.
FILMOGRAFIA
I basilischi (1963), Il giornalino di Gian Burrasca (serie tv, 1964-1965), Questa volta parliamo di uomini (1965), Rita la zanzara (1966), Non stuzzicate la zanzara (1967), Il mio corpo per un poker, co-regia di Piero Cristofani (1968), Mimì metallurgico ferito nell'onore (1972), Film d'amore e d'anarchia - Ovvero Stamattina alle 10 in via dei Fiori nella nota casa di tolleranza... (1973), Tutto a posto e niente in ordine (1974), Travolti da un insolito destino nell'azzurro mare d'agosto (1974), Pasqualino Settebellezze (1975), La fine del mondo nel nostro solito letto in una notte piena di pioggia (1978), Fatto di sangue fra due uomini per causa di una vedova. Si sospettano moventi politici (1978), E una domenica sera di novembre (tv, doc, 1981), Scherzo del destino in agguato dietro l'angolo come un brigante da strada (1983), Sotto… sotto… strapazzato da anomala passione (1984), Un complicato intrigo di donne, vicoli e delitti (1985), Notte d'estate con profilo greco, occhi a mandorla e odore di basilico (1986), Imago urbis (doc, 1987), In una notte di chiaro di luna (1988), Il decimo clandestino (tv, 1989), Bari (ep. di 12 registi per 12 città, 1989), Sabato, domenica e lunedì (tv, 1990), Io speriamo che me la cavo (1992), Vivaldi, (ep. di L'encyclopédie audio-visuelle, tv, 1993), Ninfa plebea (1996), Metalmeccanico e parrucchiera in un turbine di sesso e politica (1996), Ferdinando e Carolina (1999), Un Angelo di seconda classe (tv, 1999), Francesca e Nunziata (tv, 2002), Peperoni ripieni e pesci in faccia (2004), Mannaggia alla miseria (tv, 2010), Carmen (tv, 2010), TV, Roma, Napoli, Venezia... in un crescendo rossiniano (cm, doc, 2014).
Cast
& Credits
DIRECTOR: Lina Wertmüller. SCREENPLAY: Lina Wertmüller. CINEMATOGRAPHY: Tonino Delli Colli. EDITING: Franco Fraticelli. PRODUCTION DESIGN: Enrico Job. COSTUMES: Enrico Job, Benito Persico. MUSIC: Enzo Jannacci. CAST: Giancarlo Giannini, Fernando Rey, Elena Fiore, Shirley Stoler, Ermelinda De Felice, Piero Di Iorio, Roberto Herlitzka, Enzo Vitale, Lucio Amelio, Bianca D’Origlia, Francesca Marciano, Pietro Ceccarelli. PRODUCTION: Medusa Film.
Restored by CSC - Cineteca Nazionale
CONTACT: CSC - Cineteca Nazionale diffusioneculturale@fondazionecsc.it
