Seven Beauties

Director: Lina Wertmuller Lina Wertmuller

Overview

Italian filmmaker Lina Wertmuller directs the black comedy Pasqualino Settebellezze (Seven Beauties). During WWII, Pasqualino Frafuso (Giancarlo Giannini) ends up lost in a dense forest along with fellow army deserter Francesco (Piero De Orio). After they witness a mass execution by German soldiers, Francesco admits his moral opposition to the Nazis and Pasqualino reveals his criminal past in a series of flashbacks. Back in Naples, he was known as "Pasqualino Seven Beauties," a petty thief who lived off the profits of his seven sisters while claiming to protect their honor at any cost. When Totonno (Mario Conti) pimps out his sister Concettina (Elena Fiore), Pasqualino kills him, chops up his body, and mails each piece across the country. He is then arrested and sent to a mental institution, where he commits sexual assault against another patient. Kicked out of the asylum, he is sent to fight in the army. The Germans capture him and he gets sent to a concentration camp. He then plots to make his escape by demoralizing himself in an attempt to seduce a German officer (Shirley Stoler). Seven Beauties was nominated for four Academy Awards in 1977, including Best Foreign Film.

Product Details

Release Date:	09/12/2017
UPC:	0738329208752
Original Release:	1975
Rating:	NR
Source:	Kino Classics
Region Code:	1
Presentation:	[Wide Screen]
Sound:	[Dolby Digital Stereo]
Language:	English
Time:	1:56:00
Sales rank:	33,262

Special Features

Booklet essays by Director Allison Anders and Film Historian Claudia Consolati, Ph. D; Excerpt from Behind the White Glasses, a documentary on Lina Wertmüller; Interview with Director Amy Heckerling; Trailers

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Giancarlo Giannini	Pasqualino Frafuso
Fernando Rey	Pedro
Shirley Stoler	Commandant
Elena Fiore	Concettina
Enzo Vitale	Don Raffaele
Mario Conti	Totonno
Piero Di Orio	Francesco
Ermelinda De Felice	Mother
Francesca Marciano	Carolina
Lucio Amelio	Lawyer
Roberto Herlitzka	Socialist
Doriglia Palmi	Doctor

Technical Credits

Arrigo Colombo	Producer
Giancarlo Giannini	Producer
Lina Wertmuller	Producer,Director

Editorial Reviews

A small-time hood goes to a Nazi concentration camp, an insane asylum, and the Italian army in this tragic comedy under the critical eye of director Lina Wertmuller. A frequent Wertmuller leading man, Giancarlo Giannini plays Pasquale, a macho caricature who struts around Europe demoralizing himself for the sake of his family's honor. With Chaplinesque motions and exaggerated facial gestures, Giannini is wonderful as this despicable character, who embodies the false sense of dignity in male chauvinism as he is supported by his hard-working yet equally despicable seven sisters. As the assistant director for Fellini's 8 1/2, Wertmuller seems to have been influenced by that director, especially in her grotesque characters like the family of prostitutes and the dominatrix Nazi commander. Her style is completely her own, however, as she allows her characters to sink to the lowest depths of humanity for the sake of their own survival. Seven Beauties was nominated for four Academy awards in 1976, including Best Director for Wertmuller, the first woman to be nominated in that category.