Pasqualino Settebellezze (1975)

User Rating:

8.0/10   

Director:

Lina Wertmüller

Writer:

Lina Wertmüller (writer)

Release Date:

21 January 1976 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | War

Plot:

Pasqualino Settebellezze è un giovane malavitoso napoletano che decide di commettere un crimine per farsi un nome in quel mondo...

Plot Keywords:

Russia | Murder | Italy | Pimp | WWII In Italy

Awards:

Nominated for 4 Oscars. Another 2 nominations

Cast

Giancarlo Giannini	...	Pasqualino Frafuso
Fernando Rey	...	Pedro the Anarchist Prisoner
Shirley Stoler	...	Commandant
Elena Fiore	...	Concettina, a Sister
Piero Di Iorio	...	Francesco His Friend
Enzo Vitale	...	Don Raffaele
Roberto Herlitzka	...	Socialist
Lucio Amelio	...	Lawyer
Ermelinda De Felice	...	His Mother
Bianca D'Origlia
Francesca Marciano	...	Carolina (as Francesca Marciani)
Mario Conti	...	Totonno Concettina's Pimp, His Victim
Barbara Valmorin
Emilio Salvatori
Aristide Caporale		(as Aristide Caporali)

Also Known As:

Seven Beauties (International: English title) (USA)
Pasqualino: Seven Beauties (informal literal English title)

Runtime:

115 min

Country:

Italy

Language:

Italian | German

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Norway:18 | Argentina:18 | Chile:18 | Finland:K-18 | USA:R | Hong Kong:III | West Germany:18 (nf) | Australia:MA

Filming Locations:

Naples, Campania, Italy

Company:

Medusa Produzione

Trivia:

The ratio of film shot to film actually used in the final cut was 50 to 1.

Quotes:

Narrator: The ones who don't enjoy themselves, even when they laugh. Oh yeah. The ones who worship the corporate image, not knowing that they work for someone else. Oh yeah. The ones who should have been shot in the cradle... Pow! Oh yeah. The ones who say 'Follow me to success, but kill me if I fail...

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Fifth Element (1997)

Much laughter and tears in this tragi-comedy.

The old adage: "He who fights and runs away Lives to fight another day" seems to pretty well summarise Pascalino's attitude to life. He is very much on the run through much of this film. After all he did murder a man who deflowered his sister. But then he believes murder is permissible under some circumstances e.g. when the honour of the family is at stake. As for war, why kill people you do not even know? This and many other questions he keeps asking himself.

I happened upon this gem of a film quite unexpectedly. The title meant nothing to me. For the first part of the film I was disarmed by a light comedy, so very Italian, about a "casanova" who had all the ladies swooning. I was enjoying his antics (perhaps learning a thing or two) when suddenly, captured and thrust into the confines of a Nazi prison camp he became a tragic figure indeed as he tried to seduce (using every known technique)the very brutal Commandant, a fearsome woman to be sure.

The horrors of war and the terrible decisions which have to be made to save one's own skin becomes the major thrust of this film.

It's a thoroughly entertaining anti-war film with some home-spun philosophy about war and life in general which deserves deep thought by those contemplating any type of warfare. The message is just as pertinent today as it was when this film was made nearly 30 years ago.