A woman (ravishing, but unsympathetic brunette Monica Guerritore) discovers her husband in bed with a much younger lady. Shocked and distraught, the woman dumps the adulterous bastard. The embittered woman embarks an road trip of erotic self discovery. She meets a goofball opera-singing cartoonist (Gabriele Lavia, who also wrote and directed this mess) during her sensual pilgrimage and has a torrid sexual affair with him. Sound pretty hot and interesting? Well, it just ain't. For starters, the meandering narrative gets bogged down in way too much dreary talk and plods along at a painfully sluggish clip. Moreover, the infrequent sweaty, yet passionless sex scenes fizzle instead of sizzle because the two central characters aren't remotely engaging or compelling (the woman is extremely cold, aloof, and hateful while the guy is too much of a passive wimp and hence unlikable). Worse yet, this pretentious borefest actually makes some fumbling and ill-advised attempts at depth and meaning with simply mind-numbing results. On the plus side, there's a hilariously bawdy animated sequence featuring cartoon male members, Giorgi Carmini's glossy cinematography gives this picture an impressively expansive look, and Luigi Ceccarelli's moody jazz score hits the spot. But overall this flick proves to be quite a laboriously blah chore to endure and thus overall rates as a real crummy wash-out.
4 Reviews
Don't waste your time
lazarillo27 August 2008
After a wealthy socialite (Monica Guerritori) catches her husband in bed with another woman, she decides to embark on an erotic road-trip of her own. Unfortunately, this mostly involves a single affair with an annoying opera-singing cartoonist. He woos her with an animated pornographic sequence (which is not remotely erotic but might be the best part of the film). She goes to bed with him, but won't tell him her name or let him tell her his. If you think this movie is kind of trying to ape "Last Tango in Paris", you're probably right because later they also do the infamous "butter scene", but with spit instead of butter. (Okay it's probably not a very effective lubricant, but the movie seems to have some kind of bizarre "saliva fetish" because earlier the heroine had also spit on her husband and his lover when she found them together). They also have a sex in a public toilet and several other equally romantic places. The man keeps calling the heroine a "whore" and throwing money at her, while she apparently tries to prove him right by flagging down a horny trucker and doing the guy right in front of him.
This movie is probably too perverse to be very erotic. But it's not realistic enough for the perversity to be very effective. These cartoonish characters are simply not fleshed-out enough to be having this kind of "dark night of the soul" (which is a general problem with all these "Last Tango" knock-offs). The scene with the trucker, for instance, could have had a real perverse kick if there was any believable passion between the two lovers (and if they hadn't just met hours before). And the pathetic guy makes the whole thing completely risible by actually offering the TRUCKER money so he can watch the action. Even worse, this movie somehow manages to render the gorgeous Guerretori unattractive. She has a bad hair-do, bad make-up, and is dubbed in the English version by a woman who sounds about twenty years older than the actress was at the time. OK that last thing wasn't the Italian filmmakers fault I guess, but having her stay dressed during all her sex scenes doesn't exactly add to the visual appeal of the movie either.
I originally thought this movie was a Tinto Brass effort, but it was actually the the directorial debut of lead actor Gabriele Lavia. I would actually recommend pretty much any Brass movie over this since it's more boring and pretentious than even his worst stuff. If you want to see a good movie with Guerritori though, check out "The Venetian Lady" made the same year where she played Laura Antonelli's maid and the two of them have a very memorable upstairs/downstairs sex romp with a visiting nobleman and his servant. Or way back when she was an adolescent, she made it with the kid from "Oliver" in the bizarre but memorable "Love Under the Elms". Don't waste your time with this--I've wasted too much time as it is here. . .
This movie is probably too perverse to be very erotic. But it's not realistic enough for the perversity to be very effective. These cartoonish characters are simply not fleshed-out enough to be having this kind of "dark night of the soul" (which is a general problem with all these "Last Tango" knock-offs). The scene with the trucker, for instance, could have had a real perverse kick if there was any believable passion between the two lovers (and if they hadn't just met hours before). And the pathetic guy makes the whole thing completely risible by actually offering the TRUCKER money so he can watch the action. Even worse, this movie somehow manages to render the gorgeous Guerretori unattractive. She has a bad hair-do, bad make-up, and is dubbed in the English version by a woman who sounds about twenty years older than the actress was at the time. OK that last thing wasn't the Italian filmmakers fault I guess, but having her stay dressed during all her sex scenes doesn't exactly add to the visual appeal of the movie either.
I originally thought this movie was a Tinto Brass effort, but it was actually the the directorial debut of lead actor Gabriele Lavia. I would actually recommend pretty much any Brass movie over this since it's more boring and pretentious than even his worst stuff. If you want to see a good movie with Guerritori though, check out "The Venetian Lady" made the same year where she played Laura Antonelli's maid and the two of them have a very memorable upstairs/downstairs sex romp with a visiting nobleman and his servant. Or way back when she was an adolescent, she made it with the kid from "Oliver" in the bizarre but memorable "Love Under the Elms". Don't waste your time with this--I've wasted too much time as it is here. . .
Please avoid this crap
sauravjoshi8527 July 2021
Scandalous Gilda an Italian erotic drama film written and directed by Gabriele Lavia and stars Gabriele Lavia and Monica Guerritore.
After discovering her husband's infidelity, a woman sets out on an erotic journey of self-discovery.
The movie is a big time waste for me as the movie has nothing to offer, the movie is so called erotic drama movie but doesn't excites much.
In my opinion please avoid this crap.
After discovering her husband's infidelity, a woman sets out on an erotic journey of self-discovery.
The movie is a big time waste for me as the movie has nothing to offer, the movie is so called erotic drama movie but doesn't excites much.
In my opinion please avoid this crap.
Released in North America On NTSC VHS videotape......No DVD Release....
guerritorefilms4 January 2009
Warning: Spoilers
Released on NTSC VHS videotape in North America (French Canada) in 1985 by FilmExport Group......the French title was Gilda, La Scandaleuse.....the Director was Gabriele Lavia and it features Monica Guerritore as a woman who starts an affair with a cartoonist (director Gabriele Lavia) in revenge for her husband's infidelities. Soon after bedding down the cartoonist in a hotel, her personality changes....Monica Guerritore also appeared in ....The Venetian Woman.....Fotografando Patrizia ....Peccato Veniale ......It is Rated R for extensive nudity and strong depiction of a strange relationship...the run time is 1 Hour 25 Mnutes......This film has not been released on DVD and is not easy to find these days.....It was released in Europe on PAL and SECAM formats but the French Canada release is better on NTSC VHS videotape......It is only available in French with NO English Subtitles.....The cast includes.....Jasmine Maimone.....Dario Mazzoli ......Pina Cei .....Sacha Darwin......Italo Gasperini...Good Luck in finding the North American version on NTSV videotape.....
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