Bámbola (1996)

Her name is Mina, but she is called Bambola (doll). Upon the death of her mother, she and her homosexual brother, Flavio, open a pizzeria. A man named Ugo loans Bambola the money, but is ... See full summary »

Director:

Bigas Luna

Writers:

Cesare Frugoni, Bigas Luna

Stars:

Valeria Marini, Stefano Dionisi, Jorge Perugorría

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Valeria Marini	...	Mina 'Bambola'
Stefano Dionisi	...	Flavio
Jorge Perugorría	...	Furio
Manuel Bandera	...	Settimio
Anita Ekberg	...	Mamma Greta
Antonino Iuorio	...	Ugo
Lilli Berquini	...	La Capretta
Arsenio Luna
Francesco Ghibli Lombardi
Carlo Mendicini
Bruna Bossi
Luca Flauto

Storyline

Her name is Mina, but she is called Bambola (doll). Upon the death of her mother, she and her homosexual brother, Flavio, open a pizzeria. A man named Ugo loans Bambola the money, but is then killed in a fight with another one of her boyfriends, Settimio. While visiting Settimio in jail, she meets a sadistic man named Furio, and they begin a relationship.

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Plot Keywords:

death | homosexual | italy | fisherman | mother son relationship | 

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama

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Details

Country:

France Spain Italy

Language:

Italian

Release Date:

20 September 1996 (Italy)

Also Known As:

Bambola

Filming Locations:

Comacchio, Ferrara, Ferrara, Emilia-Romagna, Italy

Box Office

Gross:

ESP 66,861,137 (Spain)

Company Credits

Production Co:

DA International, Rodeo Drive, Star Line TV Productions S.L.

Technical Specs

Runtime:

95 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo Dolby SR

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

When the character played by Anita Ekberg, Mamma Greta, dies, we can see on her grave that her complete name is "Greta Gustafsson". That's Greta Garbo's real name.

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Soundtracks

"La bámbola"
Written by F. Migliacci, B. Zambrini, R. Cini
Versión esp.: Ch. Baltasar y Amart
Performed by Patty Pravo

User Reviews

A Study on Bad Taste

This movie could pretty well be described as the weakest, less inspired work of Bigas Luna in the last few years. All the freshness, irony, and visual appeal of "Jamon, Jamon" is missing, unfortunately replaced by a direction more focused on the "shock factor" than on creating a more solid structure.

As far a "values" go, the movie contains some disturbingly twisted messages that most people could find indeed offensive. I seriously doubt any victim could fall so deeply in love with her cruel torturer, as Bambola does. From that point on, the movie loses all credibility, and everything starts going downhill. Bigas Luna pretends to shock you with a display of disturbing imagery and disturbed characters, but in the process forgets how to make the movie consistent. A wasted opportunity.