Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
Béatrice Dalle | ... | Maddalena | |
Daniel Ezralow | ... | Davide | |
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Corinne Touzet | ... | Cristina |
Jacques Weber | ... | Prof. Cadò | |
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Renata Leoni | ||
Roberta Lena | |||
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Daniele Nuccetelli | ||
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Sasa Vulicevic | ||
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Raffaella Rossellini | ||
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Stefano Abbati | ||
Omero Antonutti | ... | Medico condotto | |
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Eleonora Di Mario | ... | Strega n. 1 |
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Francesca Trasci | ... | Strega n. 2 |
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Laura Visconti | ... | Strega n. 3 |
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Paolo De Vita | ... | Monatto |
The freshly graduated psychiatrist David shall deliver an opinion about young Maddalena, who's on trial for murdering a hunter. She claims she's a witch and acted on behalf of the devil. The public health officer tells David, he's got reason to believe her, that she'd been searching for a man who suits her needs for 300 years. Already after his first meeting with Maddalena, David begins to change: He ignores his beautiful young wife Cristina and loses himself in daydreams and hallucinations in which he participates in Inquisition questioning and erotic witches' circles. Written by Tom Zoerner <Tom.Zoerner@informatik.uni-erlangen.de>
"La visione del Sabba" is a surrealistic tale about witchery , women , sexual desire and satisfaction . It tells the story of a young beautiful woman who has been accused of attempted murder . She is kept in a mental hospital because she claims to be a witch from the 17th century who has been waiting several centuries for the man worthy of taking away her virginity . The case is given to a young psychiatrist who soon becomes fascinated with her world of pagan pleasures and dreams . After the sight of the "Sabbath" during one of these visions , he completely falls under her witchcraft and voluntarily becomes the object of her satisfaction .
What is an interesting but vague and limited subject turns into a watchable film only thanks to Bellocchio's visual talent . The use of the metaphor of witchery to describe the sexual influence ( and power ) that women are able to exert on men it is a provocative reflection about the conventional roles in our society . But as a subject it's somehow like a candle that burns too fast and long before the end of the film it is extinguished . My impression is that the screenplay was not rich enough of ideas and twists and that this fact forced the director to over-extend many sequences , losing himself too often in a self-pleasing and sterile aesthetic ecstasy . Too often in this "Sabbath"-film we feel like the only ones who are truly having fun are the actors and the director .
Overall , it is a good provocative reflection about the power of women and how their desires and needs can make the world change . It is also a nice tale about witchery and an hymn to the pleasures of life . But it becomes too rapidly short of breath , and even through some well-directed scenes , in the second half of the story we feel like we're watching the same concept illustrated over and over again . Bellocchio showed us that he can do much better than this .