Seven Beauties

media release: Italy | 1975 | DCP | 115 min. | Italian with subtitles 

Director: Lina Wertmüller; Cast: Giancarlo Giannini, Fernando Rey, Shirley Stoler 

Wertmüller’s lusty meditation on the madness of World War II looks at the war’s impact on little people like Pasqualino (played brilliantly by a wide-eyed and wiry Giannini). After murdering a pimp who recruited one of his seven sisters to a brothel at the outset of the war, Pasqualino is arrested and conscripted into the army. Like Yossarian of Joseph Heller’s Catch-22, Pasqualino encounters a rogue’s gallery of criminals and commandants who he must cleverly and desperately navigate in order to survive. By turns impish and harrowing, madcap, and deeply sad, Wertmüller fashions a sweeping and moving tale of sex and survival in wartime Europe. The film found extraordinary international success upon its release, earning Giannini an Oscar nomination for Best Actor. Wertmüller made history with Seven Beauties by becoming the first female filmmaker to be nominated for a directing Oscar.

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