Boccaccio '70 (1962)
Country: IT/FR
Technical: col/1.66:1 205m
Director: Mario Monicelli, Federico Fellini, Luchino Visconti, Vittorio De Sica
Cast: Marisa Solinas, Germano Gilioli, Anita Ekberg, Peppino De Filippo, Romy Schneider, Tomas Milian, Sophia Loren, Luigi Giuliani
Synopsis:
Four stories worthy of a modern Decameron: a young couple marry in haste and in secret because their factory employer prohibits relationships amongst staff; a prudish professor is persecuted by a giant sized Anita Ekberg come down from her billboard; a countess rumbles her husband's infidelities with prostitutes but achieves only a bitter victory when she attempts to turn the tables; a fairground shooting range proprietress offers herself as the jackpot in a raffle wherever they go to pay for their overdue taxes. In all the sexual act is tainted or compromised by society's rules.
Review:
Very long, talky and uneven portmanteau from which the Monicelli opener was originally cut, interesting in that it is the one which avoids anything like the excess that would later turn into the Pasolini tale collections, and instead cleaves very much to a gentle neo-realist style. Fellini all but parodies himself and simultaneously avenges himself on his detractors. Visconti offers satire at the expense of plutocrats but then ends on a poignant note with the once crowing wife in humiliated repose (Schneider in top form, every note of her performance played with febrile intensity). Loren's earthy sensuality dominates the De Sica segment, eating up the screen with her sparkling, speaking eyes. It's the lightest of the four, and a good finisher, full of commedia dell'arte types dressing up the saucy premise.
Country: IT/FR
Technical: col/1.66:1 205m
Director: Mario Monicelli, Federico Fellini, Luchino Visconti, Vittorio De Sica
Cast: Marisa Solinas, Germano Gilioli, Anita Ekberg, Peppino De Filippo, Romy Schneider, Tomas Milian, Sophia Loren, Luigi Giuliani
Synopsis:
Four stories worthy of a modern Decameron: a young couple marry in haste and in secret because their factory employer prohibits relationships amongst staff; a prudish professor is persecuted by a giant sized Anita Ekberg come down from her billboard; a countess rumbles her husband's infidelities with prostitutes but achieves only a bitter victory when she attempts to turn the tables; a fairground shooting range proprietress offers herself as the jackpot in a raffle wherever they go to pay for their overdue taxes. In all the sexual act is tainted or compromised by society's rules.
Review:
Very long, talky and uneven portmanteau from which the Monicelli opener was originally cut, interesting in that it is the one which avoids anything like the excess that would later turn into the Pasolini tale collections, and instead cleaves very much to a gentle neo-realist style. Fellini all but parodies himself and simultaneously avenges himself on his detractors. Visconti offers satire at the expense of plutocrats but then ends on a poignant note with the once crowing wife in humiliated repose (Schneider in top form, every note of her performance played with febrile intensity). Loren's earthy sensuality dominates the De Sica segment, eating up the screen with her sparkling, speaking eyes. It's the lightest of the four, and a good finisher, full of commedia dell'arte types dressing up the saucy premise.
Country: IT/FR
Technical: col/1.66:1 205m
Director: Mario Monicelli, Federico Fellini, Luchino Visconti, Vittorio De Sica
Cast: Marisa Solinas, Germano Gilioli, Anita Ekberg, Peppino De Filippo, Romy Schneider, Tomas Milian, Sophia Loren, Luigi Giuliani
Synopsis:
Four stories worthy of a modern Decameron: a young couple marry in haste and in secret because their factory employer prohibits relationships amongst staff; a prudish professor is persecuted by a giant sized Anita Ekberg come down from her billboard; a countess rumbles her husband's infidelities with prostitutes but achieves only a bitter victory when she attempts to turn the tables; a fairground shooting range proprietress offers herself as the jackpot in a raffle wherever they go to pay for their overdue taxes. In all the sexual act is tainted or compromised by society's rules.
Review:
Very long, talky and uneven portmanteau from which the Monicelli opener was originally cut, interesting in that it is the one which avoids anything like the excess that would later turn into the Pasolini tale collections, and instead cleaves very much to a gentle neo-realist style. Fellini all but parodies himself and simultaneously avenges himself on his detractors. Visconti offers satire at the expense of plutocrats but then ends on a poignant note with the once crowing wife in humiliated repose (Schneider in top form, every note of her performance played with febrile intensity). Loren's earthy sensuality dominates the De Sica segment, eating up the screen with her sparkling, speaking eyes. It's the lightest of the four, and a good finisher, full of commedia dell'arte types dressing up the saucy premise.