Appassionata

"Appassionata" tells the story of a family – the father is Dr. Emilio Rutelli (Gabriele Ferzetti), a dentist; the mother, Elisa (Valentina Cortese), a psychologically unstable woman; the daughter Eugenia (Ornella Muti), who feels attracted to her father and jealous of her mother, and finally Eugenia's friend, Nicola (Eleonora Giorgi), a girl who lives with her aunt – her father is a diplomat and hasn't time for her, and her mother...(?). Anyway, one day, Nicola goes to Dr. Emilio's practice and seduces him. Nicola needs love. And Eugenia, she will also try to catch her father in her net. Dr. Emilio feels puzzled, it is as if suddenly he were on a roller-coaster. As to the mother, the emotionally unbalanced Elisa – crises, the need to smile and a desire to cry….

"Appassionata" has not the sleaze that some people may have imagined – but it is nonetheless a very sensual film. It has some sex and nudity scenes (taboo-breaking for their time) - the beautiful starlets Ornella Muti and Eleonora Giorgi were the main reason why I've ordered this film. But the film has more to offer than sleaze – there is an interesting story and good performances all around; besides the stunning Eleonora Giorgi and Ornella Muti, one should also mention particularly the very good performance of Valentina Cortese, as the mother on the verge of a breakdown.

The story in the film is not as well developed as it could have been, the film is somewhat irregular, but I've enjoyed it quite a bit. Well, I've seen "Appassionata" in the original Italian language, and that certainly makes a difference.

It's a little hard to describe this movie. It's kind of like "American Beauty" where you have a dysfunctional middle-class family with a father that lusts after his teenage daughter's best friend, but in this movie he actually has sex with the friend (repeatedly)and perhaps his own daughter as well(?!) To be fair, this movie is nowhere near as offensive and disturbing as it sounds on paper. It's directed with subtlety and some amount of class; it's much close to Italian art than Italian sleaze. The actors playing the mother and father are both very good, and the two teenage girls are played by Ornella Muti and Eleanora Giogi, both then in their late teens/early twenties, and two of the most beautiful women in the history of the Italian cinema. (Like Jenny Tamburi in the similar film "La Seduzione" or Gloria Guida in about every movie she ever made, these two look good both in and out of their schoolgirl uniforms, but that is not because they are remotely believable as actual schoolgirls).

This movie is not so much offensive or disturbing as it is confounding. The Muti character's mother who was once a famous concert pianist is suffering from some kind of mental breakdown, and her father is understandably drawn to a new life with the younger Giorgi character, who is like a sexy blank slate for all his middle-age fantasies. The motivation of the younger characters though are much more opaque and they are rather thinly-drawn as characters. Giorgi's character clearly lacks for parental attention, which explains why she befriends her friend's sickly mother, but not why she throws sex on her father several times but otherwise gives him the cold shoulder. The Muti characters actions, however, are completely perplexing: she is having trouble losing her virginity (which in itself strains credibility to the limit), but comes up with the most jaw-dropping and unbelievable solution to her problem imaginable.

This movie is available in two versions: an Italian version which censors out the full-frontal nudity (which is hardly the most offensive thing in this movie), and a badly-dubbed English which is very confusing and seems to leave out a lot of plot points.

Oh, and by the way, Agostina Belli is NOT in this movie. (Muti. Giorgi, AND Belli all in the same movie probably would have melted the celluloid in the camera). I'd recommend this movie to fans of beautiful Italian actresses, but be prepared to possibly be offended and definitely confused!

Frayed, once said, in my thirty years of research, I did not search out, what a woman really wants. This film is a eye opener, how man and woman exploits the situation of eventuallity, and how they try to judge their own principal point. The pathetic site of our life is, in this ever recycling process, we get attached and detached from each other.

An Italian kink fest that has a dentist involved with his daughter's friend. The dentist is married to a professional pianist who appears to have suffered a mental breakdown leaving a mostly empty shell. Their daughter is reckless and walks all over the mother and is always trying to seduce her father. The daughter's friend has a screwed up life as well and tries to find solace by banging older men.

Mental illness, incest, and all kinds of other things keeps this one from being boring. If you miss the seventies fashion its all here. Not a bad film overall and was definitely an inspiration for American Beauty. You will have to read subtitles as it's Italian.

If it wasn't performed by three of the top sensual Italian actress of the seventies/eighties this movie wouldn't be of any worthy. Belli, Muti and Giorgi act in this typical sexy fake-drama to pay the admission ticket to the show business. The nasty plot is basically in the service of having some nudity and (very) savagery scenes. The story is a typical Boccacio, and the dramatic cut given by the director simply avoid to fall to the 'sexy-commedia all'italiana' genre (70's Italian sex comedy). I wouldn't say if it is the classic Italian-trash so loved by Q. Tarantino, but it is very close.

My vote is 5 (out of 10)