The Seduction of Mimi

Mimi is not a woman; it is the nickname of the main character. If there is a funnier actor than Giancarlo Giannini in the last 50 years, I have not seen one. He is ten times funnier and more believable than Roberto Benigni of Life is Beautiful, the highly overrated film that won Benigni best actor and Best Foreign Film in 1998. There are a half dozen Giannini films that are better, and this is one of them. Mariangela Melato is supurb is this film and every film she was ever in with Gianinni. The plot is silly; but it doesnt matter; its the MOVIE that counts and makes you laugh your ass off. Anyone who does not laugh at the fat lady sequence is definitely disturbed. Enjoy this and all the Wertmueller satires.

As always, Giannini and Melato are the shining stellas in yet another of the Wertmueller's movies. The two of them alone make this film worth seeing (though this time it's more Giannini since Melato's role is not as demanding as in some later films). However, compared to some other realizations by the same director-two-actors trio, this film does not strike as equally capturing and consistent in its message. Heavily leaning against social issues (remember "Swept Away"?), but bringing to the front the romance/fidelity/honor plot, it apparently fails to round up either of them. Not even the diversion into the familiar Italian-honor humor towards the end of the film is able to pull out the hanging feeling. Those who love the genre will still not regret spending their time with this movie.

As a woman director in the early seventies, in a series of films Lina Wertmuller took on the issues related to gender and sexual revolutions, feminism and entrenched politics and economics. This work is one of them.

As is true of this part of her oeuvre, the film works on many levels. The director is never satisfied with merely going after the easy laughs. Any viewer looking for social commentary, both in the main story-telling and the subtext will come away satisfied.

This is a very "Italian" and "European" movie, in the sense that it captures the spirit of the times: both of the Italian North/South cultural wars/divide and of a particular European concern with the strength of "left" political and artistic movements and explorations of alternative, non-materialistic life-styles.

All of this is shown as experienced by Mimi, a southern Italian everyman, buffeted by fate. In this role, Giancarlo Giannini once again shows his mastery of the acting craft. As is true for all foreign films, my advice is that if you don't know the language of the original, always view the subtitled version, so as not to miss the subtleties of the individual performances.

I won't give away any of the plot. Just want to note that (as an architect, not a formally- trained film-maker) I can still appreciate the choices made by the director and cinematographer in telling the story. This is true for a thousand details. In the case of this film, the inspired choice of the camera lens ("fish-eye") for the scene between Giannini and Elena Fiore toward the end of the movie, adds immeasurably to its effectiveness. See for yourself and ROTFL.

Lina Wertmüller's Mimì metallurgico ferito nell'onore (The Seduction of Mimi) is a biting political satire wrapped in a tragicomedy about masculinity, honor, class struggle, and hypocrisy in 1970s Italy.

The story follows Mimì (Giancarlo Giannini), a Sicilian laborer whose refusal to vote for the Mafia-backed candidate costs him his job. Fleeing to Turin, he finds work and becomes involved in union politics - and in a passionate affair with a fiery leftist woman. But when personal betrayal and political disillusionment intertwine, Mimì's ideals unravel, exposing the contradictions of both the patriarchal system and his own moral compass.

Giannini gives a brilliant, charismatic performance as a man torn between traditional values and modern ideologies, love and ego, revolution and self-interest. Mariangela Melato also shines with her fearless and sharp presence. Wertmüller's direction is vibrant, satirical, and deeply human - she exposes the ridiculousness of macho pride and political opportunism with humor and sadness.

In Sicily, the mine worker Carmelo "Mimí" Mardocheo (Giancarlo Giannini) votes in the Communist Party candidate instead of in the Mafia's one believing that the suffrage is secret. After the elections, he loses his job and cannot find any other job in his village that is controlled by the mobster Don Calogero (Turi Ferro). He leaves his wife Rosalia (Agostina Belli) with his family and travels to Turin expecting to find a job.

He finds an illegal position in the civil construction that is also explored by the Mafia and when a coworker dies in an accident, he finds that the mobsters have dumped his body on the road. However, he does not report the crime to the police and lies to the mobster Salvatore Tricarico (Turi Ferro) telling that he belongs to the family of a powerful mobster. Mimi gets a metallurgic position and joins the Communist Party. Then he fall in love with the virgin Trotskyite street vendor Fiorella Meneghini (Mariangela Melato) and they have a boy.

When Mimi witness the mobster Vico Tricarico (Turi Ferro) executing several men in a hotel, he survives but he does not report to the police. Mimi is transferred to Catania in a supervisory position against his will. He brings Fiore and their son to Sicily, but he is still married with Rosalia but he claims that he is ill and does not have sex with her. When Mimi learns that Rosalia is pregnant, he finds that he is a cuckold and plots a scheme to seduce and knock up Amalia Finocchiaro (Elena Fiore), who is the wife of Rosalia's lover. But his revenge does not work as planned.

"Mimì metallurgico ferito nell'onore" is a bitter satire by Lina Wertmüller about a naive and ignorant Sicilian worker that entwines his honor with class warfare, politics and mafia in his miserable life with tragicomic consequences. I saw this movie in the 70's or 80's and today I have just watched the Brazilian DVD that is unfortunately edited to 108 minutes running time.

I am a fan of the Italian director Lina Wertmüller and I like this unfunny satire about honor, moral and culture that is dated in the present days but it is impossible to laugh with the ignorance of Mimi and most of his countrymen. This weird movie may be lost between comedy and drama but for me it is an original and cult view of Italy in the early 70's. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Mimi, O Metalúrgico" ("Mimi, The Metallurgic")