By Lorraine LoBianco
Seven Beauties
Brief Synopsis
To survive, an Italian deserter submits to the gross female commandant of a Nazi prison camp.
Cast & Crew
Read More
Lina Wertmuller
Director
Giancarlo Giannini
Pasqualino Settebellezze
Fernando Rey
Pedro
Shirley Stoler
Hilde
Elena Fiore
Concettina
Piero Ditorio
Capitano Francesco
Film Details
Also Known As
Pasqualino Settebellezze, Pasqualino: Seven Beauties
MPAA Rating
Genre
Comedy
Drama
Foreign
Romance
War
Release Date
1975
Production Company
Medusa Film
Distribution Company
ALMI CINEMA 5/KINO LORBER; Kino Lorber; Medusa Film
Location
Italy
Technical Specs
Duration
1h 56m
Sound
Mono
Color
Color (Technicolor)
Theatrical Aspect Ratio
1.66 : 1
Synopsis
In 1930s Italy, Pasqualino, a low-level Sicilian thug, kills a man who disgraced his sister. Pasqualino pleads insanity and manages to escape imprisonment by joining the military, but he decides to go AWOL when things get too heavy. Unfortunately, he finds himself stuck in a concentration camp. Pasqualino vows to do anything in order to survive even if that means seducing an obese, female German camp commandant or ratting out his own pals.
Director
Lina Wertmuller
Director
Videos
Movie Clip
Film Details
Also Known As
Pasqualino Settebellezze, Pasqualino: Seven Beauties
MPAA Rating
Genre
Comedy
Drama
Foreign
Romance
War
Release Date
1975
Production Company
Medusa Film
Distribution Company
ALMI CINEMA 5/KINO LORBER; Kino Lorber; Medusa Film
Location
Italy
Technical Specs
Duration
1h 56m
Sound
Mono
Color
Color (Technicolor)
Theatrical Aspect Ratio
1.66 : 1
Award Nominations
Best Actor
1976
Giancarlo Giannini
Best Director
1976
Best Foreign Language Film
1976
Best Writing, Screenplay
1977
Lina Wertmuller
Articles
Seven Beauties -
Seven Beauties (1975) earned director Lina Wertmüller the distinction of be-coming the first woman to be nominated for a Best Director Academy Award. The film, which was also nominated for Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen and Best Foreign Language Film, is the strange tale of Pasqualino (Giancarlo Giannini), an obsessive moralist with seven unattractive sisters. When one is seduced by a pimp and becomes a prostitute, Pasqualino kills the pimp, chops up the body and ships it to various parts of the country. After being tried and convicted, he is committed to an asy-lum but is released so he can serve in the Italian Army during World War II. The tables are turned on Pasqualino when he is captured by the Germans and becomes a prostitute himself, forced into having sex with a sadistic female prison commandant. Wertmüller has explained her films as "two strands - two souls - which coexist in my work: the light-hearted one associated with musical comedies and the more socially conscious one." Her career began when a friend, who had married the actor Marcello Mastroianni, intro-duced her to Mastroianni's frequent director Federico Fellini, who gave her the job of as-sistant director on ...e Napoli canta! (1953), tasked with finding interesting faces. Seven Beauties was one of four Wertmüller films that were released simultane-ously in New York in 1976, earning her critical plaudits (Roger Ebert called it "one of the strangest and most intriguing of recent European films") and equally critical distain. Wertmüller's success took her and Giannini (who starred in four of the five films Wertmüller made between 1972 and 1975) on a tour across the United States. By con-trast, she didn't create much of a stir in Italy, where her films were often dismissed.
By Lorraine LoBianco
By Lorraine LoBianco
Seven Beauties -
Seven Beauties (1975) earned director Lina Wertmüller the distinction of be-coming the first woman to be nominated for a Best Director Academy Award. The film, which was also nominated for Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen and Best Foreign Language Film, is the strange tale of Pasqualino (Giancarlo Giannini), an obsessive moralist with seven unattractive sisters. When one is seduced by a pimp and becomes a prostitute, Pasqualino kills the pimp, chops up the body and ships it to various parts of the country. After being tried and convicted, he is committed to an asy-lum but is released so he can serve in the Italian Army during World War II. The tables are turned on Pasqualino when he is captured by the Germans and becomes a prostitute himself, forced into having sex with a sadistic female prison commandant. Wertmüller has explained her films as "two strands - two souls - which coexist in my work: the light-hearted one associated with musical comedies and the more socially conscious one." Her career began when a friend, who had married the actor Marcello Mastroianni, intro-duced her to Mastroianni's frequent director Federico Fellini, who gave her the job of as-sistant director on ...e Napoli canta! (1953), tasked with finding interesting faces. Seven Beauties was one of four Wertmüller films that were released simultane-ously in New York in 1976, earning her critical plaudits (Roger Ebert called it "one of the strangest and most intriguing of recent European films") and equally critical distain. Wertmüller's success took her and Giannini (who starred in four of the five films Wertmüller made between 1972 and 1975) on a tour across the United States. By con-trast, she didn't create much of a stir in Italy, where her films were often dismissed.
By Lorraine LoBianco
Quotes
Trivia
The ratio of film shot to film actually used in the final cut was 50 to 1.
Miscellaneous Notes
The Country of Italy
Released in United States 1975
Released in United States August 23, 1990
Released in United States March 1976
Re-released in United States April 14, 2017
Released in United States March 1976 (Shown at FILMEX: Los Angeles International Film Exposition (Contemporary Cinema) March 18-31, 1976.)
Re-released in United States April 14, 2017
Released in United States 1975
Shown at Lincoln Center, New York City in the series "A Roman Holiday" August 23, 1990.
Released in United States August 23, 1990 (Shown at Lincoln Center, New York City in the series "A Roman Holiday" August 23, 1990.)
