Underplayed Gems

Seven Beauties (1975)

Seven Beauties poster
Original title
Pasqualino Settebellezze
Directed by
Lina Wertmüller
Genre
drama film, comedy drama
Country
Italy
Runtime
1h 55m
Rated
R
Rating
7.5 of 10 from 154 voters
Elsewhere
IMDb
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How it feels

A man from Italy tries anything to stay alive after deserting the army and being captured by Germans in World War II. The story jumps back in time to show how he ended up there, including incidents with his sisters, a murder, time in an asylum, and a rape.

darkly comicsatiricalunsettlinggritybleakabsurdintensesurrealmorally complex

What happens

Seven Beauties (Italian: Pasqualino Settebellezze, "Pasqualino Sevenbeauties") is a 1975 historical black comedy drama Italian film written and directed by Lina Wertmüller and starring Giancarlo Giannini, Fernando Rey, and Shirley Stoler. The film is about an Italian everyman who deserts the army during World War II and is captured by the Germans and sent to a prison camp, where he does anything he can to survive. Through flashbacks, we learn about his seven unattractive sisters, his accidental murder of one sister's lover, his imprisonment in an insane asylum, where he rapes a patient, and his volunteering to be a soldier to escape confinement. For her work on the film, Wertmüller became the first woman nominated for the Academy Award for Best Director. The film received three other Academy Award nominations, including one for Best Foreign Language Film. It was also nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Film. The production design and costume design are by Wertmüller's husband, Enrico Job. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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