Pasqualino Settebellezze (Seven Beauties) (1976)
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91% of critics liked it
(11 reviews) -
87% of users liked it
(1,995 ratings)
Italian filmmaker Lina Wertmuller directs the black comedy Pasqualino Settebellezze (Seven Beauties). During WWII, Pasqualino Frafuso (Giancarlo Giannini) ends up lost in a dense forest along with fellow army deserter Francesco (Piero De Orio). After they witness a mass execution by German soldiers,… More Italian filmmaker Lina Wertmuller directs the black comedy Pasqualino Settebellezze (Seven Beauties). During WWII, Pasqualino Frafuso (Giancarlo Giannini) ends up lost in a dense forest along with fellow army deserter Francesco (Piero De Orio). After they witness a mass execution by German soldiers, Francesco admits his moral opposition to the Nazis and Pasqualino reveals his criminal past in a series of flashbacks. Back in Naples, he was known as "Pasqualino Seven Beauties," a petty thief who lived off the profits of his seven sisters while claiming to protect their honor at any cost. When Totonno (Mario Conti) pimps out his sister Concettina (Elena Fiore), Pasqualino kills him, chops up his body, and mails each piece across the country. He is then arrested and sent to a mental institution, where he commits sexual assault against another patient. Kicked out of the asylum, he is sent to fight in the army. The Germans capture him and he gets sent to a concentration camp. He then plots to make his escape by demoralizing himself in an attempt to seduce a German officer (Shirley Stoler). Seven Beauties was nominated for four Academy Awards in 1977, including Best Foreign Film. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, Rovi
- Directed By
- Lina Wertmüller
- Genres
- Drama, Art House & International, Comedy
- In Theaters
- May 4, 1975 Wide
- Studio
- Koch Lorber Films
Critic Reviews
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Wesley Lovell, Cinema Sight
You can't take your eyes of Giancarlo Giannini who sells the film better than it sells itself.
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Cole Smithey, ColeSmithey.com
Nominated for five Oscars, "Seven Beauties" remains a singular example of women's cinema grappling with the tattered shreds of war to get at otherwise unspoken truths.
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Matt Brunson, Creative Loafing
Lina Wertmuller's audacious art-house hit is at once ruthless, sadistic and cynical -- it's also very funny, using its black comedy trappings to unearth laughs where none should exist.
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Bill Gibron, DVDTalk.com
With final words that are both exhilarating and sad, and [a]...message that maligns wars of all types...Wertmüller has crafted a political protest out of the tenets of tragedy
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Christopher Null, Filmcritic.com
technically flawless
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Cast
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Giancarlo Giannini
as Pasqualino Frafuso
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Fernando Rey
as Pedro
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Shirley Stoler
as Commandant
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Elena Fiore
as Concettina
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Lucio Amelio
as Lawyer
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Mario Conti
as Totonno
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Ermelinda De Felice
as Mother
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Piero di Otio
as Francesco
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Roberto Herlitzka
as Socialist
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Francesca Marciano
as Carolina
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Doriglia Palmi
as Doctor
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Enzo Vitale
as Don Raffaele
