Scarlet Diva (2000)

50% of critics liked it
(22 reviews)
50% of users liked it
(2,759 ratings)

Shot on digital video, this no-holds-barred, semi-autobiographical film from Italian actress/model Asia Argento presents the bleak decent of a popular actress into a haze of drugs and overindulgence. Anna Battista (Argento) has seemingly everything anyone could ever want, yet sometimes everything is… More Shot on digital video, this no-holds-barred, semi-autobiographical film from Italian actress/model Asia Argento presents the bleak decent of a popular actress into a haze of drugs and overindulgence. Anna Battista (Argento) has seemingly everything anyone could ever want, yet sometimes everything is never enough. Fed up with going through the motions as an actor, Battista aspires to seek a career as a director so that she may truly explore her currently latent artistic talent. The queen of excess, Battista's attempts to realize her true talent are time and again shattered as the she is used and abused by everyone she comes into contact with. After a one-night fling with an emotionally distant and uncaring Australian rock star (Jean Sheperd) leaves the self-confessed whore a lovelorn mother-to-be, Battista's desperation to bring her story to the screen finds her dealing with a shady American producer (Joe Coleman), an agent reluctant to assist her in branching out, and a heroin-addicted former filmmaker who is as close to ending his life as Battista is to beginning hers. Her career in disarray and her uncertain future growing increasingly grim, Battista embarks on a numbing binge of sex and drugs that takes her from Europe to America and back again. Attempting to seek-out the father of her unborn child and find some sense of stability, Battista finds the truth about her one-time lover. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Rating, Runtime: R, 1 hr. 29 min.
Directed By: Asia Argento
Written By: Asia Argento
Genres: Drama, Comedy

In Theaters: Jan 1, 2000 Wide
On DVD: Nov 26, 2002
Studio: Media Blasters Releasing

Critic Reviews

Manohla Dargis, Los Angeles Times
It's a demented kitsch mess (although the smeary digital video does match the muddled narrative), but it's savvy about celebrity and has more guts and energy than much of what will open this year.
Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly
Scarlet Diva has a voyeuristic tug, but all in all it's a lot less sensational than it wants to be.
Frank Scheck, Hollywood Reporter
The film, while not exactly assured in its execution, is notable for its sheer audacity and openness.
Megan Turner, New York Post
This is an egotistical endeavor from the daughter of horror director Dario Argento (a producer here), but her raw performance and utter fearlessness make it strangely magnetic.
A.O. Scott, New York Times
It is, by conventional standards, a fairly terrible movie ... but it is also weirdly fascinating, a ready-made Eurotrash cult object. It is also, at times, curiously moving.
Michael Atkinson, Village Voice
When twentysomething hotsies make movies about their lives, hard-driving narcissism is a given, but what a world we'd live in if Argento's Hollywood counterparts ... had this much imagination and nerve.
Nick Schager, Lessons of Darkness
The cinematic equivalent of scabies ... and I mean that as a compliment.
Luke Y. Thompson, New Times
Everyone I know who owns a camcorder has made a self-confessional, semi-autobiographical piece of videotaped wankery, but Asia Argento does it better than all of them.
Kim Morgan, Oregonian
Amid the shock and curiosity factors, the film is just a corny examination of a young actress trying to find her way.
Jeffrey M. Anderson, Combustible Celluloid
Argento, at only 26, brings a youthful, out-to-change-the-world aggressiveness to the project, as if she's cut open a vein and bled the raw film stock.
Marc Savlov, Austin Chronicle
It's difficult to discern if this is a crazy work of disturbed genius or merely 90 minutes of post-adolescent Electra rebellion.
Brent Simon, Entertainment Today
A clutchy, indulgent and pretentious travelogue and diatribe against... well, just stuff. Watching Scarlet Diva, one is poised for titillation, raw insight or both. Instead, we just get messy anger, a movie as personal therapy.
Bob Strauss, Los Angeles Daily News
As original and insightful as last week's episode of Behind the Music.
Gregory Weinkauf, New Times
As home movie gone haywire, it's pretty enjoyable, but as sexual manifesto, I'd rather listen to old Tori Amos records.
F.X. Feeney, L.A. Weekly
This is such a dazzlingly self-assured directorial debut that it's hard to know what to praise first.
Frank Ochieng, Movie Eye
...may work as an addictive guilty pleasure but the material never overcomes its questionable satirical ambivalence. This Scarlet's letter is A...as in aimless, arduous, and arbitrary.

Read all 16 critic reviews

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Featured Audience Ratings

Nicki M

Fascinating, disturbing, confused. Shows the ugly side of fame - the alienation, betrayal and effects of drug abuse. This film is certainly not glamourous or particularly titilating as might be expected.
Dean M

Really strange semi-autobiographical darkly dramatic in what sexy Asia Argento stars, directs and writes this weird film. But Asia looks bloody hot in her naked and sex scenes. Whoo!
Michael G

Asia Argento makes my teeth sweat but this one wasn't doing too much for me.