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Review
by
Troy Howarth
Film:5
:
DVD:5
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| A
woman (Monica Guerritore) is devastated when she catches her husband
in flagrante delicto with his mistress, so she begins a
kinky fling with an eccentric cartoonist (Gabriele Lavia)... |
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Gabriele
Lavia is best known in the U.S. for his appearances in cult horror
films by Dario Argento (Deep
Red, Inferno,
Sleepless)
and Pupi Avati (Zeder), but he also
established himself as a serious theatrical actor in his homeland.
In 1983 he made the switch to directing, but his efforts in that
capacity have paled in comparison to his work in front of the
camera. His best remembered works as a director emerged in the
same year, and both are tentatively linked to the giallo
subgenre: Evil Senses and Scandalous
Gilda. Whereas the former linked into thriller dynamics
more overtly, the latter is more akin to a Tinto Brass softcore
romp. Alas, the film suffers from pretentious attempts to ape
Bernardo Bertolucci's Last Tango in Paris
(1972) and emerges as pretty weak tea in comparison. |
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Lavia
gives a strong performance as the cartoonist whose life is turned
upside down when he begins to pursue love in all the wrong places.
His real-life spouse, Monica Guerritore, is certainly photogenic,
but she isn't up to the dramatic opportunities afforded by the
role. Lavia also cast her in Evil Senses,
and it's obvious why he was so besotted by her — but despite their
real life union (which dissolved in 2001), they have no real chemistry
on screen. Not helping matters is a skeletal screenplay (co-authored
by Lavia) which reduces these two characters to unbelievable,
one dimensional cliches. Try as they might, Lavia and Guerritore
are unable to make sense out of their relationship — and the audience
is left scratching their heads about what all the fist clenching
is all about. |
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All
of that is not to say that Scandalous Gilda
is a waste of time. It's attractively photographed by Mario Vulpiani
(Castle Freak) and the sex is steamy
enough. Any film that opens with an attractive Italian actress
in mid-orgasm can't be all bad, either. There's also an animated
sequence that has to be seen in order to be believed; to say it's
in questionable taste is the height of understatement, but one
has to admire Lavia's chutzpah for including it at all. While
it's on, the film is engaging enough — but it emerges as a frustrating
experience simply because one can tell that Lavia intended for
this to be more than just another Italian exploitation item...
but in reality, there's little — other than an air of grasping
for 'meaning' — to separate it from the pack. It's a rather morose,
self-indulgent exercise, really, so viewers looking for fun Italo-erotica
would do better to hold out for more Tinto Brass. |
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| Scandalous
Gilda
makes its American DVD bow via the newly launched One-7 Movies
label. The company would appear to be an offshoot of Mya Communications,
which specialized in overpriced, under-remastered Italian genre
fare. The Region 0 disc offers a decent 1.78/16x9 transfer. Colors
are vivid enough, but there's plenty of edge enhancement in evidence
and the image looks a little soft (though in fairness, this may
be due to the cinematography). Some print damage is visible, but
the source material is in very good condition and appears to be
fully uncut. Audio options include the Italian and English soundtracks;
the former doesn't have the option of English subtitles, making
the latter the option of choice for most English-language viewers.
The track is in decent shape, though it sounds a bit muffled,
especially during the opening titles music. Some bits of dialogue
never dubbed into English have been given removable English subtitles.
Extras are nonexistent. 12/29/10 |
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