Boccaccio 70

I've seen "Boccaccio" just few days ago and so I can express my fresh opinion of it. And I have seen FOUR segments of it - including "Renzo e Luciana" of Monicelli which is quite good. It puts some accent on social criticism and tells about young consorts that due to their poverty and constrained conditions have to bear many difficulties in their family life. The second of Fellini I almost forced myself to look to the end - I'm not fond of big bust and hips like ones of Ekberg. This segment seemed to me too flashy and tasteless (just imagine the plump Cupidon with the silky wings and nuns in the paper burlesque frock)though it's main idea concerning with the sexual complexes that obsess the most convinced moralists is very clear. I regret to write this as I didn't expect such a disappointment from Fellini whom I esteem much for his wonderful "Le notti di Cabiria". The third segment - 'Il Lavoro" ( The job) - is the most exquisite, thoughtful, plastic and stylish. Here Visconti tried to subject to his rigorous analysis the question of what lies in the base of a modern marriage. It's also the story of a young well-off little woman ( Romy Schneider) that one day faces the necessity of earning money by her own (thanks to her light-minded husband's behavior) and understand that she has nothing to offer in this men's world except her body. Romy dressed up by Chanel is very sexual (but when I use this word it means something very far from vulgar, something surrounded with the mist of secret and desire) and touching; after the number of the roles of cheerful ingenuous girls she for the first time found the image suiting her real abilities and qualities. The forth segment is "La riffa" (The raffle) be de Sica. De Sica made some good film in the time of realism but then yielded to the commercial cinema and seemed to be unable for the more or less significant criticism. Thus his segment is very light and benevolent with a lot of spicy humor and a lot of Loren

A quartet mini-features from the 4 most prestigious Italian directors must be a rare treat for aficionados, but since shorts sometimes has been designed to experiment maestro's more daring or outlandish innovation, so a 1+1<2 formula is well acceptable for the viewers at least.

Act 1, Monicelli's amiable modern tale of a pair of young newlyweds working in the same factory while conceiving their nuptial facts since it breaches the unfeeling regulation. Monicelli's devotion and affection to the general mass is ubiquitous, the camera follows intimately to record the lovebirds' daily work, diversion and quagmire, and the bittersweet ending is unerringly sanguine which should be the bloodline runs inside the Italian lineage.

Act 2, Fellini's ever-first colour endeavour, surrealistic, sumptuous and luscious fantasy of a moral watchdog's eventual relinquishment towards a sexy bomb (an enormous 50 feet-tall Anita Ekberg), a female-exploitation gag which is constantly overplayed (not inclusively) in Fellini's canon. But visually, Fellini's manoeuvre of projecting different proportioned characters (creates two identical settings with different sizes) is quite nimble without exposing any shoddy clues (except the forged beasts, which is a buzzkill).

Act3, Visconti's pleonastic noble Count whose brothel scandal evokes a major crisis with his wealthy but vindictive wife, a higher-tier pastiche ends up with a sloppy reference of a disparaging stinking rich's gauche prostitute fetish. At any rate Romy Schneider is the best thing in it, pairs with a well-suited Tomas Milian, presents a paragon of bourgeois vulnerability and emptiness.

Act 4, another "prostitute" farce in a rural background, De Sica seduces the world with Sophia Loren's vulgar and crude beauty, a sultry whore will spend one night with the man who guess right of the lottery number, but it turns out to be a mental masturbation joke, quite tedious and a bit offensive.

Apparently this is another patchy miscellany doesn't live up to the test of the time, Monicelli's neo-realistic part (which suspiciously is taken out completely in the original US release) is the standout and quite a pity it didn't make up to a feature-length piece of work which producer Carlo Ponti had promised then.

Four directors tell tales of Eros fit for a 1970s Decameron. Working-class lovers, Renzo and Luciana, marry but must hide it from her employer; plus, they need a room of their own. A billboard of Anita Ekberg provocatively selling milk gives a prudish crusader for public decency more than he can handle. The wife of a count whose escapades with call girls make the front page of the papers decides to work to prove her independence, but what is she qualified to do? A buxom carnival-booth manager who owes back taxes offers herself for one night in a lottery: a nerdy sacristan and a jealous cowboy make for a lovers' triangle. In each, women take charge, but not always happily.

Fellini's "Le tentazioni del dottor Antonio" (the second story) is really the highlight of the film. It could have been released separately and done very well, with its memorable sparring of a prudish doctor and a 50-foot woman (Anita Ekberg) who threatens to disrobe in public. The music in that section is also the best, with the children singing a milk jingle.

Part one is also strong, and speaks of a forbidden lower-class (or working-class) romance, and part three is alright. Part four is almost an afterthought, in that the movie is over two hours at that point and viewers would have already decided if they were fans or not.

I remember seeing this as a teenager when it was in the movies. An entertaining trio with a sexual theme but no nudity in the 60's. The best was 'The Censor' with a hyper-voluptuous Anita Ekberg as a 100 foot long billboard ad (for milk) that comes to life to torment the local censor -- absolutely hilarious. Then the magnificent Sophia Loren in "The Lottery" where the winner of the drawing wins her for the night. Last is with the late Romy Schneider in a bittersweet tale about a philandering husband who uses their wealth on prostitutes. At least that's what I remember after well over 30 years. If anyone knows where I can rent this again, please let me know.

The one thing I remembered about "Bocaccio70" was Romy Schnaider getting dressed in front of a mirror, in front of us. The film in his 4 segments has much more, but nothing better than Romy Schnaider in the Visconti segment. She is exquisite of course but in Visconti's hands she is superlative. Visconti, like George Cukor, knew how to guide actresses to their best. In the Monicelli episode Renzo and Lucia search for their privacy and Monicelli, a remarkable director, today 92 and still at work, manages to give the most straight forward, no frills segment. Fellini goes overboard with a 50 feet tall Anita Eckberg and a rather clumsy indictment at middle class morality. The De Sica episode has Sophia Loren, virgin and whore. When Sophia Loren was in De Sica's hands she was at her best. Her sympathy here takes over the episode and it becomes a joyful tale of nonsensical innocence. But, just as I remembered Romy Schnaider and Visconti are responsible for making this lightweight oddity really worth while.