Sesso Matto - Niemand ist vollkommen

Normally the epithet "sexy comedy" is a cinematic death knell, but the cooperation of the fantastic Laura Antonelli, Giancarlo Giannini and director Dino Risi turned this into a timeless classic. And yes, it's funny and sexy. In nine segments and probably inspired, in a good way, by Woody Allen's "What You Always Wanted To Know About Sex" which was released a year earlier.

One of the innumerable portmanteau films produced in Italy since the 1950s; many had been helmed by multiple directors and featured the most popular film stars of the time. Some other examples, however, were made by one director as a vehicle for a particular star's versatility (for instance, Nino Manfredi in Lina Wertmuller's LET'S TALK ABOUT MEN [1965]). This one, in fact, follows the latter trend and featured Giancarlo Giannini and Laura Antonelli in all (but one, in her case) nine segments. However, with the 70s, a lot of vulgarity had seeped into Italian comedy and, with a title like that, the film under review here certainly falls into this category - despite the respectable fare with which both Risi and Giannini were typically associated!

Anyway, quality varies a lot from one episode to the other: perhaps the best were Nos. 2 (concerning an overcrowded poor family, with the stars bursting into spontaneous insults every now and again), 3 (in which Giannini, married to the luscious Antonelli, actually prefers to offer sexual favors to old ladies!), 4 (Giannini is a playboy who's unstoppable in a mobile environment - trains, boats - but actually impotent in bed...so his wife proposes to use the elevator of their hotel, with tragic results!) and 8 (the longest segment and the one in which Antonelli doesn't appear, where a man goes to meet his brother - whom he hasn't seen in years - and falls for a transvestite hooker played by Alberto Lionello, with a surprising denouement). The other episodes aren't too bad, either (one, where Antonelli plays a nun[!], is spoken in gibberish and seems to have been inspired by A CLOCKWORK ORANGE [1971]) - but the repetition and, eventually, the film's considerable length becomes tiresome. Still, Armando Trovajoli's score (including its suggestive title track) is notable.

A play on words (check-mate, sex-mad, get it?), the title Sessomatto is quite accurate since most of the sketches in the movie are about sex gone berserk. I'm writing this in 2002, some 28 years after seeing the movie, so memory may fail me, but, even though this was supposed to be a vehicle for Giancarlo Giannini, I remember it mostly for the radiant beauty of Laura Antonelli. Some of the sketches definitely had some socially redeeming value and are harbingers of Dino Risi's future masterpieces (Profumo di donna, Primo Amore and, particularly, I Nuovi Mostri).

Collections of shorts, all played by the same main actors, were quite popular up to the 80ies. The actors had the chance to portray multiple characters and show their versatility, the script could quickly tackle various topics without lingering or the need of elaborate explanations. "Sesso matto" offers eight comedy shorts, all focusing on sexual fantasies, perversions, weird behavior and stuff like that. While none of its contents will raise eyebrows by today's standards, back in the early Seventies this was probably deemed a daring movie. Male lead is Giancarlo Giannini, who is generally running around in ridiculous hairdos, outfits and tends to overact all the time. On his opposite we have the irresistible Laura Antonelli who suffers from the varying quality of her roles, but overall gives a far better performance than Giannini.

As you can imagine, the quality of the shorts ranges from okay to terrible. So what's to see? No Spoilers, there isn't much to spoil anyway.

(Madam, it's eight o'clock): The relationship between a rich lady and her servant, who has continuing problems to wake her up at the time she ordered him to. It's obvious why this is the first episode. Laura is looking absolutely gorgeous and there are some small topless scenes. The Italian-French dialogs are quite funny (noblesse oblige!), but apart from that it's rather dumb. 5/10

(Two hearts and a hut): A poor couple at the bottom of society suspects each other of adultery and then try to have sex next to their thirteen children in their crowded hut. I immediately forgot about this one as it was rather disgusting (volitionally, I admit). Neither funny nor interesting at all. 1/10

(It's never too late): Giannini plays a weirdo who is attracted to grannies. He stalks one and when he finally succeeds in his advances, he takes it to the next level. Another rather disgusting topic. While played for laughs, the stalking itself is actually shown quite seriously and that's not really a good thing. Laura is completely wasted in this one. Again, not funny at all. 2/10

(Honeymoon): A freshly married couple on its honeymoon at Venice. Super-Macho Giannini turns out to be failure in bed, but Laura finds a way to turn him on… This could be considered a centerpiece episode, as it is made far more elaborately than the rest, with nice location shots at Venice, and an actually working vehicle for the two lead actors. Well, the solution is ridiculous of course, but this is still an enjoyable episode. 6/10

(Come back my little one): Giannini as a weirdo who picks up a hooker and takes her to his home. Turns out he chose her because she resembles his wife who has left him and he wants her for role playing. This one is not bad at all and quite unusual with its sad mood and absence of trashy dialog. Laura as a hooker is a strange, but fascinating sight, reminded me somewhat of her look in "Bali" (1970). That's a good thing, in case you wonder. 7/10

(Italian worker abroad): A guy comes to a hospital/sperm bank and while he's "delivering", he fantasizes about the nun he met moments before. A totally strange and unique episode, judging from the gibberish it's supposed to take place in Scandinavia (although a German porn magazine is shown for whatever reason). Anyway, you can't make out any of the dialogs, and it's done kinda funny. Laura's admirers are in for a treat here with an extended sequence of her dancing and posing in a semitransparent cowl. 7/10

(The Revenge): Laura's husband got killed by the mob, and at the funeral, Don Corleone shows up to pay his respects. As he advances on her, she sees the chance to take revenge for her husband's death – in bed. With Giannini only briefly shown (dead), this one is carried completely by Laura Antonelli, who is very convincing as the grieving widow full of anger. But then, the stand-out aspect of this very short episode is not the acting, but the sizzling erotic dance she performs towards the end. 6/10

(A difficult love): The longest and probably dumbest of all episodes. The complete absence of Laura makes it even harder to endure. Giannini plays once more a fool who falls for a transvestite hooker, without realizing it's not a woman. This is Incredibly unbelievable to begin with, but when he finally sees his mistake, it all gets even weirder… I guess there weren't too many movies by 1973 trying to show transvestite prostitutes halfway realistically at their job, so it may have had a different impact back then, but this episode has aged terribly and is completely ridiculous. 0/10

(The Guest): Probably to make up for the previous episode, this one is a pure Laura show. Her husband invites a geeky professor into their luxurious villa, and Laura starts to seduce him. The husband doesn't seem to notice – or does he? Well, how can you go wrong with the young, incomparably beautiful Laura Antonelli in horny mode? Even Giannini as the professor with his nerdy and ridiculous way of speaking is quite funny in this episode. 7/10

So overall, as so often with Italian comedies, it is a matter of taste what one will think of the single episodes. But there can be no doubt the quality is fluctuating wildly. For admirers of Laura Antonelli, "Sesso matto" is a must-see, at least a couple of the episodes. Surprisingly, for a movie of that name and of that topic, there is barely any nudity on offer. But clothed or not, Laura is always a delight to behold. If you are looking for a really good "sexy commedia all'Italiana", you better pass on "Sesso matto".

This movie is probably one of the worst I've ever seen. It is made up of short sketches that turns around sex and some perversion but they were badly executed. In the first place there were three main actors who are the leads of every sketch but I didn't buy their performance even a little bit. Then the audio and image quality was very low, even for a '70s movie. But the worst problem is that this film should be a comedy but I almost never laugh for a joke inside of it because the comedic writing and timing were really bad. Instead I laugh a lot for the ugliness of this film. Once you see this one, it will easily become a legend, something that you'll never forget, a new standard for horrible movies. At least I didn't find the willingness to make a film to take seriously but it isn't also something merely intended to be trash. In conclusion I suggest this movie to everyone who wants to laugh on how not to make movies.