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

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.

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.

Though an ardent Fellini fan, it took me some time before getting round to buying this 'portmanteau' of four separate stories from Italy's leading directors of the time.

Which was actually 1962 and not the 1970 that the title suggests. Portraying love, sex and lust in the 'modern age' hence the futuristic date in the title each part is 50 minutes long and in my experience, is best watched in two sittings. You'll probably have read that as well as Fellini, Vittorio de Sica, Luchino Visconti and Mario Monicelli, all but the last being very well known to knowledgeable film buffs.

It takes nine writers, including input and ideas from the directors themselves to mould the very different stories here. The women definitely hold the upper hand in every one of them, loftily placed on pedestals - busty Anita Ekberg in Fellini's; Romy Schneider in Visconti's and Sophia Loren in de Sica's.

The first segment, from Monicelli, is actually a bonus on the DVD as it was apparently cut from theatrical releases shown outside Italy. But, actually, that part is a good setting point - ordinary young female factory workers who live with the worry of everyday life and love and the hanging threat of old traditions, the Church and ruthless employers who attempt to quell their youthful desire for sex. Some scenes, with busy trams and bustling street scenes at rush-hour, remind me of the earlier classic 'Bicycle Thieves'.

Visconti's part is a talky - and fairly boring - 'discussion', fixed to one nice, very posh apartment. The subject is now rather ordinary, probably unlike then, that I'm wanting more substance and variety. There again, I never was 'into' Visconti - high on style and period detail but low on flair and exuberance, at least compared to the others.

Fellini was in the late autumn of his career at this point and this manifests itself by him displaying some trademark vaguely tasteless wit, swipes at Catholicism and Authority but surprising us with some truly inspiring set-pieces. His first foray into colour, it's a very bumpy and uneven ride, bounding from barely watchable to reassuringly great and familiar.

A young and very shapely Sophia Loren, under De Sica, is used to portray many themes in neo-realist Italian cinema - Life itself. Outdoor fairs, sultry night-times when lovers and larger-than-life characters come out to play and village pettiness all affect this red-dressed temptress, who, like so many, yearn for greater and better things. It's at a touch funny and sad, but oddly, not as compelling as it should be. Though never the greatest actress, Loren doesn't let the side down, but her raw physical beauty always means that is what is seen first, before emotional depth.

Critical reviews vary - some quarters saying that it's a lot of wasted talent. My immediate response is that all the directors and key players have done far better work and those seeking them out for the first time should look elsewhere - I'd hate for anyone to be put off potentially brilliant Italian cinema by them watching this and being disappointed.

However, for Completists, like me, who have seen and loved these great director's best films, then the draw will become insufferably great and purchase will become inevitable. At least this quality transfer Mr Bongo release allows us to sample this odd collection at a good value price.

Words are not enough for this wonderful quadruple satire. Yes, in the beginning there were FOUR, but the Mario Monicelli story got cut to economize on time. It is the least funny but very compelling tale of two newlyweds finding no space or time to be alone together. A beautiful story.

On the DVD distributed by the Dutch label Homescreen all 4 stories are included. Very odd though, it is a widescreen version, but from the top & bottom there are layers missing. So all the players standing up, get there heads chopped of. Astonishing, and very irritating. The sound every now and then echos, which is bad too. And the only subtitles available are in Dutch...

But to see these wonderful tales again, of Fellini, Visconti, De Sica & Monicelli, and to see Romy Schneider, Sophia Loren & Anita Ekberg play so majestically, might be well worth it to forget about the technical problems of this DVD. And let's simply hope CRITERION can obtain the rights shortly, for they will surely do this fourfold little miracle justice...