La decima vittima

THE TENTH VICTIM might not be the kind of film one readily associates with Italy's foremost political director, Elio Petri, but it sure has his leftist mark stamped all over it. Set in a not-so-distant future, a hodge podge of pseudo-futuristic art installments, snazzy backgrounds and a general air of camp-kitsch than a fully realized world, more A CLOCKWORK ORANGE than BLADE RUNNER in that sense, and involving a peculiar game called The Big Hunt where people are assigned to murder complete strangers and become in turns hunters and victims, an idea that seems to have resurfaced in another form in Robert Altman's QUINTET a decade later, The Tenth Victim is at once a biting critique of capitalism and all assorted paraphernalia and a thoroughly enjoyable absurdist comedy.

Nothing escapes Petri's ire. Although not particularly profound, his satire makes the rounds firing among other things at the media's obesssion with violence, reality TV, society's fixation on youth and beauty, the ostracizing of the elders, etc. It's all very tongue-in-cheek and vibrant in an irreverent Euro-kitsch way but still quite imaginative for its time. Later in the film, Mastroianni presides in a sun ritual by the seaside, mourning the setting of the sun, which is interrupted by a group of 'neo-realists' throwing tomatoes at the assembled crowd. Petri's stab at Rossellini, De Sica and the rest? Mastroianni's character admits of doing the ceremony for the money and the tears he cried were fake thanks to a 'tear pill' that lasts for 15 minutes.

That's pretty much the tone set for the entire movie. Petri doesn't seem to dwell on anything for long or take his critique any more serious than he has to. The movie declines significantly in quality in the last 20 minutes, the last 10, an awkward shootout between Mastroianni and his two ex-wives, should've been left out altogether, but overall it's never boring and it's filled with great little moments. The opening titty-shotgun murder in the Masoch Club, students beating each other up as a nonchalant Mastroianni walks through them, other players of the game popping up randomly throughout the movie shooting at each other. If all else fails, you can still oogle at the gorgeous Ursulla Andress and her skimpy outfits.

Very silly, very early 1960s, very Italian, very stylish and in the end very sexy and very amusing. This variant of The Dangerous Game does not start well and is far more confusing than it need be but the more it goes on and the more we saw of Marcello Mastroianni and Ursula Andress the more fun it gets. Having recently seen Andress give a great performance with Stanley Baker in Perfect Friday, I was delighted to see she is just as good here, helping proceedings enormously with her great looks and performance. Mastoianni is as reliable as ever but doesn't look so good with blond hair and doesn't seem 100% comfortable all the time. Hard to classify and also hard to rate because although by the end I was smiling broadly, was not anything like as happy at the start. Very strange film and it sits even more strangely within the output of director, Elio Petri but certainly worth seeing and if you like Andress, you will love it.

The more serious you get about this movie, the more you are missing the point. It's an Italian Sex Farce, really, but it's also a fine pop art film, and a fine science-fiction romp that would be a great double feature with Blade Runner. The review "A wonderful example of 60s pop art film-making,Italian-style", by jisenhath from New York, New York USA, really nails the essence of this social-satire sci-fi.

Like the crocodile tears the sun worshippers cry for the setting sun (satire on religion, of course, though it's also close to the excesses of the 60's hippy-dippies doing nature "for real" in 65), the movie is best taken in the vapid, mondo gellato style it revels in.

From the novel by Robert Sheckley (still a great read, too), the "shocking" hunt takes a swipe at the media circus and boredom of excess, while visually reveling in it. The fashion, style and beauty of both Elsa Martinelli and Ursula Andress are a joy, while Marcello works his casual nonchalance and easy timing as the Italian sophisticate at ease with multiple meanings. That's come to pass, hasn't it, as we read from this computer on a network spanning the world. Is this a cult we are a part of? If so, don't cry, but laugh. Like this film does.

Cheesy one review says... no, cheesy is when the film attempts something and does not succeed through taste, budget or in-ineptitude. Opera is not cheesy, but it is ornate, over-the- top and hyper. So is this film. It's space opera in the operatic sense of La Scala.

It's spun gold, and a fine bookend to Marcello's 60's sex romps like Cassanova 70. (done in '65 too, a good year for vintage Marcello). Asti Spumante, anyone?

In the near future, violence is controlled in societies avoiding wars. Killing is allowed to violent individuals in a game called Big Hunt where the participants are alternatively Hunter or Victim. The winner of each round is awarded with a prize and the survivor after ten rounds, wins one million dollar award (in 1965).

When the American huntress Caroline Meredith (Ursula Andress) completes her ninth round, she comes to Rome to kill her tenth victim. She negotiates with the sponsor Ming Tea Company to kill his victim in front of the cameras. The cynical Marcello Poletti (Marcello Mastroianni) is her target and has just succeeded in his marriage annulment with Lidia (Luce Bonifassy) but has not disclosed to his lover Olga (Elsa Martinelli). Marcello suspects that Caroline is his hunter, but is not sure; further he falls in love with her and he is reluctant to kill her.

"La decima vittima" is a funny and entertaining comedy with a silly but cult story. The sexy Ursula Andress is in the top of her beauty and shows a perfect chemistry with Marcello Mastroianni. In the end, the viewer has 92 minutes of fun. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "A Décima Vítima" (The Tenth Victim")

Note: On 31 January 2023, I saw this film again.

As a wonderful example of 60s pop art filmmaking, Elio Petri has taken many of the decade's most popular culture crazes (the Bond films, Courreges fashions, discotheque jazz, etc.) and used them with great success to give a plausible look to a highly improbable (in 1965!) future world. Petri's digs at Mad Ave advertising and humanity's relentless pursuit of fame and money (no matter the price) are on-target, and his delight in mocking societal idiosyncrasies (the sun worshipers) is priceless. However, at the heart of The Tenth Victim is the old-fashioned battle-of-the-sexes plot (still very popular in the mid-60s), and yet Petri has the upper hand by his spoofing of the romantic-comedy genre and giving us instead a deliciously amusing trifle that is fun to watch for its joking attitude towards everything it depicts, including Marcello and Ursula! To one reviewer who found it outdated, it must be remembered that this film was made 35 years ago and so it naturally has nothing to do with today's standards - and why should it? That's like dismissing Griffith's Intolerance because it's a silent film!