Mimì metallurgico ferito nell'onore

In Sicily, the mine worker Carmelo "Mimí" Mardocheo (Giancarlo Giannini) votes in the Communist Party candidate instead of in the Mafia's one believing that the suffrage is secret. After the elections, he loses his job and cannot find any other job in his village that is controlled by the mobster Don Calogero (Turi Ferro). He leaves his wife Rosalia (Agostina Belli) with his family and travels to Turin expecting to find a job.

He finds an illegal position in the civil construction that is also explored by the Mafia and when a coworker dies in an accident, he finds that the mobsters have dumped his body on the road. However, he does not report the crime to the police and lies to the mobster Salvatore Tricarico (Turi Ferro) telling that he belongs to the family of a powerful mobster. Mimi gets a metallurgic position and joins the Communist Party. Then he fall in love with the virgin Trotskyite street vendor Fiorella Meneghini (Mariangela Melato) and they have a boy.

When Mimi witness the mobster Vico Tricarico (Turi Ferro) executing several men in a hotel, he survives but he does not report to the police. Mimi is transferred to Catania in a supervisory position against his will. He brings Fiore and their son to Sicily, but he is still married with Rosalia but he claims that he is ill and does not have sex with her. When Mimi learns that Rosalia is pregnant, he finds that he is a cuckold and plots a scheme to seduce and knock up Amalia Finocchiaro (Elena Fiore), who is the wife of Rosalia's lover. But his revenge does not work as planned.

"Mimì metallurgico ferito nell'onore" is a bitter satire by Lina Wertmüller about a naive and ignorant Sicilian worker that entwines his honor with class warfare, politics and mafia in his miserable life with tragicomic consequences. I saw this movie in the 70's or 80's and today I have just watched the Brazilian DVD that is unfortunately edited to 108 minutes running time.

I am a fan of the Italian director Lina Wertmüller and I like this unfunny satire about honor, moral and culture that is dated in the present days but it is impossible to laugh with the ignorance of Mimi and most of his countrymen. This weird movie may be lost between comedy and drama but for me it is an original and cult view of Italy in the early 70's. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Mimi, O Metalúrgico" ("Mimi, The Metallurgic")

Mimi is not a woman; it is the nickname of the main character. If there is a funnier actor than Giancarlo Giannini in the last 50 years, I have not seen one. He is ten times funnier and more believable than Roberto Benigni of Life is Beautiful, the highly overrated film that won Benigni best actor and Best Foreign Film in 1998. There are a half dozen Giannini films that are better, and this is one of them. Mariangela Melato is supurb is this film and every film she was ever in with Gianinni. The plot is silly; but it doesnt matter; its the MOVIE that counts and makes you laugh your ass off. Anyone who does not laugh at the fat lady sequence is definitely disturbed. Enjoy this and all the Wertmueller satires.

Giancarlo Giannini plays a simple Southern Italian worker who unwisely thinks his local elections aren't 100% rigged by the local mob. Assuming it's a truly secret ballot, he disobeys the mobs instructions and votes for a local Communist instead. Well, he nearly gets himself killed in the meantime and is forced to run to Turin in the north. There, quite by accident, he runs afoul of the mob AGAIN and is nearly killed. In fact, this happens a lot in the film and the generally apolitical Giannini tries to play BOTH sides to his own benefit. In addition, he begins sleeping with several different women--once again hoping he can somehow balance it all and keep from getting killed. Despite all the many, many dangers, Giannini is somehow a survivor and the film has many cute little twists and turns.

I can tell that this satire was meant to be very funny, but I just didn't find myself laughing. While it is a good film, it's certainly not among the more memorable Italian films I have ever seen. It's slightly better than a time-passer, but that's really about all. I think the biggest reason for this isn't due to the humor but more to the fact that Giannini's character is a real selfish jerk. Had he been more sympathetic, I really think the film would have been more memorable. However, considering this film won many awards and was pretty well respected in its day, it is quite possible I am just an idiot. See it for yourself, but just be surprised if you, too, don't find the film all that interesting--or you think I am a lousy reviewer!

Lina Wertmüller's Mimì metallurgico ferito nell'onore (The Seduction of Mimi) is a biting political satire wrapped in a tragicomedy about masculinity, honor, class struggle, and hypocrisy in 1970s Italy.

The story follows Mimì (Giancarlo Giannini), a Sicilian laborer whose refusal to vote for the Mafia-backed candidate costs him his job. Fleeing to Turin, he finds work and becomes involved in union politics - and in a passionate affair with a fiery leftist woman. But when personal betrayal and political disillusionment intertwine, Mimì's ideals unravel, exposing the contradictions of both the patriarchal system and his own moral compass.

Giannini gives a brilliant, charismatic performance as a man torn between traditional values and modern ideologies, love and ego, revolution and self-interest. Mariangela Melato also shines with her fearless and sharp presence. Wertmüller's direction is vibrant, satirical, and deeply human - she exposes the ridiculousness of macho pride and political opportunism with humor and sadness.

Lina Wertmuller packs a lot of exaggeration into her characters and stories. Her actors deliver it, too. This film would deserve watching just to admire Giancarlo Giannini and Mariangela Melato, they are infectiously good. What I find detracts a bit from the film, and keeps it from being as good as Wertmuller's best films, is the mixture of social and personal commentary; it is all jumbled together in a very 1970s anarchic way. Wertmuller mocks all the institutions of authority through the clever use of the same actors in multiple roles, and she mocks Mimì (Giancarlo Giannini) for his self-serving and ever-changing attitudes towards women and marriage. Each of these stand beautifully alone and each could have made an entire film. But I don't get the point of her mixing the two.