Una tarantola dalla pelle calda

The Swedish movie Duett för kannibaler (1969) was seen in the U. S. with the translated title Duet for Cannibals. It was written and directed by Susan Sontag.

Sontag was a major intellectual force at the time. She was invited to Sweden, where a producer offered her the opportunity to write and direct two films. Duet for Cannibals was the first of these.

A political refugee, Dr, Bauer (Lars Ekborg) invites a young man named Tomas (Gösta Ekman) to be his personal secretary. He is writing an autobiography, and the material must be kept highly confidential. (We are never told why it's highly confidential, but it is.)

Bauer has a young Italian wife, Francesca, portrayed by Adriana Asti. Tomas has a partner, Ingrid, played by Agneta Ekmanner.

Two men, two beautiful women--you can probably guess the outcome. However, Sontag has not written a simple narrative. Matters get very complicated and spin off in what I think is a bizarre way.

Adriana Asti has lovely large, dark eyes, and director Sontag can't get enough of them. (Sontag was bisexual, so that is no surprise.) OK--Asti is beautiful, but why, at the beginning of the movie, does she throw a book through a glass window?

I think that there's a message in the movie somewhere, but I couldn't find it. Sontag must have had something she wanted to tell us, but, I never found that something.

Duet for Cannibals has a weak IMDb rating of 6.4. I agreed, and rated it 6.