Diavolo in corpo

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I watched "the original X-rated theatrical version" (gee, lucky me) and I can tell you Maruschka Detmers has headlights that point very sharply in the direction they want to go. She is also very pretty, although I'm not sure she is prettier than her co-star, Federico Pitzalis. Clearly, she is taller. Yes, this is a very sexy movie, which some might say is its raison d'etre, but that's really beside the point. What matters here is school-boy wish fulfillment, a little self-indulgence by Director Marco Bellocchio.

Well, why not? It isn't often that the boy gets the beautiful woman, especially when in competition with his suave father, a handsome and distinguished psychiatrist, and her fiancé, a well-heeled and attractive terrorist. I mean, this could happen, couldn't it?

I didn't see the original French version of 1946, in which the terrorist was a soldier in World War I. I understand it was better. I'm willing to bet that Bellocchio saw it and had the sort of relationship with it that a later generation had with Star Wars, e.g., and just had to relive the fantasy.

Nonetheless, and having said all that, this is not a bad movie. I'm not sure who is supposed to be the "devil in the flesh," but Maruschka is worth the price of the ticket and then some.

This 1986 Italian-French remake of the 1946 film of the same name turns up the heat early, and doesn't let us come up for air. The story is about a high-school student (Federico Pitzalis) who can't keep his eyes off the mysteriously beautiful young woman (played by Dutch phenom Maruschka Detmers) who lives next door to the school. One day, he follows her, and his persistence pays off. There's only one problem: She's engaged to a sketchy character (Riccardo De Torrebruna) who may or may not have committed a heinous crime, and if he repents, will probably be let off with a slap on the wrist. Also, the young woman is a little "funny in the head", and this is corroborated when we discover she has been seeing the boy's father, who is a psychiatrist. Giulia's emotional instability is only equalled by her prodigious sexual desires. Hot, hot, hot, from the word go, with handsome leads and a bombshell performance from Detmers, who plays us like a yo-yo (as she does the boy) from scene to scene, with enough suspense to keep us guessing right up until--and even after--the end. Available in R and X (!) rated versions.

Well-worth seeing! Marco Bellocchio succeeds in analysing the rot and opportunism affecting a typical bourgeois family in the late 80s. Long gone is the optimism of the revolutionary 60s and 70s. But underneath all the muck there still is enough life and spontaneity there waiting to break through not only sexually but hopefully politically too. A very authentic, not at all dogmatic film, one which succeeds in showing the erotic side of love without falling into the trap of cheapness or boredom.

If only this could have a decent story to make us more interested than just seeing a bizarre love story between a horny teenager and a beautiful and somewhat problematic woman. The problem is that "Diavolo in Corpo" ("Devil in the Flesh") begins well but ends so weak that there isn't much positive things to be said after this, and not even its most infamous moment deserves so much credit. It's a lifeless film that knows how to tease its viewers with a highly sensual and erotic story that grabs them all with an explicit sex scene, concluding with an absurd and ridiculous ending.

Nonetheless, somehow this has some good merits. Director Marco Bellocchio (from the great "Good Morning, Night") surely cast two interesting and beautiful stars for his love story; their acting abilities goes in between good and ferociously bad. Maruschka Detmers is very wild and sexy as the lady who tempts the life of the bello ragazzo Federico Pitzalis (amazingly his only screen credit), a young student deeply in love with her. The plot goes into show us that she's waiting her fianceé to be released from jail, arrested after his involvement in political activities against the government. The rest is a bunch of low and uninteresting surprises.

It's very unbelievable the romance between the boy and the woman, I mean, everything is so colorful, happy and happens too fast; sure they have problems, she's completely nuts and has some hysterical attacks, but there isn't much time to look deep into all that. These things might work but only if we're talking about fanfics (and sometimes they're better written than many films out there).

Those who complained about the film being difficult to follow I wonder how are they treating their brain. This is very easy to follow, the story has a good pace; it's just not that interesting except for the sex scenes. And those scenes are the highlight of this film, that's why people know about it and the reason why they give a try for it. Well, they're well filmed and very exciting. Now, about the famous scene where Detmers performs oral sex in Federico, it isn't so special if you've seen the one of "Brown Bunny" for instance. But it is real, and it's not that dark as many tend to say, it's clearly visible (if only that beautiful boy had a bigger product, if you know what I mean).

I don't know what ruined this film for me, if it was the awful soundtrack (it really hurts the ears) or the director's pretense in trying to make some political statements that simply didn't fit the plot no matter how hard he forced that on us. See it for yourself, kill your curiosity and like it or not. We all go a little silly, sometimes! And that's why films like this have a surprising ability to be viewed even almost 30 years of its making. 5/10

We rent a lot of foreign films, with out knowing what they are about. imho - We give this 1.5 out of 5. Long boring shots of closeups of faces, we started using the remote to fast forward until the scene had ended. filming that resembled bad porn. poor character development. the worst bomb we have seen in quite a while. Lately we have seen Belle de Jour, M, Raise the Red Lantern. all exce