Malícia

I wasn't sure of what to expect from this film, and what I got was a so-so movie that had some good individual scenes but didn't manage to keep me all that interested. The movie was more consistently entertaining towards the end, but by then I was already getting somewhat bored. The ending was the best part of the movie, but it wasn't enough to make the film satisfying as a whole. For me, at least, it took too long for the story to focus on one particular relationship, and it would have been considerably better if the spotlight would have always been on two of the characters. As it is, it has good moments, but not enough to make it worthwhile.

"Malizia" was a big hit in 1973 -it launched Laura Antonelli's career and established the reputation of director Salvatore Samperi, an "iconoclast" film-maker (he started "erotic" comedies, which teased Italian sexual taboos...!)

The film is not vulgar at all. It tells the story of a young maid, Angela, who works in a house for a widow and his sons. One of them will conquer, a teenanger who's discovering sexual instincts, will blackmail and conquer her...

It is a very elegant picture, superbly photographed by Vittorio Storaro. It takes place in Sicily, the family is very bourgeois and society very conservative. Samperi and screenwriter Ottavio Jemma choose to adapt this "sexual" comedy in this context, in order to create a contrast.

The film won several prices and critics praised the picture. Today "Malizia" is quite old, it is a typical Seventies movie -it was made after '68, after the breakup of many sexual and morals frontiers, it is a provocative opus, very provocative. But never vulgar, as I said. An Italian classic.

Although this movie is ostensibly a comedy, I personally found it pretty perverse and disturbing at times. Laura Antonelli is a maid who comes to work for a grieving widower and his rather disturbed adolescent son. She soon finds herself engaged to marry the widower but at the same time being sexually black-mailed by the son. She finds a way to turn the tables on the latter (although you'll hardly feel to sorry for him).

The idea of a young boy losing his virginity to his stepmother-to-be seems pretty perverse, especially today, but there's also a scene where the boy and his overweight friend spy on the latter's slumbering and half-nude sister (who he later takes on memorably sexy bike ride). The sister is played by a young Tina Aumont, so you not only get a double dose of incest but a little Lolita with your Madonna.

This is the movie that made Antonelli an international sex star and features the famous scene where she's standing on a ladder in a short skirt and no underwear, but frankly she's a lot more memorable in other films I've seen like "Venus in Furs", "The Divine Nymph", "The Venetian Lady", and even Lucio Fulci's "The Eroticist". This also doesn't really quite make it as a comedy (although these dark and perverse continental variations are almost always preferable to the painfully unfunny American and British variety). It functions somewhat as a coming-of-age film I guess, even if the disturbed young protagonist isn't necessarily a very sympathetic character. You could do worse I suppose.

This is supposed to be an erotic comedy, and is widely acclaimed as such, but I sincerely wonder if it should really be categorized like that. The premise, film poster, light-hearted musical score and even the first 10-15 minutes of the film definitely qualify as a comedy. And a prototypic Italian one to boot, what with the film solely revolving around how Italian men, regardless of age and standing, perceive women.

The plot is simple but ingenious. Ignazio, a clothing store owner in his early fifties and a father of three sons, learns that his dear wife hired the incredibly beautiful Angela as the new housemaid just before her death. The men are promptly infatuated by her. Ignazio wants to marry her, if only he gets the approval of "La Mama", 19-year-old son Nuccio simply wants her as a trophy, but 14-year-old and fresh into puberty Nino is the one who really gets obsessed with Angela.

And creepy Nino's attitude and behavior is exactly what causes - to me, at least - "Malizia" to turn from a harmless comedy into a darkly perverse and occasionally even disturbing coming-of-age drama/thriller. The insufferable little brat puts poor Angela through a whole series of sick & twisted sexual humiliations, and that's just NOT funny! Now, I know the times and perceptions changed a lot, but I can't believe the harassment, voyeurism, and intimidations here were considered a laughing matter 50 years ago? Of course, it doesn't help that young actor Alessandro Momo depicts Nino as a cold, stoic, and genuinely disturbing psychopath.

Nino's dark character undermines the entire film. I couldn't even properly enjoy Laura Antonelli's naturally beauty, and the few full-frontal nudity sequences she has are entirely ruined because she simultaneously gets assaulted by a creepy little perv. Luckily, for laughter's sake, the youngest son Enzio keeps the film a bit comical, like when he runs away from kissing the grandmother because "she smells funny".

If you enjoy rapid-fire wit this film pleases like few others. Unfortunately some versions of English subtitles do not capture many of the best lines. There is some full frontal nudity at the end but most of the eroticism and comedy comes from two of the three brothers who are being driven crazy by the hot new maid, through no fault of her own. The youngest boy is also funny as the oblivious locomotive not interested in propriety. The father and two brothers fall in love and lust and while she is trying to be loyal to the widower dad, one of his sons cannot stop provoking and enticing her. He is also the most interesting character suffering with raging hormones, inexperience and a Machiavellian streak.