ROMAN SCANDALS '73 (Mario Sequi, 1972) **
The original Italian title of this film is a rude pun on Franco Zeffirelli's BROTHER SUN, SISTER MOON (1972) i.e. BROTHER MAN, SISTER WHORE and, in essence, it's one of an extensive series of medieval sex romps made in the wake of Pier Paolo Pasolini's THE DECAMERON (1971; which I own on VHS but have actually yet to watch!); to be honest, though it's certainly nothing special, I had expected it to be even worse...
Of course, the themes of religious oppression and sexual repression go hand in hand in this type of film: hence, we have the male and female occupants/managers of a forcibly closed brothel entering conveniently adjoining monasteries; then, we meet a young girl who's being prepared by her authoritarian father for a marriage-of-convenience so, to sidestep her obligations, she too joins a nunnery. The monks habitually roam the city streets for charity: noting the girl, one of them immediately falls in love while his colleagues think nothing of getting it on with her lusty and still-attractive mother behind her grouchy husband's back!; as it happens, the girl isn't even his daughter but rather the fruit of a clandestine affair with the abbot!
To keep his parishioners' hopes up in such poverty-stricken and plague-ridden times, the abbot holds frequent processions parading the statue of the local patron saint around the city; as it turns out, the 'monk' in love with the girl is the spitting image of the saint and so the abbot with the help of the people from the brothel is able to contrive a miracle, wherein the saint takes human form and speaks to the congregation! The gullible girl herself falls for this ruse, and willingly gives herself to him when he attempts to make a pass at her! Eventually, the company marry the prospective husband off to an ugly nun sporting whiskers (her face conveniently hidden under a veil all through the ceremony) and make off to another town with, of course, the lovely young girl as a new recruit...
While it doesn't have distinguished (or even all that familiar) credits, the film does feature a nice score (plus a couple of songs), slangy (and often rude) dialogue and, naturally, quite a bit of nudity (if nothing particularly explicit).
Of course, the themes of religious oppression and sexual repression go hand in hand in this type of film: hence, we have the male and female occupants/managers of a forcibly closed brothel entering conveniently adjoining monasteries; then, we meet a young girl who's being prepared by her authoritarian father for a marriage-of-convenience so, to sidestep her obligations, she too joins a nunnery. The monks habitually roam the city streets for charity: noting the girl, one of them immediately falls in love while his colleagues think nothing of getting it on with her lusty and still-attractive mother behind her grouchy husband's back!; as it happens, the girl isn't even his daughter but rather the fruit of a clandestine affair with the abbot!
To keep his parishioners' hopes up in such poverty-stricken and plague-ridden times, the abbot holds frequent processions parading the statue of the local patron saint around the city; as it turns out, the 'monk' in love with the girl is the spitting image of the saint and so the abbot with the help of the people from the brothel is able to contrive a miracle, wherein the saint takes human form and speaks to the congregation! The gullible girl herself falls for this ruse, and willingly gives herself to him when he attempts to make a pass at her! Eventually, the company marry the prospective husband off to an ugly nun sporting whiskers (her face conveniently hidden under a veil all through the ceremony) and make off to another town with, of course, the lovely young girl as a new recruit...
While it doesn't have distinguished (or even all that familiar) credits, the film does feature a nice score (plus a couple of songs), slangy (and often rude) dialogue and, naturally, quite a bit of nudity (if nothing particularly explicit).
- Bunuel1976
- Mar 6, 2008