7.1 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
In pre-World War II Italy, the employees of a popular Roman bordello realize that a new arrival (Giancarlo Giannini, Hannibal, Casino Royale) is planning to assassinate Mussolini. When one of the girls (Lina Polito, All Screwed Up) falls in love with the man, she's torn between saving him and saving her country. This is the film that put Italian director Lina Wertmueller (Swept Away) on the map of world cinema. Giannini won a Best Actor award at the Cannes Film Festival for his portrayal.
Starring: Giancarlo Giannini, Mariangela Melato, Eros Pagni, Lina Polito, Elena FioreDrama | 100% |
Comedy | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Italian: DTS-HD Master Audio Mono
English
25GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A, B (C untested)
Movie | 4.5 | |
Video | 3.0 | |
Audio | 3.5 | |
Extras | 0.5 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
Although Lina Wertmüller had achieved some measure of acclaim with her previous film, 1972's sex romp and cultural satire The Seduction of
Mimi, it was Love & Anarchy that internationally announced the female filmmaker as the heir to the commedia all'italiana of
Vittorio De Sica, Mario Monicelli, and other post-war "pink" neorealists who couched laughs within the context of social commentary. Set in a posh
bordello during the lead-up to WWII, the film also earned the ire of second-wave feminists who saw Wertmüller as a gender traitor, contributing to the
objectification of women by glorifying prostitution.
This was before feminism's swing towards sex positivity in the 1980s, of course, and it's now easier to see Wertmüller's intent; the prostitutes in the
film are by far the strongest, most-capable and self-actualized characters, whereas their johns—who aren't central to the story at all—are portrayed as
stereotypically weak and depraved. Even more subversive, though, is the symbolic link the director makes between fascism and sexual aggression. At
one point, the brothel's madame observes that "whenever there's a military ceremony, everyone winds up in the whorehouse." At this point in her
career, the overlap of sex and politics was Wertmüller's main thematic concern, and here she sets up an almost binary distinction between lust/fascism
and love/anarchy, romanticizing the idealistic young martyrs who sought to assassinate Mussolini.
Tunin
What I wrote for The Seduction of Mimi applies here too. At first glance and from a distance, Kino-Lorber's 1080p/AVC-encoded transfers of Love & Anarchy and the other two Lina Wertmüller titles look decent and about what you'd expect from mid-1970s Italian films—reasonably sharp and nicely colored, with only mild age-related print damage. If you peer closer, though, you'll often see—in addition to grain—what looks like a flurry of buzzing compression artifacts, sometimes obscuring fine textures, softening hard lines, and affecting the gradation between colors. I reached out to Kino, asking about what might've caused this, and I got this response: "The HD masters came from a different source than usual, Societe Nouvelle de Distribution, and were not transferred by Bret Wood, who normally oversees most of our Kino Classics titles." To me, these look like high definition masters that were originally intended for a DVD release—natural filmic grain seems somewhat diminished and softened, but the image is still quite noisy. If you have a smaller TV this might not be as apparent, but those with large screens or projectors will probably notice it. Still, this isn't a huge distraction —from a normal viewing distance it's never overtly apparent—and in terms of overall clarity these transfers present a solid improvement over older home video editions. Could these films look even better? Absolutely. Is it likely they'll actually get a restorative overhaul sometime within this technological generation? I kind of doubt it. I'm content.
Love & Anarchy arrives on Blu-ray with a faithful DTS-HD Master Audio mono track. Like the print, the sound hasn't been significantly cleaned up, so you will hear the occasional hiss or crackle, especially in the dubbed dialogue, which can sometimes be low and slightly peaky. (Though never to the extent that Italian speakers would have trouble following it.) Characteristic of films from the era, the audio is decidedly top-heavy, with no real low- end, but Nina Rota's wonderful score comes through fairly cleanly. A listenable but by no means perfect mix. The disc includes optional English subtitles, which appear in easy-to-read white lettering.
The only extras on the disc are a photo gallery with twelve stills and three high definition trailers.
Of the three Lina Wertmüller films Kino-Lorber is releasing this month, Love & Anarchy is arguably the best, a sad period piece comedy that romanticizes the fight against the fascists of the 1930s, even when that fight was seemingly futile. Fans of Italian cinema will definitely want to pick up all three, however, which makes me wonder why Kino opted to bundle the DVDs together in a box set but only offer the Blu-rays individually. The lack of bonus material is unfortunate, and the picture quality isn't quite up to Kino's usually high standards, but the films do look better than ever. Recommended for all commedia all'italiana-philes.
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