Product Description

Nominated for four Academy Awards including Best Director, Seven Beauties stars Giancarlo Giannini (Swept Away) as Pasqualino Frafuso, known in Naples, Italy as "Pasqualino Seven Beauties". A petty thief who lives off of the profits of his seven sisters while claiming to protect their honor at any cost, Pasqualino kills the pimp who made his sister a prostitute, chops up his body and mails the pieces to different locations across the country. He is then arrested and later sent to fight in the army after committing sexual assault. The Germans capture him and he gets sent to a concentration camp where he plots to make his escape by attempting to seduce a German officer.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #22722 in DVD
• Brand: Koch International
• Released on: 2006-04-04
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Formats: Color, Content/Copy-Protected CD, Dolby, DVD, Letterboxed, Original recording remastered, Restored, Subtitled, NTSC
• Original language: Italian
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 2
• Dimensions: .30 pounds
• Running time: 116 minutes

Amazon.com
Lina Wertmüller's harrowing 1976 film stars Giancarlo Giannini as a petty crook with seven unattractive sisters to support, and it features a picaresque, World War II-era journey through a prison asylum, army service, and a Nazi concentration camp. Wertmüller is more indulgent in highbrow sadomasochism than she is real profundity, but there's no denying that the film is powerful in its story of subjugation and survival. A climactic scene in which Giannini saves his skin at the camp by seducing its disgusting female commandant is unnervingly honest. Giannini became a '70s international icon partially on the basis of this work. The DVD release has optional English and Italian soundtracks, production notes, and filmographies of the talent. --Tom Keogh

Customer Reviews

Great DVD transfer, oh yeah!
Finally, an excellent job by Fox-Lorber (just about time, isn't it?). The image in widescreen is sharp and the colors are right. A few forgivable scratches and artifacts here and there but excellent throughout. Can't complain about the sound (mono) which is clear anyway and I think that's how it was when it was first released in theatres. The different interactive menus have music from the film which is a delight thinking that Fox-Lorber did it. Chapter searches are few (6) and far in between but that's okay (since Fox-Lorber is known for that). The only thing missing is the booklet which the company never does anyway (I wonder why). Anyway, the film is great and deserves the treatment it got for its transfer. Fascinating treatment by Wertmuller about a war-deserter who reflects on his life before he ended up in a German concentration camp. Very funny and poignant leading to a searing ending. Images show touches of Fellini whom Wertmuller studied under, yet this movie, which resonates greatness and already a classic is entirely her own. Unforgettable!

Masterpiece !
This film is so perfectly constructed and well acted that it should be required viewing in any film school. The use of flashback allows the action to switch from extremely funny scenes set in Naples to extremely grim depictions of life in a concentration camp. Giannini is absolutely brilliant as he struggles to maintain his exagerated sense of dignity under increasingly difficult circumstances. The concentration camp is potrayed as hell on earth- all darkness and forboding. Contrast this with colorful Naples and the liveliness of the residents. The film develops these contrasts in a way that focuses on the power of human endurance and the survival instinct. Giannini has an incredible ability to communicate the full range of human emotions with his eyes alone. A truly astounding and very funny performance. Possibly the best I've ever seen.

THE PERFECTION OF THE ITALIAN COMEDY
As many other Italian movies, I saw "The Seven Beauties" for a few times. One time is never enough. Every time I saw it, I would discover more and more things (words, scenes, faces, mimics, costumes) that I did not see before or I understood them differently. As a good wine, it gets better and better than more you taste it and the more mature it gets (or you get). This film is perfect. The combination of the script, filming, acting, scenes, ideas, and music make it perfect. But Giancarlo Giannini makes it memorable.