GOTTA SEE IT #24 - "SEDUCED AND ABANDONED"
"SEDUCED AND ABANDONED" Starring: Stefania Sandrelli, Saro Urzi, Aldo Puglisi, Lando Buzzanca, Lola Braccini, Leopoldo Trieste, Umberto Spadaro, Paola Biggio, Rocco D’Assunta, Oreste Palella, Lina Lagalla,Gustavo D’Arpe, Rosetta Urzi, Roberta Narbonne, Vincenzo Licata
Written by: Luciano Vincenzoni (story and screenplay), Pietro Germi, Agenore Incrocci, Furio Scarpelli (dialogue)
Directed by: Pietro Germi
B & W – 1964
115 mins
Italia
Honour - some will do anything to hold on to it, even when it’s just an illusion. Scratch that, especially when it’s just an illusion. Take a dish of honour and toss in a dash of family and sprinkle some rural Italy over-the-top and you have one hell of a meal on your hands. A master of social comedies, Director Pietro Germi exposed the lunacy and hypocrisy of Italian society with wit and wackiness to create some dizzyingly funny films, such as this brilliant, spot-on send up of la famiglia circa 1964.
Written by: Luciano Vincenzoni (story and screenplay), Pietro Germi, Agenore Incrocci, Furio Scarpelli (dialogue)
Directed by: Pietro Germi
B & W – 1964
115 mins
Italia
Honour - some will do anything to hold on to it, even when it’s just an illusion. Scratch that, especially when it’s just an illusion. Take a dish of honour and toss in a dash of family and sprinkle some rural Italy over-the-top and you have one hell of a meal on your hands. A master of social comedies, Director Pietro Germi exposed the lunacy and hypocrisy of Italian society with wit and wackiness to create some dizzyingly funny films, such as this brilliant, spot-on send up of la famiglia circa 1964.
When the cowardly Peppino (Aldo Puglisi) deflowers his fiance’s sister (the ravishing Stefania Sandrelli) all hell breaks loose as patriarch Don Vincenzo (the remarkable Saro Urzi) barks and bullies his way towards his own strange conception of restoring honour to his family. Full of sly observations and sloppy laughs, S&A is a brilliant example of comedic escalation and a hilarious illustration of what happens when a society lives two different realities - the fake one that exists as an outward illusion, maintained by all, and the real one that happens behind closed doors but is never acknowledged.
Now, I’m Italian, so, I have first hand knowledge of the rural, Catholic Italian mindset. Let me assure you all, S&A rings true, as a comically exaggerated (just slightly so) take on the importance of appearances - whether it be an immaculately kept home or an immaculately kept reputation. Whether the literal or figurative sweeping under the rug has the edge, I cannot say.
Photographed in beautiful, glowing, high contrast black and white by Aiace Parolin (The Birds, the Bees, and the Italians), S&A is that rare breed of comedy – hilarious, well acted and directed and shot by an artist.
The whole cast is a screaming, shouting, gesticulating mass of energy that doesn’t peter out until the final frame fades from the screen. Every one of them deserves a tip of the hat, but Saro Urzi walks away with the picture with his artfully manic turn as the hypocritical oaf of a father, Don Vincenzo Ascalone. Like all great film comedians, Urzi has an elastic face and uses every part of his body in his performance. He manages the impossible by giving a great, broad comedic performance while also investing Don Vincenzo with a real humanity. He is a fully realized character, not just some lazy, one note caricature.
Photographed in beautiful, glowing, high contrast black and white by Aiace Parolin (The Birds, the Bees, and the Italians), S&A is that rare breed of comedy – hilarious, well acted and directed and shot by an artist.
The whole cast is a screaming, shouting, gesticulating mass of energy that doesn’t peter out until the final frame fades from the screen. Every one of them deserves a tip of the hat, but Saro Urzi walks away with the picture with his artfully manic turn as the hypocritical oaf of a father, Don Vincenzo Ascalone. Like all great film comedians, Urzi has an elastic face and uses every part of his body in his performance. He manages the impossible by giving a great, broad comedic performance while also investing Don Vincenzo with a real humanity. He is a fully realized character, not just some lazy, one note caricature.
Goofy, wacky, sharply satirical and all pulled off with style and flair, S&A is a marvel to behold.
