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Seven Beauties
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Seven Beauties

1975
Comedy
Drama
1h 56m
Pasqualino, an Italian everyman, deserts the army during World War II. Germans capture him and send him to a prison camp, where he does just about anything to survive. In lengthy flashbacks, we see him and his family of seven unattractive sisters (the seven beauties), his accidental murder of one sister's lover, his confession and imprisonment, his calculated switch to an asylum, his rape of a patient, and his volunteering to be a soldier to escape confinement. To the chagrin of his obese German captor, his weak and cowardly character enables him to survive the war and return to Naples where he has a plan to survive the next world catastrophe. (imdb)
Directed by:
Lina Wertmüller Lina Wertmüller
Written by:
Lina Wertmüller Lina Wertmüller
Starring:
Giancarlo Giannini Giancarlo Giannini Shirley Stoler Shirley Stoler Fernando Rey Fernando Rey Roberto Herlitzka Elena Fiore Elena Fiore Piero Di Iorio Enzo Vitale Francesca Marciano Ermelinda De Felice Lucio Amelio Bianca D'Origlia Mario Conti
More
Genres:
Comedy, Drama, War
AKA:
Pasqualino Settebellezze
Country:
Italy
Languages:
English, Spanish, Italian, German, Neapolitan
imdb More information at IMDb
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Seven Beauties

1975
Comedy
Drama
1h 56m
Your probable score
Ratings & Reviews Cast Collections Similar Stats Trailer
Avg Percentile 72.24% from 287 total ratings
Ratings & Reviews Cast Collections Similar Stats Trailer

Ratings & Reviews

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yiannosYiannos
Rated 21 Nov 2017
73
78th
S.B seems just as much, if not more, about the consequences of a certain kind of dumb masculinity (for individuals and society) as it's about survival. Its mix of comedy, drama and formal abstraction has drawn comparisons to Fellini, but Wertmuller's film is far more grounded in social reality, regardless of how caricatured its characters occasionally appear. Giannini is excellent in the difficult role of Pasqualino, eliciting both disgust and sympathy, and the tonal shifts are well handled.
Rated 21 Nov 2017
miss_jesusmiss jesus
Rated 17 Mar 2009
90
92nd
A beautiful, darkly funny movie. Excellent acting, awesome cinematography, and tons of emotionally ambivalent material (just like real life). I particularly enjoyed the soundtrack, and the opening credits are unforgettable.
Rated 17 Mar 2009
lisa_iilisa-
Rated 09 Mar 2015
7
92nd
on being a violently delusional idiot, and the implications of that for a political system founded on violent delusion. the last half hour or so is beyond belief.
Rated 09 Mar 2015
pickpocketPickpocket
Rated 01 Apr 2009
8
82nd
Absolutely brutal look at WW2. Not only is it sadistic and depressing, it also manages to be hilarious at parts (not in the camps). I wish this movie was longer as it was technically flawless and incredibly well made. Giancarlo Giannini is my new favorite actor - what a performance.
Rated 01 Apr 2009
macswellMacSwell
Rated 29 Aug 2015
90
93rd
Pasqualino is an incredible character; he obsesses over honour yet proves repeatedly that he is completely without it. Desertion, rape, cold-blooded murder - nothing is beyond him, and yet despite his numerous deplorable acts, he somehow remains a sympathetic character. Wertmüller's excellent script and spot-on direction make it a captivating experience to watch him weasel his way through the horrors of the war, and Giannini is sensational in the role.
Rated 29 Aug 2015
karamazovkaramazov.
Rated 16 Sep 2020
83
98th
Not only the most disturbing movie I've seen in my life [yes, I've watched COME AND SEE], but one of astonishing inventiveness, formal sophistication, use of cinematic heteroglossia [struggling for a better term for what I'm trying to describe], and coherence. But especially I am left to wonder, where is the audience today who is equal to it? The Fourth Reich and its deathterror social program of perpetual MKULTRA has truly destroyed all real literacy and all human culture.
Rated 16 Sep 2020
yesistastyyesistasty
Rated 20 Dec 2014
70
19th
Strange Fellini-esque film full of gruesome men and disgusting women.
Rated 20 Dec 2014
joojooJooJoo
Rated 12 Jul 2009
5
80th
Everything about this movie seems to pale in comparison to the other Giannini/Wertmüller collaborations. Still entertaining.
Rated 12 Jul 2009
suture_selfSuture Self
Rated 24 Sep 2016
9
90th
A story about a man whose every thought and action is concerned with his own self-preservation.
Rated 24 Sep 2016
djrossdjross
Rated 14 Aug 2007
92
98th
Highly affecting exploration of the relationship between power and powerlessness, war and the struggle to survive. The opening and the court room scene are genius, as are all Francesca Marciano's scenes, who later spent a long time in Kenya, then New York, becoming a screenwriter, novelist and director. Wertmüller was with this film the first woman nominated for a Best Director Oscar: I wonder how she felt about the politics of war shown in THE HURT LOCKER, with which Bigelow would win it.
Rated 14 Aug 2007
armilioArmilio
Rated 19 Apr 2015
70
63rd
A good bittersweet farce, that succeeds to show a man that "tira a campare": an italian expression that means more or less "Survive, get by, take it one day at a time, without big hopes". As the German Captor said, people like Pasqualino survive to all war, all ideologies, never fighting the system, and often finding a place in it, as worms will survive to a nuclear holocaust. But at what cost? same theme, with different style, of "The conformist" by Bertolucci.
Rated 19 Apr 2015
mentaculusMentaculus
Rated 05 Jan 2009
83
79th
Want to watch the least-sexy sex scene in film history? This is the place... And for a woman director, I think that's saying something. Cinematically and narratively, then, Wertmuller shows us the depths and destructive qualities of anarchy to powerful effect.
Rated 05 Jan 2009
lumpnboylumpnboy
Rated 10 Jun 2008
85
92nd
According to Norman Finkelstein, this was the favorite holocaust-related movie of his mother, a survivor of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising and of more than one concentration camp, the entirety of whose family was exterminated. A woman who agreed with Primo Levi that the camps, by design and by effect, ensured that 'the best did not survive'.
Rated 10 Jun 2008
moribunnyMoribunny
Rated 30 May 2007
75
84th
A very interesting movie, especially if you can appreciate the grotesque. It's not as good as Love and Anarchy or Swept Away, though.
Rated 30 May 2007
auhasarderikauhasarderik
Rated 10 Nov 2018
7
61st
The questions are pertinent, the peaks inspired, the style -at its best- undeniable, the storytelling baffling at first, but then you see the point, the cumulative effect is disgusting and brutalizing, and with good reason. Very problematic, but so it should be.
Rated 10 Nov 2018
neonmanNeonman
Rated 04 May 2019
90
91st
From the cheeky, yet haunting and powerfully edited montage opening, it offers the delicate tones the film is so adept at switching between. The early moments are light and playful, the later scenes are horrific, and the through-line is Pasqualino's changing perception of the world and how he wears that on himself. Very clearly shows how a prisoner can be persuaded/intimated into being an aggressor, this is an essential war film.
Rated 04 May 2019
peaceanarchyPeaceAnarchy
Rated 08 Dec 2011
84
77th
The film's visual style is incredible. There are a lot of fantastic shots. There's a kind of dirty beauty to the shots, striking and pretty, even gaudy at times, but with an underlying sense of corruption and disgust. This runs in parallel with the film's plot where Pasqualino's quest for honour and survival requires more than a little ugliness to succeed. The dual timeline narrative adds to the film's use of contrasts and they merge at just the right point making the final act very effective.
Rated 08 Dec 2011
nepetaNepeta
Rated 12 Mar 2013
85
80th
It manages to tackle its subject matter with quite a lot of intelligence and nearing the end is able to bring an almost unexpected emotional oomph to the foreground, and it's probably because of these two things that the film never seems immature. Those final few moments are incredible.
Rated 12 Mar 2013
tonydaltonydal
Rated 31 Oct 2009
85
88th
Great script (and structure). And most deft direction indeed. Could've probably done without that litany of a prologue.
Rated 31 Oct 2009
fenixdownfenixdown
Rated 27 Feb 2020
69
33rd
Wasn't crazy about it.
Rated 27 Feb 2020
gewittergewitter
Rated 27 Jun 2007
90
97th
Too short!
Rated 27 Jun 2007
mikulMikul
Rated 16 Mar 2007
95
97th
Lina Wertmuller was accused of anti-feminist attitudes for Swept Away and this movie, but don't let that deter you from watching one of the best political movies of all time. "These are the ones" intones the opening sequence. The ones who ignore social and political responsibility and enable the triumph of barbarism.
Rated 16 Mar 2007
moncliviemonclivie
Rated 31 Dec 2019
90
97th
Oh yeah.
Rated 31 Dec 2019
driscarpindriscarpin
Rated 25 Dec 2021
99
98th
Em honra de Lina Wertmüller (1928 - 2021). Entre 1972 e 1975 Wertmullher fez uma obra prima atrás da outra que estão entre meus favoritos de todos os tempos, minha formação cinéfila e política não seria a mesma sem o seu cinema ao qual adentrei na pós-adolescência e que me marcou profundamente, Pasqualino é meu segundo filme favorito dela. BlurayRip no MakingOff.
Rated 25 Dec 2021
cinegeekdecinegeek.de
Rated 13 May 2016
94
98th
(...) Das hier ist ein düsterer, grüblerischer Film. Er stellt die Frage, wozu der Mensch bereit ist. Wie tief kann er sinken? Wie sehr lässt er sich erniedrigen? Trotz seines Gehabes ist Pasqualino kein Mann, sondern ein Wurm. Im Konzentrationslager darf er all diese Eigenschaften zeigen. Die Aufseherin (die im Original mit einem bayrischen Akzent spricht) ist eine dicke, garstige Frau mit einer Peitsche, die sie wie eine Damenhandtasche mit sich führt (...)
Rated 13 May 2016
doyler29doyler29
Rated 21 Oct 2019
80
68th
Lina Wertmüller crafts a dark and angry black comedy where the hero is an arrogant fool and the world created by the Nazis is one in which nobody's moral instincts matter anymore. He navigates through it alive only by throwing away whatever tiny scruples he had left. Fernando Rey shows up as an anarchist who chooses a startling way out of this world.
Rated 21 Oct 2019
td888td888
Rated 24 Dec 2012
50
41st
There are not many movies like this. The horrors of the Nazi atrocities mixed with the comedic charm of an Italian wise guy who causes all kinds of drama in whatever he does. After watching this I was left with a very weird cocktail of emotions. One thing is for sure though. If you want to know the essence of the Italian mama's boy, this is a classic case study. There is not much difference now between the 1975 Pasqualino and the current Italian macho.
Rated 24 Dec 2012
shockularSHOCKULAR
Rated 02 Jul 2023
71
46th
Giannini is fantastic in this tonally odd World War II film. It drifts between comedy and tragedy and drama in interesting ways. It never really totally grabbed me, but there are many interesting things happening here, and Giannini's character is incredibly interesting.
Rated 02 Jul 2023
eveeluneveelun
Rated 26 May 2009
81
82nd
Charming, funny, and disturbing account of a cocky hood's experience in a concentration camp. Giannini is great as a character that is both victim and perpetrator of violence and whose will to survive trumps all the ideologies consistently spewing out of his and others' mouths.
Rated 26 May 2009
bofbof
Rated 29 Sep 2021
91
98th
Wow. How have I not watched everything Wertmüller and Giannini made together? Starts out as a pure cartoonish farce and somehow manages (one or two not-well-aged missteps aside) to ride that train straight into the darkest of conclusions without becoming a different picture. "We used to think we were sick and could get better; now we think we're strong, so we're doomed." A laugh-out-loud feast for the eyes that leaves your soul in tatters.
Rated 29 Sep 2021

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