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Italian Directors - Lina Wertmuller

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Welcome to our foreign films page, featuring foreign movies in video and DVD format in languages from a host of countries. Note: unless stated otherwise, all videocassettes are in VHS and NTSC format, and all DVDs are for players that support Region 1 encoding (United States and Canada) and are in NTSC format. Check our DVD Compatibility FAQ for more information about region encoding, television formats, and other specifications. If you can't find what you need, please email us.

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Seven Beauties
Lina Wertmuller
Giancarlo Giannini plays Pasqualino Frafuso, an aspiring small-time gangster whose moral conscience is constantly overcome by his driving instincts for survival. His efforts lead him from jail to mental hospital to concentration camp, and with each departure he thinks he has left the worst behind. A huge success in the U.S., Seven Beauties features first-rate performances from Giannini and Fernando Rey. 2-DVD Collector's Set. Includes interview with Lina Wertmuller by Italian film critic Carlo Lizzani, and 5.1 sound. In Italian with English subtitles. Italy, 1976, 111 mins.
DVD | $44.95  


Italian Directors - Lina Wertmuller


The Lina Wertmuller Collection
Swept Away/Seven Beauties/Summer Night/The Nymph/Fernando and Carolina
Lina Wertmuller
Five films from the controversial and influential enfant terrible of the Italian cinema. The first woman ever to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Direction, Wertmuller interrogated themes of sex and politics throughout her esteemed career. This collection includes five of Wertmuller's finest films: Swept Away (1974, 112 mins.) examines the power relationships between classes in the tale of a wealthy capitalist (Mariangela Melato) and a lowly deckhand (Giancarlo Giannini). Seven Beauties (1976, 115 mins.) is Wertmuller's Oscar-nominated black comedy about a small-time hood who's shuttled between institutions during WWII. Summer Night (1986, 94 mins.) stars Mariangela Meltato as a female industrialist who turns the tables on her would-be kidnappers in a flamboyant mix of sex and politics. The Nymph (1966, 111 mins.), based on a novel by Demenico Rea, stars Lucia Cara as a budding teenager whose virginity is violently taken from her. Wertmuller skewers small-town provincialism and prejudice in this early work. Finally, Fernando and Carolina (1999, 102 mins.) is a hilarious take on the life of King Ferdinand, starring Sergio Assisi as the 18th century monarch and Gabriella Pession as Maria Carolina, a formidable lover and tireless nag. 6-DVD set. Letterboxed. Includes extensive interview with Lina Wertmuller by Italian film critic Carlo Lizzani, featurettes, 5.1 sound, and more. In Italian with English subtitles. Italy 1966-1999 643 mins.
DVD | $129.95  

Ciao, Professore
Lina Wertmuller
This brilliant comedy details the outrageous clash between a strict, no-nonsense teacher and his class of rambunctious, street-smart children. Ultimately it's the teacher who ends up learning more about life from his charges than the other way round. Italian with English subtitles. Italy, 1993, 91 mins.
DVD | $37.95  

Ferdinando and Carolina
Lina Wertmuller
Lina Wertmuller's hilarious take on the life of King Ferdinand stars Sergio Assisi as the 18th century monarch and Gabriella Pession as Maria Carolina, a formidable lover and tireless nag. Directed with the Italian filmmaker's signature verve, the film is at once a lavish period piece and a sly sex comedy. In Italian with English subtitles. Italy, 1999, 108 mins.
DVD | $44.95  

The Nymph
Lina Wertmuller
Italian director Lina Wertmuller skewers small-town provincialism and prejudice in this adaptation of a novel by Demenico Rea. Lucia Cara stars as a naive teen virgin in a remote 1940s Neapolitan village. When her brash, insatiable mother is killed during an Allied bombing, Miluzza (Cara) is forced to go to work at a nearby factory. There she becomes the target of sexual abuse, before salvation arrives in the form of a wounded soldier. In Italian with English subtitles. Italy, 1996, 110 mins.
DVD | $44.95  

Seven Beauties
Lina Wertmuller
Giancarlo Giannini plays Pasqualino Frafuso, an aspiring small-time gangster whose moral conscience is constantly overcome by his driving instincts for survival. His efforts lead him from jail to mental hospital to concentration camp, and with each departure he thinks he has left the worst behind. A huge success in the U.S., Seven Beauties features first-rate performances from Giannini and Fernando Rey. 2-DVD Collector's Set. Includes interview with Lina Wertmuller by Italian film critic Carlo Lizzani, and 5.1 sound. In Italian with English subtitles. Italy, 1976, 111 mins.
DVD | $44.95  

Summer Night (With Greek Profile, Almond Eyes and Scent of Basil)
Lina Wertmuller
Director Lina Wertmuller loves long titles. She also wrote the rest of the script, which concerns a very rich member of the Italian ruling class who kidnaps a noted terrorist and holds him for ransom. This change of pace leads to smoldering passion on an island estate. With Mariangela Melato and Michele Placido. In Italian with English subtitles. Italy, 1987, 97 mins.
DVD | $44.95  

Swept Away
Lina Wertmuller
Raffaella, a rich, beautiful, acid-tongued Milanese who has chartered a yacht, and Gennarino, a swarthy Sicilian deckhand, are marooned on an isolated island in the Mediterranean. She is a capitalist for whom the system has paid off, he is a dedicated Communist. Swept Away is the story of their tumultuous courtship, in what one critic described as a "fierce battle of the sexes as witty as it is wise." In Italian with English subtitles. Italy, 1975, 116 mins.
DVD | $44.95