Seven Beauties  

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"In the film Seven Beauties, directed by Lina Wertmüller, the protagonist saves his life by having an affair with the female commander of a concentration camp, where he has been imprisoned for deserting the Italian Army."--Sholem Stein


Opening montage of Seven Beauties showing archival footage of WWII, with voice-over and the song "Quelli che" by Enzo Jannacci:

Quelli che dicono se evenzo, seguitemi, se indietreggio, uccidetemi, si fa per dire
Quelli che fanno lavoro di Hitler convinti di essere stati assunti da un'alta dittta, oh yeah
Quelli che il sono sempre al bar, quelli che sono sempre in svizzere
Quelli che vota la destra perche basta con questi scioperi
Quelli che tengono al re
Quelli che amerebbero la patria
Quelli che no si sono mai occupati di politica
Quelli che perdono la guerra per un pelo

Those who say follow me if I move forward, but kill me if I retreat
Those who do the work of Hitler convinced that they are doing the work of another army
Those who are always at the bar, those who are still in Switzerland
Those who vote for the right because enough with all of these strikes
Those who support the king
Those who would love their country
Those who have never been interested in politics
Those who lost the war by the skin of their teeth.


Other version of the same (complete):

The ones who don't enjoy themselves even when they laugh.
Oh, yeah.
The ones who worship the corporate image not knowing that they work for someone else.
Oh, yeah.
The ones who should have been shot in the cradle.
Pow! Oh, yeah.
The ones who say follow me to success but kill me if I fail, so to speak.
Oh, yeah.
The ones who say we Italians are the greatest he-men on earth.
Oh, yeah.
The ones who are from Rome.
The ones who say that's for me.
The ones who say, you know what I mean.
Oh, yeah.
The ones who vote for the right because they're fed up with strikes.
Oh, yeah.
The ones who vote white in order not to get dirty.
Oh, yeah.
The ones who never get involved with politics.
Oh, yeah.
The ones who say, be calm. Calm.
The ones who still support the king.
The ones who say, yes, Sir.
Oh, yeah.
The ones who make love standing in their boots and imagine they're in a luxurious bed.
The ones who believe Christ is Santa Claus as young man.
Oh, yeah.
The ones who say: Oh, what the hell.
The ones who were there.
The ones who believe in everything... even in God.
The ones who listen to the national anthem.
Oh, yeah.
The ones who love their country.
The ones who keep going, just to see how it will end.
Oh, yeah.
The ones who are in garbage up to here.
Oh, yeah.
The ones who sleep soundly, even with cancer.
Oh, yeah.
The ones who even now don't believe the world is round.
Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.
The ones who're afraid of flying.
Oh, yeah.
The ones who've never had a fatal accident.
Oh, yeah.
The ones who've had one.
The ones who at a certain point in their lives create a secret weapon, Christ.
Oh, yeah.
The ones who are always standing at the bar.
The ones who are always in Switzerland.
The ones who started early, haven't arrived and don't know they're not going to.
Oh, yeah.
The ones who lose wars by the skin of their teeth.
The ones who say, everything is wrong here.
The ones who say, now let's all have a good laugh.
Oh, yeah.
Oh, yeah.
Oh, yeah.
Oh, yeah.

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Pasqualino Settebellezze (English title Seven Beauties) is a 1975 Italian language film written and directed by Lina Wertmüller starring Giancarlo Giannini in the main role. Fernando Rey and Shirley Stoler are also featured. Production Design and costume design by director's husband, Enrico Job.

Contents

Opening montage

The opening montage features historical World War II footage. Superimposed is a lounge style novelty song by Enzo Jannacci entiteld “Quelli che…” (1975). The lyrics of the song, brought in a parlando style, are a series of cynical comments which start with the phrase “quelli che” (English: “for those”). Most of these comments end in an “oh yeah” interjection.

Plot

The picaresque story follows its protagonist, Pasqualino (Giannini), a dandy and small-time hood in Naples in Fascist and World War II Italy.

To save the family honour, Pasqualino kills a pimp who had turned his sister into a prostitute. To dispose of the victim's body, he dismembers it and places the parts in suitcases. Caught by the police, he is convicted and sent to prison.

Pasqualino succeeds in getting himself transferred to a psychiatric ward but, desperate to get out, he volunteers for the Italian Army, which is allied with the German army. With an Italian comrade, he eventually deserts the army, but they are captured and sent to a German concentration camp.

In a bid to save his own life, Pasqualino decides to survive the camp by providing sexual favors to the obese and ugly female commandant (Stoler). His plan succeeds, but the commandant puts Pasqualino in charge of a barracks as a kapo. Here he must select six men to be killed to prevent all from being killed. Pasqualino ends up executing his former Army comrade, and he is responsible for the death of another fellow prisoner, a Spanish anarchist.

At the war's end, upon his return to Naples, Pasqualino discovers that his seven sisters, his fiancée, and even his mother have all survived by becoming prostitutes.

Awards

The film was nominated for Academy Awards for Best Actor in a Leading Role, Best Director, Best Foreign Language Film and Best Original Screenplay. Wertmuller was the first woman ever nominated for an Academy Award for Best Director.

Cast

  • Giancarlo Giannini as Pasqualino Frafuso aka Settebellezze
  • Fernando Rey as Pedro (the anarchist prisoner)
  • Shirley Stoler as The Prison Camp Commandant
  • Elena Fiore as Concettina (a sister)
  • Piero Di Iorio as Francesco (Pasqualino's comrade)
  • Enzo Vitale as Don Raffaele
  • Roberto Herlitzka as Socialist
  • Lucio Amelio as Lawyer
  • Ermelinda De Felice as Pasqualino's Mother
  • Bianca D'Origlia as The Psychiatrist
  • Francesca Marciano as Carolina
  • Mario Conti as Totonno "18 Carati" (Concettina's pimp)

Trivia

Shirley Stoler's character was based on Ilse Koch, notoriously known as the "the Bitch of Buchenwald". The wife of the camp's commandant Karl Otto Koch, she took sadistic pleasure in the torture of inmates, and was suspected of having lampshades made out of the skin of inmates.

Giancarlo Giannini stars in three other films Wertmuller made during this period, "Love and Anarchy", "The Seduction of Mimi" and "Swept Away". As in the latter film, Gianni here plays a character who is dominated by a woman.

The film was controversial at the time for its graphic depiction of concentration camp scenes and its antifeminist stance.

Pasqualino's nickname "Seven Beauties" ("Settebelleze") refers to the fact that he has seven ugly sisters. His last name in the film is Frafuso.

See also




Unless indicated otherwise, the text in this article is either based on Wikipedia article "Seven Beauties" or another language Wikipedia page thereof used under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License; or on research by Jahsonic and friends. See Art and Popular Culture's copyright notice.

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