lazarillo
A middle-age man (Maurice Ronet) returns from France to his hometown in Sicily where he begins an affair with his former sweetheart (Lisa Gastoni), who is now a widow. He just can't resist the women's teenage daughter, however (or the daughter's curious best friend). Although this was based on an Italian novel called "Graziella", it is obviously also very much modeled after the classic Vladimir Nabokov novel "Lolita", even containing a variation on the sofa seduction that has been left out of both of the prudish Americ adaptations of that novel. Of course, this movie stacks the deck quite a bit by casting a very ripe Jenny Tamburi as the "fifteen-year-old girl". In accompanying documentary, director Ferdinand DiLeo tries to make a distinction between what he calls "Lolita-ism" and pedophilia, but whether you buy this dubious argument or not, you'd have to agree that ANY man of ANY age is going to be attracted to the then 20-year-old Jenny Tamburi.DiLeo is becoming a respected director due to his back catalogue of gialli and poliziani movies, but he is a little out of his element here with a more subtle movie based on dramatic relationships. The movie looks visually great like all DiLeo films, but the script requires the characters to act in ways no human being (especially no hot-headed Sicilian human being)probably would. The movie is redeemed a lot though by great acting: Maurice Ronet makes his slimy character a lot more sympathetic and likable than he should be. Lisa Gastoni is good in a brave role that not only requires her to bare her body, but also to bare her soul as an aging beauty passed over for her fresher daughter. Amazingly, Ornella Muti was originally slated for the part of the daughter, but Gastoni vetoed it because she thought Muti was too pretty. This makes no sense for many reasons, not the least of which is that her replacement Tamburi was a long way (a long, LONG way) from being unattractive. Still it was a good decision because Tamburi was the better actress at the time even though she didn't go to have the long, illustrious career Muti did.This is good adaptation of the Lolita story being neither as ridiculously circumspect as the two official American versions nor as borderline pedophilic as the many unofficial French ones ("Beau Pere", "One Wild Moment"etc.). Recommended
MARIO GAUCI
Before I attended the Italian B-movie retrospective held during the 2004 Venice Film Festival, I had never even heard of Fernando Di Leo - let alone watched any of his films! Now, less than 2 years later, I have 8 of them under my belt (this was followed by yet another of his poliziotteschi, KIDNAP SYNDICATE [1975]) and I've been sufficiently impressed to consider ordering some of Di Leo's work via the R2 Raro Video SE DVDs...The films of his that I've watched so far seem to fall into two categories: sociological pieces, albeit with erotic overtones - NAKED VIOLENCE (1969), SEDUCTION itself and TO BE TWENTY (1978) - and crime dramas - CALIBRE 9 (1972; which I consider his masterpiece), THE Italian CONNECTION (1972), WIPEOUT! (1973), KIDNAP SYNDICATE and THE RULERS OF THE CITY (1976). Almost all, however, featured heavy doses of comedy (including, in the scenes featuring the slick but foolhardy womanizer played by Pino Caruso, the film under review here) which came perilously close to the vulgar style prevalent in low-brow Italian comedies of the 70s and 80s. However, this was more than made up for by Di Leo's dynamic handling - particularly the rhythm of his editing - which, despite its necessarily talky and intimate nature, is also very much in evidence in LA SEDUZIONE.It appears that ever since Pietro Germi made Sicily a den of promiscuity and infidelity in his classic, award-winning black comedy DIVORCE - Italian STYLE (1961), Italy's small neighboring island has served as backdrop for most other similarly-plotted ventures - and Di Leo's film, arguably one of the best of its type, is no exception. As a matter of fact, it's elevated above the norm by the excellent performances of its three leads - Lisa Gastoni (I wasn't aware that she had appeared in quite a few British films during the 50s!), Maurice Ronet (a fixture of 60s French cinema, he admirably tackles his difficult role here) and Italian B-movie starlet Jenny Tamburi (stepping in for Ornella Muti and who, incidentally, died at age 53 only days before the film's belated TV premiere last March!) - as well as a remarkable and eclectic score by the award-winning Luis Bacalov (who composed 11 films and even a TV mini-series for Di Leo!).As for the film's erotic content, it's generally sensitively handled - though some may simply view it as exploitative - with both its female stars appearing several times in the nude...though Tamburi's leap from dutiful schoolgirl to teenage temptress feels too abrupt: she starts by eavesdropping on her mother's love-making but promptly proceeds to seduce Ronet herself, even by way of some lesbian cuddling (while dancing a tango in drag!) with her best friend. The latter (played by Barbara Marzano), then, features in the delicious twist ending and, indeed, the film's concluding section (following some rather repetitive squabbling between Ronet and Gastoni over what she believes to be the former's sick abuse of her daughter), leading up to the inevitable tragic curtain, is terrific.
