(Seven Beauties)
Italy (1975): Comedy/Drama
Italian filmmaker Lina Wertmüller wrote and directed this black comedy. During WWII, Pasqualino Frafuso (Giancarlo Giannini) ends up lost in a dense forest along with fellow army deserter Francesco (Piero De Orio). After they witness a mass execution by German soldiers, Francesco admits his moral opposition to the Nazis and Pasqualino reveals his criminal past in a series of flashbacks. Back in Naples, he was known as "Pasqualino Seven Beauties," a petty thief who lived off the profits of his seven sisters while claiming to protect their honor at any cost. When Totonno (Mario Conti) pimps out his sister Concettina (Elena Fiore), Pasqualino kills him, chops up his body, and mails each piece across the country. He is then arrested and sent to a mental institution, where he commits sexual assault against another patient. Kicked out of the asylum, he is sent to fight in the army. The Germans capture him and he gets sent to a concentration camp. He then plots to make his escape by demoralizing himself in an attempt to seduce the camp Commandant (Shirley Stoler). (Medusa/Cinema 5) (Andrea LeVasseu, All Movie Guide)
Wertmüller's Best Director nomination made her the first woman in the history of the Academy to be nominated in that category.
4 nominations
· Actor 1976: Giancarlo Giannini
· Directing 1976: Lina Wertmüller
· Writing (Best Screenplay written directly for the screen) 1976: Lina Wertmüller
· Foreign Language Film Award 1976: (Italy) (Lina Wertmüller, Giancarlo Giannini & Arrigo Colombo - Producers)