Love and Anarchy (Lina Wertmüller)

Love and Anarchy

Film d'amore e d'anarchia, ovvero: stamattina alle 10, in via dei Fiori, nella nota casa di tolleranza... .Italie 1973 | Lina Wertmüller | vostEN | 120’ | digital | Cast : Giancarlo Giannini, Mariangela Melato, Lina Polito

► Meilleur acteur (Giannini), Cannes 1973

Tunin, a freckle-faced farm boy, becomes an accidental anarchist and is sent to kill Mussolini. His contact in Rome is Salomè, a sex worker with her own sob story. While they prepare for the assassination, Tunin falls in love with Tripolina, which threatens the entire operation.

« It was Love & Anarchy that internationally announced Lia Wertmüller as the heir to the commedia all'italiana of Vittorio De Sica, Mario Monicelli, and other post-war "pink" neorealists who couched laughs within the context of social commentary. (...) Lina Polito's sweetness wins our sympathy, and Mariangela Melato's amped-up sexual frankness gives the film its brassy verve. As Tunin, though, it's Giancarlo Giannini that steals each scene, which is impressive considering his is the most low-key performance. The magic is in his eyes – easily wounded, often embarrassed, but occasionally flickering with a maniacal, beyond-all-reason bravery. » (Blu-ray.com)

« While the riotous comedy and larger-than-life caricatures are present in Love and Anarchy, it has a more melancholy tone than of Wertmuller’s best known films, and shuns ironic distance in favour of a poignant portrait of an idealistic man completely out of his depth. » (Barbican Cinema)

Org. Cinémathèque