The Seduction of Mimi (1972)

the audience applauded

Simply A Masterpiece

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

This story is culturally valuable because it depicts part of the life of one man in a very universal manner. Mimi is every man: he lusts, he is jealous, he is vulnerable, he wants job security, he has morals and he sometimes compromises them. At the same time, however, Mimi's predicaments are presented in such an exaggerated, humorous manner that they provide relief from the audience's own frustrations. On a more particular level, this film reveals the impact that the "mafia" had on Italian society at this time. Yet, even this is done in so humorous a way as to never seem upsetting. The bitterness of the events that take place—the loss of love, humiliation and misuse of women, the loss of value and the buckling of Mimi to corrupt social powers—are given to an audience with enough comical sugar to allow it to go down easily. And although women are shown objectified and humiliated in this society, the men who do it are shown to be victims of their own absurdities and social traditions as well. This film both exemplifies the dangers of being narcissistic and acting rashly on jealousy and desire, and provides comic relief for a world plagued with problems.

Giancarlo Giannini plays a simple Southern Italian worker who unwisely thinks his local elections aren't 100% rigged by the local mob. Assuming it's a truly secret ballot, he disobeys the mobs instructions and votes for a local Communist instead. Well, he nearly gets himself killed in the meantime and is forced to run to Turin in the north. There, quite by accident, he runs afoul of the mob AGAIN and is nearly killed. In fact, this happens a lot in the film and the generally apolitical Giannini tries to play BOTH sides to his own benefit. In addition, he begins sleeping with several different women--once again hoping he can somehow balance it all and keep from getting killed. Despite all the many, many dangers, Giannini is somehow a survivor and the film has many cute little twists and turns.I can tell that this satire was meant to be very funny, but I just didn't find myself laughing. While it is a good film, it's certainly not among the more memorable Italian films I have ever seen. It's slightly better than a time-passer, but that's really about all. I think the biggest reason for this isn't due to the humor but more to the fact that Giannini's character is a real selfish jerk. Had he been more sympathetic, I really think the film would have been more memorable. However, considering this film won many awards and was pretty well respected in its day, it is quite possible I am just an idiot. See it for yourself, but just be surprised if you, too, don't find the film all that interesting--or you think I am a lousy reviewer!

If I were to advice one movie by Lina Wetrmuller - one of the finest Italian directors ever - it would be this one. For this and other movies, you miss a lot of it if you're not Italian, both for the language and for the politics. It is also one of the most political, as it gives a rather crude display of how the industrialized north of Italy exploited the manpower of the less developed south. But it's also a moving love and passion story, and an hilarious comedy. Also, the Giannini-Melato duo is at its best. SORT OF A SPOILER AHEAD: I think the message it delivers is rather a pessimistic and disillusioning one: Mimi' tries to keep his political ideals and his (relatively to his background!) advanced view on love and relationships, but is then bound to fall back to his conservative cultural heritage: on the sentimental side, he's still too jealous of his wife to let her live as free as him; on the political side, as he says in the end, "they're all cousins!" - there's no point in fighting the collusion of political, economical and criminal power that we still have in Italy..

As always, Giannini and Melato are the shining stellas in yet another of the Wertmueller's movies. The two of them alone make this film worth seeing (though this time it's more Giannini since Melato's role is not as demanding as in some later films). However, compared to some other realizations by the same director-two-actors trio, this film does not strike as equally capturing and consistent in its message. Heavily leaning against social issues (remember "Swept Away"?), but bringing to the front the romance/fidelity/honor plot, it apparently fails to round up either of them. Not even the diversion into the familiar Italian-honor humor towards the end of the film is able to pull out the hanging feeling. Those who love the genre will still not regret spending their time with this movie.