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Seven Beauties

Play trailer Poster for Seven Beauties R Released Jan 21, 1976 1h 55m Comedy Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
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67% Tomatometer 21 Reviews 88% Popcornmeter 1,000+ Ratings
In 1930s Italy, Pasqualino (Giancarlo Giannini), a low-level Sicilian thug, kills a man who disgraced his sister. Pasqualino pleads insanity and manages to escape imprisonment by joining the military, but he decides to go AWOL when things get too heavy. Unfortunately, he soon finds himself stuck in a concentration camp. There, Pasqualino vows to do anything in order to survive -- even if that means seducing an obese, female German camp commandant (Shirley Stoler) or ratting out his own pals.
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Seven Beauties

Critics Reviews

View All (21) Critics Reviews
Pauline Kael New Yorker A grotesque vaudeville show. It's one act after another, with political labels stuck on the participants so you'll know what you're watching. Oct 31, 2023 Full Review Roger Ebert Chicago Sun-Times Its virtuoso style, demonstrating once again Miss Wertmuller's mastery of filmmaking, is used to tell us a story that's very opaque, despairing, and bottomless. Rated: 4/4 Oct 23, 2004 Full Review Dave Giannini InSession Film Seven Beauties is a film that has and will continue to divide. There are moments of beauty and grace, wrapped up with disgust and horror. It is a difficult movie to enjoy, but I cannot deny the skill and mastery of ​​Wertmüller. Feb 28, 2024 Full Review Karen Margolis Spare Rib Wertmuller is certainly in the mainstream of European film-making; her work is often cinematically beautiful and sometimes provocative. I would like to see her reduce the sweep of her canvas to explore her central themes in greater depth. Sep 22, 2021 Full Review Amelie Lasker FF2 Media A masterclass in shifting tone. It manages to mingle humor in with the atrocities without trivializing what the Nazis are doing. Feb 25, 2021 Full Review Josh Larsen LarsenOnFilm ...woefully misguided. Rated: 1.5/4 Oct 16, 2020 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Joan N My favorite Wertmuller! Total classic. Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 05/01/24 Full Review Alec B The most audacious thing here is that Wertmüller allows the central character to be neither a saint nor even just a regular person, he's a cad, a liar, and a murderer who survives WWII by doing so much worse. Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 01/09/24 Full Review Tonino C This is certainly Wertmuller's best work. The will to live of the protagonist leads the viewer, through many vicissitudes, to understand the price of survival. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 12/09/22 Full Review Audience Member I've always thought I have a pretty high tolerance level for dark comedy but this film definitely put that notion to the test. The film did feel shorter than the almost two hour run time but, considering I wasn't loving it, was more due to the fact I was so surprised at what I was witnessing. I am not sure if this disconnect was due more to a cultural or generational difference but much of the "humor" wasn't landing for me and at times became downright horrifying, with some scenes toward the end becoming hard to even watch. On a historical note this was the first film in which a woman was nominated for best director. Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 01/20/23 Full Review Audience Member The prologue is great and can stand on its own. "Oh, yeah." The rest of the film is uneven, and often knowingly crude, but it is unlike any WWII movie I've seen before. It's about the will to live, and that's not a bad thing. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 02/18/23 Full Review s r I understand what they were trying to do with their cynical black comedy that cuts very close to the bone. However, I didn't think it was effective and there were some scenes that stooped too low. Saw it on TCM. Rated 2 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Read all reviews
Seven Beauties

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Movie Info

Synopsis In 1930s Italy, Pasqualino (Giancarlo Giannini), a low-level Sicilian thug, kills a man who disgraced his sister. Pasqualino pleads insanity and manages to escape imprisonment by joining the military, but he decides to go AWOL when things get too heavy. Unfortunately, he soon finds himself stuck in a concentration camp. There, Pasqualino vows to do anything in order to survive -- even if that means seducing an obese, female German camp commandant (Shirley Stoler) or ratting out his own pals.
Director
Lina Wertmüller
Distributor
Cinema 5 Distributing
Rating
R
Genre
Comedy, Drama
Original Language
Italian
Release Date (Theaters)
Jan 21, 1976, Original
Release Date (Streaming)
Aug 23, 2017
Box Office (Gross USA)
$12.0K
Runtime
1h 55m
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