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Seven Beauties

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Seven Beauties

R

Released Jan 21, 1976

1h 55m

Comedy

Drama

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

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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Pauline Kael

The 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

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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

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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

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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

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Josh Larsen

LarsenOnFilm

...woefully misguided.

Rated: 1.5/4

Oct 16, 2020

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Diane M

One of my all-time favorite films with one of my favorite actors. Giancarlo Giannini is absolutely brilliant as a strutting would-be lothario in a small Italian town. Mastroianni in Divorzio all'Italiano is his inspiration. The swagger, the cigarette holder... The theme running through the film is 'Tira a Campa' by Enzo Jannacci. The title is slang and in English would essentially mean 'you do what you have to do to survive.' It's chronicles Pasqualino's travails. A great piece of music. The scene in the courtroom when the verdict comes down plays out without a word, with the theme playing and shots of faces reacting. Just a mesmerizing segment. If you understand Italian, the dialogue is hilarious, save maybe the camp segment. The opening 'Oh Yeah' montage brings to mind Kubrick's use of Vera Lynn's 'We'll Meet Again' to accompany a jumble of nuclear explosions at the end of Dr Strangelove.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

05/22/25

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Joan N

My favorite Wertmuller! Total classic.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

05/01/24

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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

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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

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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

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Lina Wertmüller

Director

Giancarlo Giannini

Pasqualino Frafuso

Fernando Rey

Pedro the Anarchist Prisoner

Shirley Stoler

The Prison Camp Commandant

Elena Fiore

Concettina

Piero Di Iorio

Francesco

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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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