Set against the backdrop of the beautiful Mediterranean, Swept Away is Lina Wertmüller's most famous and controversial film about sex, love and politics.
Lina Wertmüller (Seven Beauties) made this pointed, 1975 comedy-drama about class and sex conflicts. Mariangela Melato plays a rich woman marooned on an island with a crude sailor (Giancarlo Giannini). The two initially assume their accustomed class relationship with one another--she expects service, he grumbles about it--but then a revolution takes place and the subjugation is reversed. The film comes down on you like a hammer, but Wertmüller adroitly traces the shifting nuances of the relationship, and the two stars are excellent. Numerous scenes stick in the memory many years after one viewing.
"Travolti da un insolito destino nell'azzurro mare d'agosto" (Swept Away by an Unusual Destiny in the Blue Sea of August), to give it its convoluted original title, was meant as an allegory on social and class injustice as much as a battle for dominance between the sexes. It is one of Lina Wertmuller's finest films and is the one which most closely fuses her main themes of socio-political and sexual injustice.
Rich, upper-middle-class, Raffaella (Mariangela Melato), a loud-mouthed and opinionated Social Democrat from Milan, and the pampered jet-set clique she hangs out with are on a yachting holiday in the Mediterranean. They are served by a crew of poor working-class, dark skinned southerners, one of whom, Gennarino (Giancarlo Giannini), a card carrying communist, cannot abide her whiny bitchiness. As luck would have it, they end up marooned on a deserted island.
Much of the socio-political implications might be lost to American audiences who will see it purely as a satirical battle of the sexes. On the level of a love story it is bittersweet if not downright sad. On the level of sexual equality, it pokes a finger at the concept of male domination. On the socio-political level it is a parable and a warning that tables will turn and that the oppressed will one day arise and the ruling elite will get a taste of the injustice that they have meted out for so long.
Previously released in 1997 in a deplorable transfer by Fox-Lorber, it has finally been restored and remastered to almost pristine condition by its successor, Koch-Lorber Films. (enhanced for widescreen TV). The film was deliberately shot in soft focus and exhibits a small amount of grain but other than that, it boasts gorgeously saturated colors, deep, rich blacks and nary a nick
in a film that is over 30 years old (1974).
The azure-blue hues of the Mediterranean sea and sky are a joy to behold. The sound is adequate for its purpose. This is after all a dialogue driven movie and Raffaella does sound obnoxiously shrill. Optional English subtitles are included. There are no extras save for some Koch-Lorber trailers. "Swept Away" comes in the same transfer as that found in Koch Lorber's Lina Wertmuller Collection. Only "Swept Away" and "Summer Night" have been fully remastered.
Actors:
• Giancarlo Giannini
• Mariangela Melato
• Isa Danieli
• Aldo Puglisi
Written and Directed by Lina Wertmüller
Please Note This is an Upgrade ripped from the Digitally Restored and Remastered transfer. Review: DVDBeaver evaluation of DVD9 Remastered:
"This DVD offers a "Digitally Restored and Re-Mastered" transfer of the film.....The original release (also by Koch) was dreadful. This one is quite good, though not perfect. The image is a bit soft, but the colors are rich, and the contrast is sharp. The transfer is particularly strong in the brighter shots - take a look at the last screen capture below with the sun glinting off the water. ....As nasty a film as "Swept Away" is, it is quite beautifully shot. "
link
http://www.filesonic.com/file/2002194621/Swept Away.avi
http://www.filesonic.com/file/2002097831/Swept Away.EN.srt
http://www.filesonic.com/file/2002097851/Swept Away.ES.srt
no pass
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