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!
7.3Keywords: woman directorinfidelitymafiaseductionsicily, italy
Plot summary
In Sicily, mine worker Carmelo "Mimí" Mardocheo votes in the Communist Party candidate instead of in the Mafia's one believing that the suffrage is secret. After the elections, he loses his job and cannot find another in his village that is controlled by the mobster Don Calogero. He leaves his wife Rosalia with his family and travels to Turin expecting to find a job. He finds an illegal position in the civil construction that is also explored by the Mafia, and when a coworker dies in an accident, he finds that the mobsters have dumped his body on the road. However, he does not report the crime to the police and lies to mobster Salvatore Tricarico telling that he belongs to the family of a powerful mobster. Mimi gets a metallurgic position and joins the Communist Party. Then he fall in love with virgin Trotskyite street vendor Fiorella Meneghini and they have a son. When Mimi witnesses mobster Vico Tricarico executing several men in a hotel, he survives but he does not report to the police. Mimi is transferred to Catania in a supervisory position against his will. He brings Fiore and their son to Sicily, but he is still married to Rosalia; claiming to be ill, he doesn't have sex with her. When he learns that she's pregnant, he find that he is a cuckold and plots to seduce and impregnate Amalia Finocchiaro--the wife of Rosalia's lover. But his revenge does not work as planned.
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Mildly interesting, but not nearly as funny as it was intended
You Will Laugh Very Hard When the Fat Lady Sings - The Seduction of Mimi
Mimi is not a woman; it is the nickname of the main character. If there is a funnier actor than Giancarlo Giannini in the last 50 years, I have not seen one. He is ten times funnier and more believable than Roberto Benigni of Life is Beautiful, the highly overrated film that won Benigni best actor and Best Foreign Film in 1998. There are a half dozen Giannini films that are better, and this is one of them. Mariangela Melato is supurb is this film and every film she was ever in with Gianinni. The plot is silly; but it doesnt matter; its the MOVIE that counts and makes you laugh your ass off. Anyone who does not laugh at the fat lady sequence is definitely disturbed. Enjoy this and all the Wertmueller satires.
Good film, but not Wertmueller's best
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.