DVD
Swept Away

Starring: Mariangela Melato and Giancarlo Giannini
Arrow Films and Fremantle Home Entertainment
RRP: £12.99
FCD143
Certificate: 18
Available 31 January 2005


Raffella has got everything she wants - a rich husband, exotic holidays and people to do her bidding. On holiday aboard a private yacht Raffella demands that the deck hand Gennarino takes her to a nearby island to go swimming. When the motor on the boat dies, the two wind up stuck on a deserted island and now having to rely on Gennarino for food and shelter, the relationship shifts. With her fortune now counting for nothing, Rafaella has to cope with the loss of power and being forced to subjugate to Gennarino's will...

Swept Away (or to give it its full Italian title Travolti da un insolito destino nell'azzurro mare d'agosto) is a comedy-drama from 1974 that examines class, capitalism and sexual relationships. Mariangela Melato stars as the arrogant, white, middle class Raffaella Pavone Lanzetti and Giancarlo Giannini is the servile, dark skinned, working class Gennarino Carunchio.

When the movie opens, Raffaella is part of a group of rich middle class holiday makers that have hired a luxury yacht and its crew to take them on a private cruise. Raffaella spends her time giving Gennarino, the deck hand, hell - treating him like the lowest of the low. So, when the two of them are marooned on a desert island, and he is the only one who has the skills to keep them alive, he takes great pleasure in reversing the roles.

It was a shame that Gennarino was such a total animal on the island - punching Rafaella repeatedly in the face and attempting to rape her. Personally, I felt that if he had acting brutally, without punching or forcing himself on her sexually, then the viewer would have accepted the blossoming love that grows out of this relationship.

Instead the message that is clearly offered here is that women will bow down to men, and worship the ground on which they walk, if you they treat them like sh*t! Not very politically correct. So, it came as something of a surprise to discover that the director, Lina Wertmüller, was a woman.

Brushing that un-PC element aside, Swept Away is a very engaging movie. And, as it was not born out of Hollywood, it has a very realistic and unmushy conclusion.

The film was remade with disastrous consequences in 2002 with Madonna attempting to take the place of Melato. The results were a bit of a joke really. If you want to see how it should be done, then the original 1974 version is the one you should get your hands on.

The disc itself offers no extras, but that's not really a problem as the retail price is only £13. But I did find a slight problem with the subtitles. Occasionally they flash on the screen too quickly, meaning you have to rewind your DVD and watch a scene again. And, in one instance, the subtitle for a long translation was flashed up on screen so quickly that I could only read a couple of words before it disappeared. This resulted in me having to rewind and pause that sequence to be able to read the subtitles.

But these are minor quibbles. This is an excellent movie that is full of surprises.

Ray Thomspon

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£9.74 (Amazon.co.uk)
   
£10.99 (MVC.co.uk)

All prices correct at time of going to press.