Product Details

• Actors: Ernesto Mahieux, Valerio Foglia Manzillo, Elisabetta Rocchetti, Lina Bernardi, Pietro Biondi
• Directors: Matteo Garrone
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Letterboxed, NTSC, Subtitled
• Language: Italian
• Subtitles: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: Unrated
• Studio: FIRST RUN FEATURES
• DVD Release Date: May 18, 2004
• Run Time: 96 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0001US7SG
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #143,233 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "The Embalmer" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

From The New Yorker

A handsome young man apprentices with a dwarfish fifty-year-old taxidermist in the director Matteo Garrone's unconventional romantic drama. When the closeted older man falls for his pupil-who's also being wooed by a beautiful woman-a taut battle of wills develops. The movie is a gripping and obsessive work, a look at loneliness and desire that's more about the con than the kinkiness. In Italian. -Bruce Diones
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Product Description

Peppino (Ernesto Mahieux), a taxidermist who stashes contraband in corpses for the Mafia, may be undersized, but he shouldn't be underestimated. After Peppino persuades the handsome Valerio (Valerio Foglia Manzillo), a waiter of heroic proportions, to be his well-paid assistant, he shows his new protégé a good time by hiring prostitutes to entertain them both. But Peppino's eyes are not on the girls...and Valerio's new girlfriend Deborah (Elisabetta Rocchetti) knows it. The battle for Valerio's affections are about to take a deadly turn.

Garrone has entered complex, mature territory that pulls from classic film noir to create an underlying sense of dread in this beautifully shot, dramatically riveting character study. He started with a simple question: How does a man who isn't especially rich or good-looking seduce a young, handsome man, who doesn't happen to be homosexual? To answer this question Garrone created three compelling characters and a well-crafted screenplay that keeps the audience wondering why the tall and beautiful Valerio stays with the crafty, diminutive and possibly dangerous Peppino.

THE EMBALMER was selected for Cannes Directors' Fortnight in 2002 and the prestigious New Directors/New Films series at Lincoln Center in New York in 2003. It won two David di Donatello Awards (the Italian 'Oscars') in 2003 for Screenwriting (to Matteo Garrone) and Best Supporting Actor (to Ernesto Mahieux). Though THE EMBALMER is a stylistic leap from Garrone's earlier work in a documentary style, he continues to focus on the lives of those on the margins of society as he creates compelling psychological portraits, and in the process weaves together intriguing questions pertaining to the interrelatedness of power, love, desire and violence.

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars More Romance Than Gore, January 2, 2006

By 

James Morris (Jackson Heights, NY United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Embalmer (DVD)

I am not usually suckered in by a pretty face on a DVD box; experience has taught me to be extra careful when I find myself drawn to a handsome photo when choosing films to add to my collection. Nevertheless, the premise of this picture sounded morbidly intriguing, and the hunk on the cover (who is precisely to my taste) allowed me to decide that the purchase of this film could never be a total loss.

I surprised myself by finding this film satisfactory on several levels. On the superficial, we have the very good performance of an actor named Valerio Foglia Manzillo, a mouthful in all respects. Mr. Manzillo is handsome in a sort of breathtaking way that makes me feel all fluttery on the inside, and the character he portrays is likeable enough to seal our affection.

But on a dramatic and emotional plane, it is the portrait of the dwarf Peppino, engagingly acted by Ernesto Mahieux, that will strike a chord of identification in the average viewer strong enough to carry The Embalmer through to its uncomfortable conclusion. Peppino is likable and charming, but suffers from the terminal loneliness often experienced by those whom society labels "unsexy". The people he meets generally respond to him with warmth and affection, unsuspecting that he continually struggles to mask the fact that he is perpetually unfulfilled, sad and somewhat pathetic. We feel his desperation and acutely sense his sadness, even as he entertains and inspires laughter and joy in those around him. His secret sexual longings make him especially human and easy to identify with, and this portrait is ultimately the most satisfying aspect of this interesting film.

The gory scenes I expected from the synopsis on the box failed to materialize, but I was far too engrossed in the characters to feel cheated in any way. This picture is not for everyone, but if you like brooding, dark and thoughtful foreign films, you may enjoy it as much as I did. In any event, the film is not as shocking as it is romantic and, if nothing else, the sex appeal of the young apprentice will be more than sufficient to hold many viewers' attention. Others may wonder what all the fuss is about; I know that I have seen dozens of films in the past few months that I found far less satisfying.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting and stylish, filled with obsessive sexual neediness and featuring a ruthless tug-of-war over the clueless Valerio, April 24, 2007

By 

C. O. DeRiemer (San Antonio, Texas, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Embalmer (DVD)

For those who enjoy creepy psycho-sexual thrillers which feature determined dwarves who are taxidermists, sultry, sulky and equally determined Italian temptresses, and tall, handsome and dumb apprentice taxidermists, The Embalmer (L'Imbalsamatore) might be the movie for you. "It's a shrew," says Peppino Profeta (Ernesto Mahieux) to Valerio (Valerio Foglia Manzillo), showing a tiny little animal perfectly mounted on a bit of wood. "Very rare! Imagine, my cat caught this, and what a battle to yank it out of its mouth!" It's not long before Valerio, who is far too dense to appreciate a metaphor, will be the object of a nasty and deadly tug-of-war between Peppino and that determined cat Deborah (Elisabetha Rochetti).

Peppino is a very small (think of a thin and younger Danny De Vito), lonely man who has great charm and a sly, determined will to win what he wants and to keep it when he thinks he's won it. Valerio, a tall young man he meets at a zoo, is what he wants. Valerio is as good-natured and gullible as a puppy, and just as liable to roll over for the first person who wants to rub his stomach. Deborah is a woman who knows what she wants, is just as determined and manipulative as Peppino in getting it, and just as willing to rub the puppy's stomach. Peppino disguises his objective by arranging parties with easy women, but it's clear he prefers to watch Valerio rather than the females. Deborah is too experienced not to know what Peppino wants even if Valerio seems a bit dense about things. One would think Valerio would find himself in the best of all possible worlds. However, he's too naive to simply accept the blessings of circumstance and too easily influenced by the almost ruthless neediness and guilt both Peppino and Deborah use on him. As the story moves along, we learn that Peppino is in debt to the mafia and keeps in their good graces by opening corpses to insert packages of drugs for delivery. He knows that sideline can't be maintained forever. And Deborah, not only using her sexual skills on Valerio to keep him close-by, also announces to him that she's pregnant. This obsessive, bizarre contest over Valerio ends when he takes some decisive steps that involve gunshots and sinking cars.

Is this movie a minor masterpiece that dwells on neediness and sexual manipulation? Well, no. But it certainly is a stylish and intriguing film, even with an ending that dissolves into loony violence and a certain nihilistic artiness. The story is interesting, the direction has style and the director keeps things moving. The film features an underlying and growing uneasiness, especially as Peppino's obsessions grow and Deborah's clutching anger becomes clear. The best thing about the movie, however, is Ernesto Mahieux. The actor is probably no taller than 5 feet. Acting against the more-than-six-feet-tall Valerio Foglia Manzillo, Mahieux must project charm and sincerity. But then Mahieux must also show us Peppino's subtle and then not-so subtle intentions and his growing insecurity, neediness and desperation. It's quite a performance, and every bit believable.

The DVD has a fine picture and audio transfer. There are two or three inconsequential extras.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful, but flawed, July 30, 2008

By 

D. Cerbini (New York) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Embalmer (DVD)

For me, the best part of this film was the spectacular cinematography with which the physical beauty and talent is captured! Certainly, there will be some points in the movie when you're scratching your head going, 'uhhh why the hell is this happening right now?'
But my goodness, every shot is BEAUTIFUL! The weird and sometimes unbelievable things happen with such an amazing eye that in my opinion they are forgivable if not just to see all the wonderful visual ideas the director put into it.