Customer Reviews

The Seduction of Mimi [VHS]

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This broad, clever satire on male hypocrisy and social convention is priceless, if you love the mournful comic countenance of actor Giannini, as I do. His Mimi is an artful creation, an ignorant, impetuous, bumbling fool you can't help but love. The machinations he undergoes to get back at his spouse will amaze and amuse. Don't miss the scene when the fat lady disrobes- it's deservedly the stuff of cinematic legend.

A man that wants everything, and ends up with nothing. Mimi, the laborer, is seduced into working for the Mafia - which he hates and fears - to pay for his extramarital affairs.

A well made film of high caliber. Thoroughly enjoyable and remarkably light hearted for an otherwise somber topic. A must for the serious movie buff.

For: The Seduction of Mimi (1972)
Studio: Fox Lorber (A Winstar Company)
DVD Release Date: March 31, 1998

One Star for the DVD: To produce a cheep widescreen version - Fox Lorber Home Video has taken the movie's full frame image version and has cropped off the top and bottom part of the image. Fox Lorber simply removed part of the image just to please those of us who prefer the widescreen format. Many times during the movie the bright light will bleed over into the black cropped bars producing a glowing horizontal line within the black bars.

Five Stars for the Movie: A great movie! I cannot wait to buy a new DVD release of his movie that is Restored, Digitally Re-mastered and presented in its true original aspect ratio. Until then I will just have to settle for this piece of junk DVD transfer that I just paid $31.50 for.

A comical and satirical tryst! Delight in Wertmuller's trademark themes of politics and sex. This film adds the differences between Northern and Southern Italy and honor to the mix. The seduction is politically oriented, as you will see with the hilariously, ubiquitous presence of the Mafia. Sicilian concepts of a man and his honor is revealed in Mimi's relationship with his wife, his mistress, his wife's lover's wife, which all somehow become convoluted with politics. Wertmuller, Giannini, and Melato have not reached their heights, but all of the elements of their later masterworks are present in this film.

After purchasing this DVD, and loving it, I still have a disturbing question: is this the same theatrical release version, which, according to Wertmuller, was criminally cut by New Line Cinema (the original distributor) by up to forty minutes? Do I have to go to Italy to find out?

The theme of this story is the prideful narcissism that leads a self-serving, dissatisfied laborer to create overwhelming obligations he cannot control in the context of social corruption and uncertain employment.
This story is culturally valuable because it depicts part of the life of one man in a very universal manner. Mimi is every man: he lusts, he is jealous, he is vulnerable, he wants job security, he has morals and he sometimes compromises them. At the same time, however, Mimi's predicaments are presented in such an exaggerated, humorous manner that they provide relief from the audience's own frustrations. On a more particular level, this film reveals the impact that the "mafia" had on Italian society at this time. Yet, even this is done in so humorous a way as to never seem upsetting. The bitterness of the events that take place--the loss of love, humiliation and misuse of women, the loss of value and the buckling of Mimi to corrupt social powers--are given to an audience with enough comical sugar to allow it to go down easily. And although women are shown objectified and humiliated in this society, the men who do it are shown to be victims of their own absurdities and social traditions as well. This film both exemplifies the dangers of being narcissistic and acting rashly on jealousy and desire, and provides comic relief for a world plagued with problems.

Highlly recommen