Product Details

• Actors: Giancarlo Giannini, Fernando Rey, Shirley Stoler, Elena Fiore, Piero Di Iorio
• Directors: Lina Wertmüller
• Writers: Lina Wertmüller
• Producers: Lina Wertmüller, Arrigo Colombo
• Format: Color, Original recording reissued, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Language: German, Italian
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Fox Lorber
• VHS Release Date: February 23, 1999
• Run Time: 115 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (39 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 630506914X
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #150,186 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Lina Wertmüller's harrowing 1976 film stars Giancarlo Giannini as a petty crook with seven unattractive sisters to support, and it features a picaresque, World War II-era journey through a prison asylum, army service, and a Nazi concentration camp. Wertmüller is more indulgent in highbrow sadomasochism than she is real profundity, but there's no denying that the film is powerful in its story of subjugation and survival. A climactic scene in which Giannini saves his skin at the camp by seducing its disgusting female commandant is unnervingly honest. Giannini became a '70s international icon partially on the basis of this work. --Tom Keogh

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great DVD transfer, oh yeah!, October 6, 2000

By 

Miko (Jersey City, NJ United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Seven Beauties (DVD)

Finally, an excellent job by Fox-Lorber (just about time, isn't it?). The image in widescreen is sharp and the colors are right. A few forgivable scratches and artifacts here and there but excellent throughout. Can't complain about the sound (mono) which is clear anyway and I think that's how it was when it was first released in theatres. The different interactive menus have music from the film which is a delight thinking that Fox-Lorber did it. Chapter searches are few (6) and far in between but that's okay (since Fox-Lorber is known for that). The only thing missing is the booklet which the company never does anyway (I wonder why). Anyway, the film is great and deserves the treatment it got for its transfer. Fascinating treatment by Wertmuller about a war-deserter who reflects on his life before he ended up in a German concentration camp. Very funny and poignant leading to a searing ending. Images show touches of Fellini whom Wertmuller studied under, yet this movie, which resonates greatness and already a classic is entirely her own. Unforgettable!

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Masterpiece !, August 4, 2002

By 

R. J. Marsella (California) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Seven Beauties (DVD)

This film is so perfectly constructed and well acted that it should be required viewing in any film school. The use of flashback allows the action to switch from extremely funny scenes set in Naples to extremely grim depictions of life in a concentration camp. Giannini is absolutely brilliant as he struggles to maintain his exagerated sense of dignity under increasingly difficult circumstances. The concentration camp is potrayed as hell on earth- all darkness and forboding. Contrast this with colorful Naples and the liveliness of the residents. The film develops these contrasts in a way that focuses on the power of human endurance and the survival instinct. Giannini has an incredible ability to communicate the full range of human emotions with his eyes alone. A truly astounding and very funny performance. Possibly the best I've ever seen.

16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars THE PERFECTION OF THE ITALIAN COMEDY, May 20, 2003

By 

Boris Zubry "Boris Zubry" (Princeton, NJ United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Seven Beauties (DVD)

As many other Italian movies, I saw "The Seven Beauties" for a few times. One time is never enough. Every time I saw it, I would discover more and more things (words, scenes, faces, mimics, costumes) that I did not see before or I understood them differently. As a good wine, it gets better and better than more you taste it and the more mature it gets (or you get). This film is perfect. The combination of the script, filming, acting, scenes, ideas, and music make it perfect. But Giancarlo Giannini makes it memorable.