Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

Director Lina Wertmueller's "Seven Beauties" feels like a never-ending roller coaster as the cowardly anti-hero Pasqualino Frasfuso (played very well by Giancarlo Giannini) blunders into one bad situation after the other from the the 1930s to the end of the Second World War. Alternating from uproariously funny to deadly serious, this film uses Giannini's life to convey a very cynical message about life and the world. Wertmueller happily subjects Giannini's character to one humiliation after the other in order to make this large point: namely, that Pasqualino survives these misadventures (including a prolonged stay in a concentration camp) not because of his heroic or noble qualities (he has none), but rather because he is weak, cowardly, and selfish. Admittedly, this message may strike viewers as very depressing. Yet, Wertmueller's "Seven Beauties" makes for great entertainment anyway precisely because it is an unconventional, fast-paced, colourful, loud, musical, stereotypical, and action-packed picture where the unexpected often happens and catches you unawares.

Giancarlo Giannini is an actor whose performances I've always enjoyed, and he first came to my attention as Renaldo Pazzi in the startlingly-underrated 'Hannibal,' in which he nonetheless managed to outshine the likes of Anthony Hopkins, Julianne Moore and Gary Oldman. My search for more of his excellent roles led me all the way back to 1975, in Lina Wertmüller's powerful Holocaust drama/comedy, 'Pasqualino Settebellezze {Seven Beauties}.' Surprisingly, for a foreign title, the film proved quite successful at the 1977 Academy Awards, receiving nominations for Best Foreign Language Film, Best Director (the first such nomination for a female director), a well-deserved Best Actor (Giannini) and Best Original Screenplay.The film follows the exploits of Pasqualino Frafuso, a proud young man from a poor, rather unattractive family. Over the course of his life, Pasqualino has gained a certain level of respect in his home city of Naples. Whilst not particularly brave or dangerous, he possesses enough confidence to convince others that he is, and few people bother him. He carries around a gun for intimidation purposes, but doesn't really know how to use it properly. Thus, despite his less-than-good looks, Pasqualino considers himself a great success, and refuses to allow anybody to tarnish the great reputation that he has garnered himself. When one of his seven sisters becomes a prostitute to make ends meet, he responds violently, his reaction resulting in murder. In order to minimise his punishment, Pasqualino abandons his morals and feigns insanity, before enlisting in the defence force to escape the debilitating mental institution.All his own life, Pasqualino has treasured his sense of pride, but, when faced with death, he finds himself becoming… not quite a coward, but something akin to one. He deteriorates into a pathetic, grovelling, low-life creature, his will to survive outweighing his former notions of respect and family honour. It is not, in any way, a heroic bid for survival; it is painful to watch; we are repulsed; we pity him for the lengths he has gone to. When ordered to randomly select six young members of his own people to be executed, he does so. He puts a bullet in his own friend because he is told to. There are no heroes here; only the raw, brutal facts of reality.'Seven Beauties,' peculiarly for films of its subject matter, is a mixture of comedy and drama, and this gave rise to some of its biggest flaws. At numerous points, the film seems unsure of exactly what it wants to be: the bright, funny sequences are funny; the dark, dramatic sequences are certainly dramatic. However, the two extremes can't seem to comfortably co-exist on the screen, as you'd imagine when dealing with events of this sort. As much as my opinion is destined to be an unpopular one, I thought that Roberto Benigni's 'La Vita è bella {Life is Beautiful} (1997)' did a better job of using comedy to make the events of the Holocaust seem even more tragic.Another point that shouldn't affect my enjoyment of the film – but does – is the fact that 'Seven Beauties' features a selection of the most repulsive women, both morally and visually, in the history of cinema. Giannini, despite referring to himself as ugly at one point, stands as a shining beacon of handsomeness among this crowd, which is not necessarily a compliment. I realise that this was probably a requirement for the film itself to work, but that doesn't make it any easier to look at the television screen. After watching 'Seven Beauties' for the first time, I find myself satisfied, but ultimately feeling as though it has been done better.

Seven Beauties goes for about the first hour seeming to be, for the most part, a wild lot of absurd and/or fully rounded moments of wit from the physical (moving a large dead body around a room, a broom and pail of things thrown after getting beat to the grown, and most notably stealing food while rambling on in Italian to a German in stunned silence), to things based just on the wild mood of Italian characterizations. After all, how can it not be when a man has about seven sisters, give or take a couple, and a house full of kids and estrogen? Surrounding this absurdity, and the sort of smooth-operating would-be ladies man but stern-family-man Pasqualino (Giancarlo Giannini), is real danger in the country, and after becoming a soldier following a series of very bad circumstances (murder, a stint in a mental hospital), he also gets thrown into a prison-cum-concentration camp, where he thinks that somehow he can pull out something of emotion from the bloated brick-wall of a b***h-witch German Commandant (Shirley Stoler). This, however, brings on a downfall that acts as something of a purely existential crux: he'll have to live with it for the rest of his life- or some form of life he's chosen over the firing line.Seven Beauties is loaded with creativity and an original perspective right from the beginning. I loved the opening montage, where Wertmuller puts together images of Nazis and world war 2 bombings put to 70s progressive rock music and Giannini in voice-over doing some strange quasi-singing. Then the story, unfolding in appropriate non-linear form, has Pasqualino trying to avoid a firing line he and his socialist friend escape from (he doesn't want to escape from it, but Pasqualino does, leading to the ultimate irony in the prison camp). Then something tricky: treading the line between making scenes really emotionally compelling in terms of the dramatic conflict- which in true Italian fashion ala Pasqualino's striptease sister, whom he fervently disapproves of- while also adding hysterical comedy on the same level.There's sincerity all the time, but also something of a wink from Pasqualino, at least at first, if only subliminally through his oddly traditional character. Then, as the prison camp scenes go forward, things become (very) dark with the set design being extremely stark and decayed with the buildings and blank look to the walls, and the Commandant, who as played by the scarily one-tone Stoller, a Nazi version of Nurse Ratched, minus the veneer of "we're here to help you" and replaced with the cruelest form of human connection- pure indifference and contempt that gives fascism its bad name.It's fascism, by the way, that is laced in the cracks in the story, as we see in a scene between the Socialist and Pasqualino, where he can't get his head around the idea that fascism and Il Duce aren't good providers. Behind the real human choices and lack of compassion in this world of Wertmuller's, there's the social framework that puts all these characters into this wretched existence. Giannini, all the while, is absolutely perfect in the role. First there's just the look on his face, his eyes, where early on he's the 'man' of the family, in charge and taking names, though mostly in threats. When there's panic to be had, like in an accidental murder, then we start to see cracks in his veneer of more slick attitude. These become more pronounced in the mental hospital, including a great scene of reaction shots as he tries to have his way with a woman tied down to a bed. By the time prison comes, he's been broken down, and his pleading with the Commandant- who shows next to no emotion, whatsoever- seems all the more genuine, not so much as a con, and it's significant by making comedy in a German prison environment so uncomfortable and bleak. The last shot is key, and one where Giannini's performance comes full fold; this is one where he goes through many emotions, through a very expressive face, ending on a blank. Wertmuller as director is fearless in her attempts to intermingle just little slices of comedy, like Pasqualino's "seven beauties" explanation. Or as he hums and whistles quietly early on at the Commandant, quietly getting her attention. Even over the top bits with the prostitute sister, or with the little flashbacks to his childhood, it's an honest comedy, that can only come out of a confident director in tone and manner with the actors. And when it comes to style, she has one of the key cinematographers of the mid 20th century on her side (Tonino Delli-Colli), but it's sometimes more subtle than a Fellini, with a documentary approach to many scenes, and an editing style that's a little leaning to the conventional side when not intermingling various images and montages, or cutting to trees to transition. But there are many scenes for movie buffs to remember just in visual terms; the prison is presented in long shots displaying the many souls lost in the deadened atmosphere of total dominance, and specifically the scenes with Pasqualino and the Commandant in her office are lit in a stark green, and later blue, add not so much the characters' psychological mood but just a sensibility of dread and the coldness of it all.In all, Seven Beauties is a disturbing work of of minor genius, and it's unfortunate that Wertmuller is over-looked nowadays as she's one of those rare filmmakers who can tackle the sad truths of people that are faced when there's real consequences to not really being apart of anything except for oneself and so-called "family pride". At the same time Wertmuller gets the viewer to laugh at it during the process, be it through choices in music or simply in Giannini, who's got more range than many a Hollywood actor today. A+

Wertmueller has created a wonderful, rich and full portrait of a petty criminal whose life takes a series of severe and life changing turns. While the character of Pasqualino (Giannini)is presented as a 'cafone' (clown), his life's situation is one that is sympathetic. As we follow the course of this period of his life, we see Pasqualino's character change from insignificant ne'er-do-well into an Everyman caught up in the horrors and inhumanity of war.Giannini portrays his character from start to finish with all the authenticity that he brings to all of his work. As Pasqualino, he plays the clown, the would-be criminal, inmate, soldier but above all a man surviving by his wits and to the best of his ability in the insane situation of war.The defining scene of Pasqualino's spirit takes place during his German captivity as he stands, with hands on head (after refusing to inform on his fellow POWs), singing 'Maria' in his guttural, gritty voice. This simple yet powerful scene touches every heart as Pasqualino's fight for human dignity is clear.Once again, Wertmueller has given us a capsule of Italian life during a horrendous period of history and has made it relevant to us all, for all time.