It’s wild sex for the working class back in the 70s in the gorgeous restoration of the Italian comedy classic The Seduction Of Mimi, written and directed by the great Lina Wertmuller. Carmelo Mardocheo, detto Mimi (Giancarlo Giannini), is a working stiff shoveling some s**t or another in southern Italy. There is a local election coming up, and Mimi’s bosses are pushing for all the workers to vote for the candidate who is in with the mafia. However, Mimi’s fed-up co-workers question why they shouldn’t fight back against the bosses and vote for the Communists. Mimi dislikes being pushed around, and he is also assured that his vote would be secret. It wasn’t, and Mimi gets fired and blacklisted for not playing ball.
Mimi is forced to leave his wife, Amalia (Elena Fiore), behind with his family, as he goes up north to seek work. He arrives in Turin, where the air is thick with smoke from all the factories. After several misadventures with the local mob, Mimi gets a regular factory gig to get money to send back home. He becomes infatuated with one of the hippie communists set up on a street corner, Fiorella (Mariangela Melato). He charms her and pitches woo while they stroll through Turin’s smog-filled public gardens. When Fiorella finally gives herself over, Mimi falls deeply in love. As the new couple’s passion blossoms up north, Mimi gets news from down south: Amalia has gotten her own factory job and has enough money to come visit Mimi…
The Seduction Of Mimi must have confused the dickens out of Times Square when it came out back in the day. Back in 1972, that district in New York was the public masturbation capital of the planet, with many picking a movie to squeeze off the title alone. There would have been a line of sex fiends around the block, waiting to play with themselves inside the theater to a film called The Seduction Of Mimi. Imagine their raincoats fluttering in anger when they find out Mimi is a dude with a mustache who works in a factory. Then comes the long dry season of no flesh between a flash of wife shank and the big dress drop, causing more fiendish infuriation as their palms stay dry.
“Mimi is forced to leave his wife, Amalia (Elena Fiore) behind with his family, as he goes up north to seek work.”
By the time the unconventional cinematic nudity showcase finally occurs, imagine the coats fluttering so fast with rage that perverts lift into the air, like an X-rated Mary Poppins rip-off. This is because Wertmuller, after teasing pretty young braless activists throughout, gives us a big skin payoff of a simple housewife’s huge honking a*s. This is supposed to be a punchline, with the music sliding between the meaty cheeks, consuming the camera. Of course, it must have an unbridled thrill to see such an ample bottom as the one displayed, towering over heads to the rafters on a giant screen. The reaction shots of Giannini as he sees the enormous posterior unleashed are remarkably ambiguous. Is he in fear or awe? While conceived with the former in mind, time has made the latter more likely. Red beans and rice missed nothing here.
The new restoration of The Seduction Of Mimi looks absolutely amazing. Many films from the early 70s looked like old leather by the time VHS rolled in, so to see a work like this with crystal clarity is a new treat. The pollution of the period looks phenomenal, especially all the eerie shadows in the smog. You can also see the wrinkles of every snicker and sneer Giannini sends your way. Giannini still commands the screen with his undeniable power, rampaging through bedrooms like a vulgar Italian Chaplin. He will still make you laugh your guts out fifty-three years later, with an arrogant loser appeal that has only increased as the decades flew by. Melato is a joy as always, an icon of Euro-chic that never tarnishes. It’s Fiore that will make you laugh the hardest, as you will love her anarchy.
Instead of a class struggle commentary dressed as a sex comedy, The Seduction Of Mimi seems more like a sex comedy that uses political factions like Punch and Judy puppets, smashing them into each other for everyone’s amusement. If there is a political condemnation in Wertmuller’s text, it is aimed at the organized crime elements that control everything behind the scenes. While this message seems obvious, this restoration brings it back in a timely way, as the blight of criminal corruption of public life is not gone. But it is more of a laugh riot than anything else, a clever old-school bed hopper with classic performances by its leads. With an ultra-real looking restoration, The Seduction Of Mimi will have you smelling smoke and mustaches for hours after viewing.
"…will have you smelling smoke and mustaches for hours after viewing."
