Swept Away (1974 film)

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Swept Away
Italian theatrical release poster
Italian	Travolti da un insolito destino nell'azzurro mare d'agosto
Directed by	Lina Wertmüller
Written by	Lina Wertmüller
Produced by	Romano Cardarelli
Starring	Giancarlo Giannini Mariangela Melato
Cinematography	Ennio Guarnieri
Edited by	Franco Fraticelli
Music by	Piero Piccioni
Distributed by	Medusa Distribuzione
Release date	19 December 1974 (1974-12-19)
Running time	114 minutes[1]
Country	Italy
Language	Italian
Box office	$6 million (US and Canada)[2] or $1,750,000[3]

Swept Away... by an Unusual Destiny in the Blue Sea of August (Italian: Travolti da un insolito destino nell'azzurro mare d'agosto),^[4] usually shortened to Swept Away_, is a 1974 Italian romantic adventure comedy drama written and directed by Lina Wertmüller, starring Giancarlo Giannini and Mariangela Melato. The film follows a wealthy woman whose yachting vacation with friends in the Mediterranean Sea takes an unexpected turn when she and one of the boat's crew are separated from the others and they become stranded on a desert island. The woman's capitalist beliefs and the man's communist convictions clash, but during their struggle to survive their situation, their social roles are reversed.

Swept Away was released to divided, but largely positive, reviews, and it won the 1975

An arrogant wealthy woman named Raffaella Pavone Lanzetti is vacationing on a yacht in the Mediterranean Sea with friends—swimming, sunbathing, and talking incessantly about the virtues of her class and the worthlessness of the political left. Her nonstop political monologue infuriates one of the deckhands, Gennarino, a dedicated communist who manages to restrain his opinions to avoid losing his good job. Despite her humiliating insults, Gennarino agrees to take her out on a dinghy late in the evening to see the rest of her friends who have gone ahead without her. On their way, the outboard motor gives out, leaving them stranded in the middle of the sea with no land in sight.

After a night at sea, Gennarino manages to get the motor running again, but has no idea where they are. Eventually they spot an island and head toward it, destroying their dinghy in the process. On land, they discover that there is no one else on the island. Accustomed to having everything done for her, Raffaella begins ordering Gennarino about, but he snaps, refusing to assist her any longer. Raffaella reacts with a string of insults, but he gives as good as he gets, and they split up to explore the island on their own.

Gennarino is soon catching and cooking lobsters. Gradually their roles become reversed. While she has to rely on him for food, Gennarino wants her to be his slave, convinced that women are born to serve men. He even forces her to endure the indignity of washing his underwear. When she reacts in angry defiance, he slaps her around. Gennarino starts to rape her, but then changes his mind, deciding that it would be more satisfying if she gave herself to him willingly. Later that evening, Raffaella does approach him, and both willingly engage in passionate sex. He wants her to fall in love with him, and she becomes subservient to him. Eventually they spot a ship, and although they are both reluctant to disrupt their newfound paradise, they signal the ship and are rescued.

After returning home, they soon revert to their former lives and social roles—she once again embracing the upper-class lifestyle of her friends; he returning to a life of a lower-class worker and husband. Abandoned by the object of his desires, Gennarino returns defeated to his sad life and loveless marriage—far removed from an idyllic island in the Mediterranean Sea.

Production

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The film was shot along the eastern

In his review in the Chicago Sun-Times, American film critic Roger Ebert gave the film four stars, his highest rating. Ebert wrote that the film "resists the director's most determined attempts to make it a fable about the bourgeoisie and the proletariat, and persists in being about a man and a woman. On that level, it's a great success."^[4]

Other reviewers and analysts responded that those who focused on the misogyny simply didn't understand the film's message about class warfare. James Berardinelli defended the film, writing "Those who view this film casually may easily mistake it for a male fantasy... The reality, however, is that Wertmuller is exhibiting the courage to show things that other filmmakers shy away from."^[6] John P. Lovell wrote "The sexual violence can be analyzed as political violence within the framework of patriarchal politics and the film's concern with a symbolic presentation of social revolt."^[7]

In her review in Jump Cut, Tania Modleski dismissed those justifications, contending that critics would not have been so kind to those who made films which reinforced stereotypes—culminating in violent subjugation—about oppressed ethnic groups, so there was no justification for critics to praise a rape-fantasy film. Responding to the film's message about class warfare, she wrote "So even if Wertmuller wanted to convey only a political message, she has clouded rather than clarified the issues. She should have made both parties male."^[8]

On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film received a 57% positive rating from top film critics based on 21 reviews, with an average rating of 7.4/10.^[9]

Awards and nominations

Remake

The film was

• The Admirable Crichton
• Overboard
• Liza

References

Notes

Citations