Scandalous Gilda (1985, DVD Review) One 7 Movies
Director: Gabriele Lavia
Cast: Gabriele Lavia, Monica Guerritore
One 7 Movies / NTSC Region 0 / Unrated / 1.78:1 Anamorphic Widescreen / English and Italian Dolby Digital 2.0 / 92 minutes / PURCHASE FROM TLAraw.com!
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A married woman walks in on her husband as he is in the midst of banging a big-breasted hottie and is immediately berated by him for knowing what she would find if she came home. Angry, hurt and confused she sets out on a road trip and meets an “introverted extrovert” (his words) artist while he is swerving all over the road in front of her while singing. The two meet at a gas station and decide to have dinner. After eating and lots of sharing, the two begin a torrid and extremely dysfunctional sexual relationship that has him falling in love with her and her doing everything she can to disgust and push him away. Their first intimate encounter is of the whore/john variety after she insists that he pay her after they fuck. From there it just devolves into self-loathing depravity and broken sexual taboos.
Writer, director and lead actor in Scandalosa Gilda (the original Italian title) Gabriele Lavia is probably best known for a couple of collaborations he did with horror legend Dario Argento. Not being a fan of Argento (mostly due to not having seen his films), I am completely unaware of Lavia’s style but I was very impressed with the cinematography in Gilda. It was a beautifully shot movie and very stylish, much like Argento is known for. The story was really nothing new; two people working through their inner pain and self-loathing by acting out in sexually perverse ways, but that is usually a recipe for good T&A, so that’s okay. I was also a little bored at some points because of the odd pacing of the movie. It opens with a bang, then “who gives a shit” sprinkled in with some interesting bits like a riotous penis cartoon, and closes with some honest-to-god sleaze.
The sex was never very graphically portrayed, rather style is used to bring the perverted goods. Lavia shows us the passion in the opening sex scene with lighting and slatternly used slow-motion. He also shoots a lot around wetness like a bath tub, saliva (used in a rather surprising anal scene) and lots and lots of sweat. That, in combination with the lighting makes for, though often too short in my opinion, very steamy scenes. The acting also stands out to me as odd. Lavia and his real-life wife and Gilda co-star Monica Guerritore both started in the theater and their overacting makes it very apparent. Lots of very animated body gestures and facial expressions really made it look like it could have been shot in black and white in the 1940s. In all, Scandalous Gilda is a pretty strange movie that only Euro-cinephiles would enjoy and I think they really would. For the casual exploitation fan expecting a playful exploitation romp, you should probably pass it by.
The picture quality on this first One 7 Movies release was impressive. The colors were very vibrant and aside from a couple of “dirt” specs here and there, there was no damage or aging to be seen. I only question the sound quality as I had to turn down the “highs” on my equalizer to minimize the hiss on the English soundtrack. What little of the Italian track I listened to seemed to be a little deeper and better quality. I would have preferred the original Italian but since I don’t speak Italian and there were no English subs available, I didn’t really have a choice. There are also no extras what-so-ever. One thing this release does is wet my whistle for future One 7 Movies titles because, if anything, this one was interesting and something a little different. Look for it on shelves and online December 14th!
