THE MICHIGAN DAILY rts & Entertainm ent Wednesday, April 7, 1976 Page Five A CROSS_ EUROPE BYBU LONDON TO: ATHENS S57* - ROME $44' PARIS $25" ZURICH $40' MILAN $44 - BARCELONA $40' AMSTERDAM TO ATHENS $61 IFYOU CAN DRIVE ACAR YOU COULDSV YOUR FRIEND'S LIFE. Seven Beauties' Wprtmullpr's best w w %WE WE N a By JAMES VALK IT IS INDEED the sign of a great artist to follow one mtnificant work with another. But if Swept Away was any in- dication of a consummate work of art, then Lina Wertmuller's Seven Beauties is a dream of a film - her piece de resistance that defies an equal in con- temporary film. On the strength of this film alone, the 47-year-old director could end her career and still remain a filmmaker of historic proportions, holding her own with the artistic intelligence of a Bergman or a Fellini. LIFE HER past works, Seven Beauties again stars Giancarlo Gianniii in the title role, and again Wertmuller uses the camera to scrutinize his char- Acter. Every move is choreo- graphed to his demeanor, flow- ing with his every expression, filling the screen with a mere twitch of an eye or a tip of a hat - seemingly minor details that raise the Giannini figure; from a literary character to a cinematic image. beast is a heart." Iuse of creative disorder that one The assertion of his manhood would expect from Pedro's "new that almost got him killed in man." "We don't want order,"j- Naples is now his saving grace he explains, "that's what the via an erection. The comman- Germans have." dant yields to Pasqualino, Ed- And thus speaks Wertmuller, mitting in disgust that "the Ger- allowing her cinema its own mans will never have a master flagrant disorder. An ingenuous race because subhuman larvae aspect of Seven Beauties is its will survive simply because resistance to adhere - nothing they can attain an erection even is right, nothing is wrong. Wert- when half dead." muller hands down no moral verdicts, allowing her film its IT IS TO this subhuman larva own beguiled artistry. In the Giancarlo Giannini portrays Pasqualino Frafuso, Lina Wert macho masculinity, in "Seven Beauties," now playing at T Her use of film technology is camp to the blinding yellows of vation - not so much his mnas - shattering, with Tonino Delli Italy or from her brilliant open- culinity itself, but his belief in Colli's cinematography making ing sequence depicting the exe- it. Whether on the streets of , Giannini's opening scenes some cution of Jews in a mis-ry Naples or confined within +he of the most dazzling on filmI forest to a cut of a colorful cor- walls of the German prisn, Le Andt Enzo Iannacci's score, sage that adorns the thigh of a is convinced that one tip of his which alone can add another di- sleazy vaudevillian performer hat or a seductive gesture alone mension to a film, appropriately (who, we learn, is Pasaualino's can make him invincible. elevates Seven Beauties into its, sister). The murder of people It is in the prison sequences rightful position. by the Germans to the murder it sqinorsn seqentc of art by the Italians - in oneh Pasqualino's "Neopoliian The film follows Pasqualino simple cut. gentleman" diminishes to a man Fra'fuso, a small time Mafioso, ithsnhnglstanraped of his manhood (the exact4 who struts the streets of World It is thus nothing less than reverse of Raffaella of Swept War II Naples while his seven remarkable that Wertmuller can Away). Here Pasqualino loses umpling ssters (and hee maintain this feverish pace de- his false pride; no longer does name, Seven Beauties) stuff spite her lurid charm, deriving he carry a gun that he never mattresses at home. her humor from the very atro- intended on using - now his cities that shock and appall. very survival depends on his HE INSISTS on maintaining So it is not surprising that ability to pull the trigger, as he his honor and dignity, and thus Pasqualino becomes the char- mst shoot a fellow prisoner in kills the pimp who made his acter through which Wertmu.'ler order to satisfy the comman- sister a whore. He is caught, draws her most fleeting ironies. dant. No longer does he wear the sent to a mental institution, It is Giannini who was caught d"bious title of "The "Monster agrees to join the army in order in the "battle-of-the-sexes" of of Naples" with honor - he to escape from the hospital -- her last four films, and It is now lowers his head in realiza- and subsequently compromises Giannini who now carries this tion of where his quest for sur- his position as a prisoner in theme to its end - the fallen ial has led him. order to escape from a Nazi masculinity that exerts itself concentration camp. in the name of self-esteem and THIS BECOMES the passion family "honor." of Seven Beauties - the abiltv 'IFW FILM divides its time to survive against the desire. between Naples and Germany, BUT Pasqualino's masculinity It is here where Pasgqualino's with Wortmuller establishing her is pliable. It is this flimsy as- charm dissolves into its mere links with ironic ease, from the set that he deems so vital which contrivance: the "neceS3 I cloudy blue of the'concentratinn ultimately proves to be his sal- of Nales, hm "respect" nd "honor," become meanin;ess Ii tokens of a daserted dignit.. ; that Wertmuller seems to grant end, one is neither pushed nor her final reprise, with Pasqual- forced toward any specific an- ino'sdetermination to survive swers, only made exceedingly ultimately no more frivolous in aware of decisions yet t) be Germany than it was in Naples. made. It was, as it always had been, the immediate needs that dic- The sun, the controlling body tated the immediate goals: he of our solar system, is a star choose food over sex when he whose dimensions cause it to be encountered a woman in a classified among stars as aver- lonely cottage, yet insisted on age in size, temperature and sex with the commandant (" ... brightness. but I love you!" perhaps the most outrageous line of the film) despite her charges that it was i Sfood he was after. (The tech- Award nique used in these two scenesW l r' m o a n is brilliant; thematically con- mullers image of traditional nected by the accompaniment Detroit's Towne theatre. of Wagner's Traume.) Survival is no longer the fight And in the end, it is Pas-I for social status as it was in j qualino the survivor returning to Naples, but is now, a hard-fought the girl of his dreams who has,; choice - one between comnro- in yet another crowing irony, mise and life or idealism and become a prostitute along with death. The choice is between the "seven beauties" in the! SHOWS TODAY at: the apolitical Pasqualino and name of survival. But Pasqua- 1:00,3:05, 5:10,7:20, 9:30 Pedro, the failed anarchist ("I lino is quick tohforgive, for -__________i__ry in a k e lousy bombs") who getting that he had killednis drowns himself in a vat of:sister's pimp because he had human excrement rather than made her a whore. accept Pasqualino's compliance Pasqualino has gone through TheatrePhone 6454290 with the Germans. so much yet has learned so But it is not just political little: he has deprived others compliance t h a t Wertmuller of their lives and has murdered "A fine film. deals with, and her now in- to save his own. He has raped --Penelope Gilliat a famous sexual innuendos are a helpless insane woman tied The New Yorker brought to a resounding finale spread-eagle in a hospital bed when Pasqualino attempts to and "seduced" the unpassion- seduce the grossly overweight ately submissive commandant, female commandant, honing Even the lecture that Pedro S w e p t that "at the center of every gave him about the ills of over- -nowvlation ("In 300 years there. will be so many peonle that wew . will have to fight for a single R Ha,, a fli, fr apple") has become confuising SHOWTIMES artistic writinii? to him, as he tells his bridle-to- Tadao at 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9 It you are stic - be they will "have 25-30 children ed Inarevewii ~ so we will be able to fight for poetry, and music our share of the apples. or writing feature stories about the drama, dance, frm IS WERTMULLER grie'rousj T. P arts: Contact Arts over the fate of Pasqualino? Michigan Daiy. Her resolution is oblique, as has Now been msany oaf her nonconcir- N w S o ig sions. She provides all but an answer, relying instead on the COLUIAP CTUPRESdRASTARPICTUAE$ "ROBIN erform ance shakey A RICHARD LESTER ni'. I O]A RAY STARK-RICHARD) SHEPHE.RD c ..+. ECONOMY HOLIDAY S/1324 LEX. AVE. For free nformtti aWrte t. NYC/N.Y.10028/212-348-5961 DRUNK DRiVE aox 2345 "+10% TAX. SERV. CHARGE Rockvile. Mairylad 20832 -0 1) UAC/eclipse jazz PRESENTS C CECIL j TAYLORo IN CONCERT 0 Thursday, April 15 Power Center-8O P. TICKETS NOW ON SALE All Seats $4.50 Reserved TICKETS AT TICKET CENTRAL, HILL AUDITORIUM Also available at HUDSON'S Downtown, Northland, Briarwood D-001 the MOV ISfAT BRIARW 0 ADJACENT TO J.C. PENNEY 0769-87806.1=94 A S.STATE, ANN ARBOR DAILY EARLY BIRD MATINEES - Adwits $1.oo MON. TRU SAT. I A.M. Tit 1:30 P.M. SUN. & HoTS. 1? NOON Ti It130 P.M. n M mmMIfCITI OUNTS(xFi.&SaM t. .0s.0 Declarer must play RIDGE. dummy carefully to BRIDGE* garner more 'tricks Dance p By MARK West S K 7 6 3 H 108 1)AQ C J 10 9 8 South 1 NT 3 NT North S A J 4 H 6 5 3 D J 108 CA 4 South 5 10 8 2 By CAROLYN SMITH FRIEDLANDER - JMAGINE yourself in the world of childhood: hopping, contract with an overtrick. So leaping, and play-acting. The he started clubs from the top, Gelman ' Palidofsky Dance cashing the ace-king, and groan-st' Theatre performance at Arena ing when West showed out. j Theatre last weekend attempted And Sg h w ws rih tod oan. to take its audience back to the because he had just thrown the uninhibited, ridiculous antics of contract away. After playing the childhood - but instead jour-I e nr~at y... ter playing the neved to a rather bizarre land. 7 4 2 East S Q 9 5 H J 9 4 2 D653 C7,3 C. 7 ,)3 ) LI E E 19 'n P f: pened the effect. more than banging on pots and IN GRASSHOPPERS, t h e pans accompanied by violin, dancers hopped around and another trivial antic. portrayed insects, using bent The performances major fault; legs and stiffened arms. How- concerns the fact the audience ever, the unity of the number. was not kept in mind. The is not clear; the selections did strange and sometimes irritat- not visibly correlate. ing music along with the truly The final selection, Six Im- weird poetry and sketches cov- possible Things Before Break- ered up much of the artistic, in- fast, consisted of bizarre rhym- novative potential. The thea- ng and typically strange, child- tre itself was too closely situ- ike skits. You began to feel ated to the performers which ike an onlooker to a psychia- lessened the illusive effect. The tric ward; amidst the carnival professional quality will have to music and spastic thrusts of the ,be upgraded in order that the bodies. The act, Concerto for company may survive in the Violin and Kitchen was nothing competitive world of dance. -U SHOWTIMES Mon., Tues., Thurs., Fri.: 7:00 and'9:00 p.m. Sat., Sun., Wed.: 1:00. 3:00. 5:00. 7:00. 9:00 I -- I I %- / a J HAKQ7 DK9 CKQ62 West pass All pass North 3D Opening lead: J of club When dummy has a long in notrump, declarer's str is most often to establish run the suit, leaving the fense twooptions: run its suit first or deprive the dec of the ability to run the West led the jack of against South's three not contract, and dummy ha win the ace. Declarer set establishing dummy's long by leading a small diamor his king and West's ace. R+ ing that diamonds would b up before his clubs, West to knock out dummy'ss entry while he still had the diamond. To have a chant be successful, South mus missing the queen of spad So West switched to the of spades! If dummy du another spade to East'sc and a third spade would declarer off from the diam Theref ore North won the spade and cleared diamond East eventually topped dum jack of spades with hi.s q' isolating the diamonds in now - unreachable dummy holding South to eight tric North SA H853 ace of ciubs, the contracL can hi never be madeTheir creativity is question- i eer lay s able. For example, in the first Il The proper play is a low club number, Your Feets Too Big, . away from the AKQ at trick Linda Gelman paraded and t two. Although this may give up lept about in an over-sized pair n East an extra club trick, declarer of shoes. Clever?b pass only needs five clubs and the four major suit tricks to make In Cat's Cradle, the stagebwas ,three notrump. And the advan- webbed in long white ribbons. s tage of the low club lead is Two dancers stalked; chasing that it sets up the suit while each other while trying to avoid suit'South still has a low club in getting tangled in the web. At ategy j his hand to get to dummy. If the conclusion, a girl is caught and:more declarers would be careful' in the ribbon and her pursuer lon g about their entries, they wouldI sits back and smiles. Although ,a make many more tricks and far the act was uniqte, it presented larer fewer groans. a uncomfortable twist that dam- suit. clubs --- ^ rump! d to: about JOSEPH VON STERNBURG'S 1934 suit nd toSCRE eali- THE SCARLET EMPRESS I e set had spade Marlene Dietrich plays Catherine the Great in high this h i g h I y romanticized biography. It's a t be cinema classic more for its superb visual flair [es. than its dramatic sense. A f a n t a s y to be king relished.. cked, queen I cut THURS: Rita Hayworth as COVER GIRL onds. ! frt CINEMA GUILD TONIGHT AT OLD ARCH. amy's lueen. ___________________ n the m FRI.-SAT.-SUN. $ COONEY 2.50 I nMUSKET and SOPH SHOW.I I Now Taking Applications for Fall Musical Central Committee Positions DIRECTORS . CHOREOGRAPHERS MUSICAL DIRECTORS SET DESIGNERS PUBLICITY HEADS, ETC. It's a Great Way to Meet New People and Gain Experience! APPLICATIONS DUE WEDNESDAY, APRIL 14 AT. UAC OFFICE, 2ND FLOOR UNION--763-1107 Songer of old songs on 12 string, 6 string, banjo, fretless b a n j a, concertina, tinwhistle, jawhArp, hrmonic TUES.-April 6th--BIFF ROSE! I I 1421 HILL 8:30 761-1451 t'e resk en isl COI e, e er- and ks. West D 1075 S09762CAKQ H J1042 DK83 S C J South 0G * O S * * op, WED., APR. 7 HEARTS AND MINDS (Peter Davis, 1974) AUD. A-7 & 9:30 I East 742SJ84 HQ96 DA4 C 109 6 5 3 I I