The defense of honor, a prominent value in Neapolitan society, and its implications for everyday existence Frafuso, Pasquale.
Lina Wertmüller‘s 1975 Italian language picture Seven Beauties (Pasqualino Settebellezze, “Pasqualino Sevenbeauties”) stars Giancarlo Giannini, Fernando Rey, and Shirley Stoler.
The film, written by Wertmüller, is about an Italian commoner who flees the army during WWII and is kidnapped by the Germans and taken to a prison camp, where he tries anything to live. We learn about his family of seven ugly sisters, his unintentional death of one sister’s boyfriend, his captivity in an insane institution (where he rapes a patient), and his willingness to be a soldier to escape confinement through flashbacks.
Wertmüller became the first woman to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Director for her work on the picture, a distinction that was not repeated until 1993, when New Zealand filmmaker Jane Campion was nominated for The Piano. Three further Academy Award nominations were given to the film, including one for Best Foreign Language Film. It was also nominated for one Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Film.