Francesco Scali Movies
- 1989
American character actor James Russo stars in the Italian melodrama La Cintura (The Belt). Russo's first mistake is to fall in love with Eleanora Brigliadori. His second mistake is to marry her. Experiencing a sexual epiphany on her wedding night, Brigliadori decides that she enjoys being brutally beaten. Reluctantly, Russo indulges his bride's S&M yearnings, but when he wants to put a stop to this activity, he learns to his horror that it's too late to turn back. La Cintura is based on a novel by Alberto Moravia. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Eleonora Brigliadori, James Russo, (more)
Luciano Odorisio's Italian-made exploitation film La Monaca di Monza travels into the deepest and darkest recesses of a Catholic convent, where a nobleman (Alessandro Gassman) and a nun (Myriem Roussel) engage in a passionate love affair. Little can they foresee the dangerous and calamitous consequences that this will yield -- consequences involving betrayal, vengeance, and homicide. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Myriem Roussel, Alessandro Gassman, (more)
Adapted from Umberto Eco's best-selling novel, director Jean-Jacques Annaud's The Name of the Rose is a 14th century murder-mystery thriller starring Sean Connery as a Sherlock Holmes-esque Franciscan monk called William of Baskerville. When a murder occurs at a secluded Benedictine Abbey, William is called in to investigate. As he and his apprentice, Adson von Melk (Christian Slater), delve deeper and deeper into the case, more dead bodies begin to turn up. Eventually, Bernardo Gui, an inquisitor played by F. Murray Abraham gets involved, but he may not have the best intentions. Sean Connery's performance earned him the award for Best Actor at the 1988 British Academy Awards. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sean Connery, F. Murray Abraham, (more)
- 1986
Originally made for television and then released theatrically, this 2 1/2-hour engrossing drama handles the subject of a group of mentally disturbed patients turned out of institutions that have been closed by the government, and left to fend for themselves in a large apartment building. The heroine Carlotta (Carlotta Wittig) is the woman who volunteers to work with them, partly out of a desire to escape her stultifying existence with an ambitious, career-oriented husband and to forget her problems at work. From that point onward, Carlotta's handling of her charges opens up her eyes and humanity. At the same time, the ex-patients in the building come to grips with a reality they can only partly capture. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Carlotta Wittig, Gabriele Ferzetti, (more)
