Massimo Wertmuller Movies

A mother who thinks of marriage in terms of business butts heads with a daughter who has her own unusual ideas about love in Lina Wertmuller's screen adaptation of Maria Orsini Natale's historical novel. Francesca (Sophia Loren) was a woman of common birth whose beauty and charm so entranced Prince Giordano Montorsi (Giancarlo Giannini) that he took her hand in marriage in the 1890s. Francesca and the Prince had a baby, Federico, and when the boy became seriously ill, Francesca pledged to the Lord that if her son was spared, she would adopt a needy orphan. Federico recovered, and true to her word, Francesca and the Prince adopted a nine-year-old girl, Nunziata. Years later, Nunziata has grown to become an attractive young woman, and Francesca watches over the Prince's financial affairs, having learned a thing or two about business from helping her father manage his thriving pasta company. Francesca does a fine job of handling the royal accounts, but when one business deal goes spectacularly sour, the Prince decides he should mind the books from now on; he proves to have no skills for the task, and the royal family is soon in dire financial straits. Eager to put the family back on its feet, Francesca begins to broker a marriage between Federico (Raoul Bova) and the daughter of a wealthy shipping tycoon. However, Federico is less than enthusiastic about the idea, largely because he's fallen in love with his adopted sister Nunziata. Francesca is appalled at this and overrules his objections, but after Federico goes to the altar, Nunziata begins arranging a lucrative wedding of her own; Nunziata's plan is to collect a large dowry, and use the money to fund a competing pasta company that will put her mother's firm out of business. Francesca e Nunziata was produced for Italian television, but received theatrical release abroad. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

A young woman discovers the joys of independence and single living in this frothy Italian comedy. While their neighbors look on with interest, Margherita is first seen breaking up with Riccardo. While she then moves to a friends empty apartment on the bad side of Rome, Riccardo happily gets involved with the ditzy Titti. Margherita's new neighborhood is a cesspool of crime. One night she drives home from the shopping mall where she works and is nearly attacked by two bikers. Fortunately, they see the department store dummy she has stashed in the backseat, mistake it for a man, and race away. She tells no one her secret and soon all her friends begin believing that Margherita has a new man, whom she calls Bruno. This leads real manly prospects to slowly come her way, including Riccardo. But does she really want another man in her life, or is Bruno enough? ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

A robbery goes awry and results in a hostage situation in this tense Italian drama set during a long afternoon in a Rome suburb. It begins when two inept robbers botch a heist at a tobacco store. One of them is shot by the owner and captured. The other, Claudio, runs into a nearby apartment and ends up taking its resident, the wheelchair bound Esther, hostage. Claudio is a human warhead ready to detonate and Esther is rightly terrified, especially when the local police surround the building and begin their waiting game. In time, the police begin making their move, accusing Claudio of raping his hostage. This only makes him more unpredictable and confused about what he should do. It is Esther, who has spent her life feeling sorry for herself and watching TV, who provides the solution. At her suggestion Claudio demands that he be given an interview with the host of the popular show "Where the News Is Born", in which real problems are resolved on the air. He is interviewed and promised a light sentence in exchange for giving himself up in front of the cameras that night. The day drags on while they wait. Soon Esther and Claudio begin developing a strange bond. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this winsome romantic comedy, Andrea has been living a life completely lacking any form of romantic stimulation. He is a middle-aged schoolteacher, and his prospects in that department are dimming. One day, some workmen accidentally knock a hole in his apartment wall, permitting him a good (but concealed) view into the next apartment, which is occupied by an attractive female psychiatrist who is also single and lonely. Instead of doing something straightforward like asking the poor woman out, he jams a video camera into the hole and begins taking his dinners with her image projected on his television. Later, when one of her patients seeks refuge in her apartment, the by-now thoroughly love-struck schoolteacher falls in love with the new person's voice, thinking that it is that of the psychiatrist. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

This Wertmuller sex comedy centers on a married couple who have found the magic gone from their physical relationship. The trouble begins when the wife, Ester, finds herself sexually attracted to her best friend Adele and one day tells her of the erotic dream she had in which she and Adele were reenacting the kissing scene from Alfred Hitchcock's Notorious. Soon a flirtation ensues that falls just short of an actual affair. Poor Oscar, Ester's sexist husband, is beside himself. Eventually doubts about his own manliness end up driving him totally nuts. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In an irreverent send up of politicians and feminists and others, director and co-writer Lina Wertmuller has a Minister of the Interior locked inside his impermeable luxury car with only his broken computer to keep him company. Unfortunately, this accident happens at the villa of a conservative party deputy (Ugo Tognazzi) whose wildly eccentric wife Maria Teresa (Piera Degli Espositi) is in a panic about hiding her lover (Enzo Jannacci) in the basement -- he is an escaped terrorist. While the authorities arrive to make one futile effort after another to get the Minister out of his car, the Minister's assistant deadpans his way through the household chaos, and the granny is busy smoking pot. Out of the entire crew, the conservative deputy is limned with sympathy and the flighty, witless feminist is not -- a state of affairs bound to raise the shackles of some viewers. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide