[Burn, Boy, Burn]
(Italy 1969)
Reviewed By-Kit Gavin Directed by Fernando di Leo Starring: Francoise Prevost, Gianni Macchia, Michel Bardinet and Monica Strebel Released through: Mondo Romantic DVD [Japan] NTSC Region 2
A middle class, peroxide blonde disgruntled and seemingly frigid housewife Clara [Prevost], her industrialist and disinterested husband Silvio [Bardinet], Aunt Minnie [Danika] and daughter, Monica, are driving to their beach house. Whilst driving there, Clara has had another dream where her husband has tried to force her into having sex with his boss. Dressed only in a semi-transparent mini-nightgown, Clara flies into a hallway only to find a beautiful brunette [an uncredited and final appearance by Leonora Ruffo] waiting for her. The brunette embraces her, and dances with Clara in a sense of joy before tenderly embracing her. Suddenly Clara becomes fear-stricken and flees. Upon awakening in her husband’s car, she tells her husband and he laughs it off, disinterested in his wife’s concerns and confused fears
Arriving on the beach, the family is seen by Giancarlo [Macchia], the 19 year old beach attendant, and his girlfriend [Strebel]. He helps the family find their changing hut, and afterwards he and his girlfriend scoff at the bourgeois sensibilities of the family. The young couple decide they want to play a game with the family, intent on causing disruption. So Giancarlo and his girlfriend start by making out, quite heavily, in front of Clara and Minnie, and this behaviour arouses irritation and embarrassment in Clara rather than sexual yearning. Thereafter Giancarlo sets about seducing his prey, Clara, leading to Clara discovering the joys of sexual gratification and ultimately to tragic consequences…
One aspect which makes this film stand out from many of it’s contemporaries of the time in Italy is the vivid multi layered characters in the film, together with an intelligent script. Characters are interesting, and layered, in this morbid little melodrama, written directed as well as produced [together with Tiziano Longo – making up Ferti Film] by di Leo. There is a bizarre young boy who befriends spouts philosophical rhetoric at Monica, mixing Freud with Snoopy, and making her hang her doll from a noose in order to banish childhood thoughts. Danika as "Aunt" Minnie, the frustrated unattractive family friend, is a desperate middle-aged woman who gets her advances spurned by the cocky Giancarlo. Bardinet, the husband, hardly present throughout the picture, whereas by association, his absence in the picture for us, the viewers, is representative, no doubt, as a parallel to show his presence "in the picture" for his frustrated wife. In the end, having discovered his wife’s infidelity with the beach boy, by her own admission, and realising that she has discovered the joys of sex through achieving an orgasm and dismissing them as unnatural, when he finds her, still possibly alive after a fatal overdose, he doesn’t call for an ambulance immediately. Only after having had a few drinks, and seeing the free and happy youngsters dancing on the beach does he chose to call for an ambulance, and probably too late to save his still-loving wife’s life.
The youngsters played by Strebel and Macchia are well performed, as two youngsters without the slightest interest in the consequences and the harm they might cause. They are young, free, liberated. The girl, Strebel, who went on to play a lesbian nurse and engage in numerous sexual acts in THE COLD BLOODED BEAST the following year for di Leo, makes her first appearance on screen practically naked, sunbathing on the beach, with only a swimsuit made out of silk flowers. Macchia too plays the young stud initially out for kicks well, but towards the end, we are uncertain of whether he is playing this game purely for humiliation out of genuine feeling that has grown for Clara. The best performance however in the whole film, is delivered by Francoise Prevost, a fine established theatrical and cinema actress from France. Throughout the film, her performance perfect, as the frigid yet sexually frustrated wife, with an elegant yet handsome rather than beautiful face, the character of Clara and her plight and her demons which creates a truly sympathetic and multi dimensioned character.
There are some well composed images here, beautifully framed, and some very intelligent film making is going on here. One of the most striking juxtapositions in the films is an audio one, at the film’s tragic climax with the sounds of the horns of the cars of the youngsters, full of love and life, driving away from the beach, only to be drowned out by the sounds of the sirens on the ambulance racing towards the beach. The film opens with one of Clara’s nightmares, being made to sleep with her husband’s leering boss, but which turns into an erotic Sapphic fantasy, neither of which Clara can cope with.
Purists of original aspect ratios are bound to complain as the film has been incorrectly framed at 1:66:1 and has lost some slight information on the right of the frame, noticeable only really in the opening credits when the last two letters of Masseccessi are cropped off the screen (but all other names and credits intact). However despite this slight cropping, little information seems to be lost and the usual usage of cinematography, angles, shots, etc seems to be true to the vision which was conceived by Fernando di Leo and his camera man, Franco Villa.
Audio is in pretty good shape given the age of the film. There are a few pops and dropouts at times but this is not at all distracting from what is going on, on screen. The dubbing on the film is actually one of the best I have seen and the voices do seem to fit the characters quite nicely. The lead, Clara, is dubbed superbly by the omnipresent Carolyn de Fonseca, and the voice seems to fit the character perfectly, given the character’s age, background and personality. The music is clear and in the opening scene you can hear the sound of the car in the background during the (slightly damaged?) scene between Prevost and Ruffo clearly, as was no doubt intended by the director. No complaints there. An additional Italian audio track might have been a nice addition, but that’s a minor quibble.
Sadly the DVD is lacking in the extras department, with only a series of black and white photographs and scans of the original Japanese pressbook acting as a gallery. Other than that there is the option to switch the Japanese subtitles on or off, and a chapter listing dividing the film into 9 chapters. One nice touch however is playing the catchy title tune, sung by Evy, over the main menu (which retitles the film Burn, Baby Burn).
The subject matter of the film may be distracting and off-putting to some members of a potential audience, coupled with the lack of violence and fast paced action which would punctuate Di Leo’s superb crime thrillers, and the lack of nudity and sleaze factor found in Slaughter Hotel, which di Leo would make the following year. The nearest di Leo would come again to capturing such personality and characterisation of a sympathetic flesh and blood character would be in AVERE VENT’ANNI/TO BE TWENTY which combined drama, light-hearted humour, a political standpoint and cruelty in one film which had two strong and likeable female characters as it’s leads.
The high production values, the experimental and inventive camera shots, combined with strong acting, mood, and pace make this film well worth seeking out and viewing. As well as this, and with some flesh on display, although di Leo stated in interviews that much of the more explicit scenes featuring Prevost and Macchia was cut by the Italian censor board [run at the time by Riccardo Freda], however coupled with intelligence and a sympathetic lead, and an underlying reasoning makes this one of the better films of 1969. Seemingly a release is not forthcoming from one of Europe’s rising star and best DVD labels out there, Raro, in their collection of Fernando di Leo titles, but if they do pick it up, and hopefully with more extras than this barebones release, coupled with both English and Italian language options. For now anyway, this Japanese release is the one to have of this seldom seen since it’s initial release, underrated little drama.
cover courtesy of www.impdb.com
Audio: 3.5 BITCH SLAPS Video: 4 BITCH SLAPS Extras: 1.5 BITCH SLAPS Story: 4 BITCH SLAPS Overall: 4 BITCH SLAPS To buy this DVD, visit X-Ploited Cinema
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