Once upon a time there was the “avanspettacolo”, a variety show with cellulite-ridden dancers, catchy tunes, double-entendres even simpletons could understand. In 1970, besieged by cinema and television, it was in full decline. Luciano Salce, who knew it well, makes this the context and the object of one of his most beloved films, telling the timeless tale of a country girl entranced by show business, a provincial version of A Star is Born which inappropriately targets women, gays, the elderly, priests and nuns for laughs. With the complicity of the screenwriters Iaia Fiastri and Steno, Salce lucidly makes a shambles of it: he opens onto the protagonist’s backside, and closes with a final hospital scene worthy of Mel Brooks, sowing innocent vulgarities, making fun of Wanda Osiris, Fellini and film critics all (don’t miss the closing credits). And while the playboy Carlo Giuffrè is straight out of The Girl with the Pistol, also featured is an unbridled pre-Wertmuller Melato and “ragazze coccodé” type showgirls way before Renzo Arbore. But above all there is Maria Grazia Buccella, whose forms (“Maria Grazia quanta grazia” they said at the time) and childlike smile made her our very own Marilyn. Her Richetta was transformed from an ugly duckling to a Venus 2000 halfway between Botticelli and Barbarella, in a triumph of pop culture (photograph by Aiace Parolin) which has been restored to splendour by the Cineteca Nazionale. (Alberto Anile)
DIRECTOR: Luciano Salce
NATION: Italy
YEAR: 1970
RUNTIME: 106′
CAST: Maria Grazia Buccella, Carlo Giuffré, Franca Valeri, Mariangela Melato
Original version with subtitles