Twilight Time Blu-ray: Appassionata (1974)

APPASSIONATA (1974) (BLU-RAY)

Company: Twilight Time

Starring:  Gabriele Ferzetti, Ornella Muti, Eleonora Giorgi, Ninetto Davoli, Valentina Cortese

My Review and Thoughts:

My Rating: Film 3.5 out of 5

 A very interesting choice for a Twilight Time Special Edition Blu-ray release. Never even heard of this movie until receiving it. I always love going into films with a blank slate. This one was a total clarity of the mind, so in reality that was a true treat for me. I always like when I am introduced to films that I never even contemplated about.

The plot is very simple, it’s an erotic tale. An Italian erotic film. Your main character is Eugenia Rutelli. She is basically exploring her sexuality and also taking control of her own desires. This is an erotic drama that plays out in a vivid nature, but also has a complex reality to the characters at hand. The story also revolves around a family in trouble. A mom named Elisa is basically losing it. The father is a Dentist named Emilio is basically going along with everything, a wife that is hysterical and unstable and a husband that is really at his wits end. Eugenia does not get along with her mother, loves her daddy. The family is in shambles or better yet everyone seems to be at the end of their rope.

Directed by Gianluigi Calderone. This is the second of 3 feature films he directed. After 1975 he mainly directed TV series and TV movies of the Italian nature. Not only a director but also a writer of which he wrote Appassionata.

Starring the very young, sweet, gorgeous Ornella Muti as the main character. This was her 12th movie and you can still see her newness and yet also a sophisticated talent that shines on screen. She is still acting strong today, and as of this writing has a new movie coming out this year. She really captures in Appassionata a truly dramatic role. Many will know her from the 1980’s Cult Classic Flash Gordon playing the character of Princess Aura.

This also stars believe it or not one of my favorite actors which shocks me all the more in not having any knowledge of the film. Starring Gabriele Ferzetti as Dr. Emilio Rutelli. An amazing actor who started in the early 1940’s and worked all the way up to 2010, starring in over 160 features and TV. He starred in 3 of my favorite films, 1968’s Western Masterpiece Once Upon a Time in the West. The dark and gritty masterpiece 1974’s The Night Porter and to me one of the very underrated James Bond films 1969’s On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. He was such a gifted actor and it was great seeing him in this film.

Also keep an eye out for actor Ninetto Davoli. Davoli is an amazing performer. I have seen many of his movies and he truly is a gifted actor. I can’t speak highly enough about him. He worked on many of the movies of my 3rd Favorite Director of all time, Pier Paolo Pasolini (and before you ask me, my 2nd favorite director of all time is Andrei Tarkovsky and my number 1 director of all time is Ingmar Bergman). He starred in just to name a few the amazing 1974’s Arabian Nights, 1971’s The Decameron, 1967’s Oedipus Rex, you get my point. He is still acting strong today and it was fantastic seeing him in this feature.

I also have to mention the amazing actress Valentina Cortese, who is a stunning, breathtaking masterly performer, and is someone I have always loved watching. Started acting in 1941 and did so until 1993. She was just one of those gifted souls who knew how to perform, capture her role, and execute it in a flawless manner. It was great seeing all these actors and actresses I had known throughout my movie watching world.  

 An odd choice by Twilight Time, but I am thankful they choose it. I enjoyed seeing this for the first time. Great direction and thick characters that grow on you. Twilight Time has done another justice to a forgotten film.

Audio/Video:

My Rating:
Audio: 4 out of 5
Video: 3.5 out of 5

 This is an older movie that really was never cared for in the first place, so one must expect, a lower quality in image form. The picture transfer to Blu-ray is not entirely crisp, unlike many other Twilight Time releases. Rating it I would give it a Good scale, not a great scale.

LANGUAGES: Italian and English
VIDEO: 1080p High Definition / 1.85:1
AUDIO: Italian 1.0 DTS-HD MA / English 1.0 DTS-HD MA
SUBTITLES: English

Extras:

Sadly, there is nothing much hear other than the all-important isolated music score and the wonderful Booklet insert by Julia Kirgo, which if you read my other Twilight Time reviews, you know how I love these small little history lessons.

Isolated Score Track. Music composed by:  Piero Piccioni. Piccioni is an interesting soul. He originally worked as a Lawyer but music was calling him. He was one of the best Italian film score composer's in my viewpoint. Not only a conductor, composer, but also knew how to play the piano and the organ. I think what is amazing is one can look at his vast career working on well over 300 films. He was one of those souls that people sought out his passion and expertise in music. It was utterly fantastic to hear the isolated music that he supplied to this film. Sadly, he passed away in 2004, but left a career of rich music that is still used today as of this writing.

Overall:

This was an interesting watch. I had no knowledge of the film, which is priceless. I enjoyed this film for what it was. I think it’s a great character study. I hope Twilight Time adventures into these lost films of cinema. So many movies out there never get the right treatment. Thankfully for companies like Twilight Time, they get to see the light of day.
INFO:

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