Swept Away

A wealthy woman is holidaying on a chartered yacht in the Mediterranean and constantly humiliates a communist deckhand. One day the two set out in a small boat and the engine fails. They come ashore on a deserted island. There her money is useless, and the only person who knows how to fish, make fire and build shelter is the sailor. The subject is not love but a class relation reversing in a day. As soon as the sailor has the power he returns what was done to him with interest, and the film shows it at length; the scenes are uncomfortable and intended to be. The form is harsh and contested. Lina Wertmüller neither romanticises nor condemns the violence; the narration advances it as a political thesis and the characters become figures carrying that thesis. That is exactly where the argument about the film has lived for decades. The ending asks the real question: can the relationship stand once they leave the island. The answer is merciless and all of the film's politics gather in that final passage. Giancarlo Giannini and Mariangela Melato lead; the pair acted together in many of Wertmüller's films. It was remade in 2002 by Guy Ritchie with Madonna, a version that failed completely. Who it is for: viewers who like seventies Italian political cinema and films that provoke argument. Who it is not for: anyone who cannot take scenes of sexual violence; the warning is real.