The Raffle

Francesca has lost her husband and been left with a large debt. The creditors are at the door and she has nothing to sell. She finds a solution: put herself into a raffle. Tickets go on sale in the town and the winner spends a night with her. The town disapproves and buys tickets. Francesco Laudadio directs. Monica Bellucci plays Francesca. It is Bellucci's first lead. She was known as a model at the time and had only recently moved into acting; this is the film that carried her name into Italian cinema. The narrative is built as comedy and the question underneath is economic. That the only thing the woman has to sell is herself, that the town treats it as an event, and that everyone takes a share, is the actual subject. The problem is tone. The subject is heavy, the handling is light, and the two do not fit; there is a tension between passages close to the Italian sex comedy tradition and the dramatic material. It drew attention in Italy and did well commercially, while the critics divided. Who it is for: viewers curious about Italian popular cinema at the start of the nineties and about the beginning of Monica Bellucci. Who it is not for: the presentation of the woman's body sits badly now, and the film does not take its own subject seriously enough.