Swept Away... by an Unusual Destiny in the Blue Sea of August

R

1974

1 hr. 56 min.

Comedy

List

59%

22 Reviews

Tomatometer

80%

2,500+ Ratings

Audience Score

Class warfare hits the high seas in this Italian comedy about Gennarino (Giancarlo Giannini), a long-suffering crew member who works on a rich couple's yacht. The wife, Raffaela (Mariangela Melato), verbally abuses Gennarino and regularly insults his communist views. But when a day trip leaves the pair stranded at sea, they wash up on a deserted island and Raffaela is, suddenly, no longer the one in control. The role reversal leads to an unexpected and contentious love affair.

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Blobbo X

As I recall we liked it.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

04/12/23

Full Review

Audience Member

One of the best masters of italian movies

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

01/15/23

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Audience Member

The breathtaking sea somewhere off the coast of Southern Italy is the setting for Lina Wertmuller's 1974 classic film, "Swept Away..." Raffaelle and Gennarino meet by chance on a chartered yacht. Raffaele is rich and entitled. Gennarino is a poor boat mate working on the yacht. There is a world of difference in their economic and social status. In a dinghy on a routine day trip off the yacht, Raffaelle and Gennarino find themselves adrift at sea due to engine trouble, arriving at last on a deserted island. Raffaelle, played adroitly by a young Mariangela Melato and Gennarino, played by a young and fit Giancarlo Giannini, final their social and economic situations in society mean nothing in their island isolation, and proceed to adapt to life without outside strictures. Wertmuller skillfully intertwines several conflicting themes over the course of the film: man versus woman, love versus hate, loyalty versus betrayal, fantasy versus reality, North Italian prosperity versus South Italian poverty. At the time of it's production, Italy and the U.S. are undergoing major shifts in societal norms, particularly in the respective roles of men and women. Wertmuller seems keenly aware of these changes and frames her themes in broad comedic gesturing. Raffaele and Gennarino are almost charicatures. Still the sensibilities of audiences in 1974 are vastly different from today's audiences. The comedic gesturing frequently uses violence: physical, verbal and sexual and falls flat as a comedy today, as a result. (Audiences of Wertmuller's "Love and Anarchy", also includes violence, the the eariler time frame and the lesser volume of violence mitigates it's impact. 'Swept Away,,," is a 1970's fantasy, skillfully directed and acted, in a gorgeous seaside setting. It is definitely worth seeing as a reflection of the societal upheaval of the time filtered through the eyes of a masterful female director, then as now, a rare point of view.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

01/30/23

Full Review

Audience Member

This movie didn't stand the test of time. Back when it first aired it is deemed as a comedy, now I think its a good conversation started on violence against women. What was funny then isn't funny now. When watching this movie we must also take note of the culture difference of the time in Italy. Between the north and south and the politics of the time.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

02/10/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Italy has always been a little . . . different when it comes to gender politics. This film is one more example. This had it's somewhat comical moments, but it's hard to watch a woman being slapped into submission. She had a bad attitude, that is for sure, but violence is not the most believable way to depict the beginning of a true love affair. The ending might have redeemed all that, but as I interpret it, she really did love him, and it was only the realities of class that pulled her away. In other words, what transpired before was no act merely done for survival.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

02/18/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Wertmuller made something genuinely confounding here with class and gender dynamics colliding in the strangest ways. The results are often shocking to a modern sensibility but that is the point. Anyone who dismisses this out of hand is going to miss out on a truly unique movie.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/13/23

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Lina Wertmüller

Director

Giancarlo Giannini

Gennarino Carunchio

Mariangela Melato

Raffaella Pavone Lanzetti

Riccardo Salvino

Pavone Lanzetti

Isa Danieli

Anna

Aldo Puglisi

Pippo

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83%

75%

Get Out Your Handkerchiefs

TRAILER

for Get Out Your Handkerchiefs

88%

77%

Montenegro

56%

50%

The End

47%

82%

Up in Smoke

94%

84%

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Roger Ebert

Chicago Sun-Times

Swept Away is an absorbing movie, it tells a story we get involved in and it's often very funny.

Rated: 4/4

Oct 23, 2004

Full Review

James Berardinelli

ReelViews

Rated: 3.5/4

Mar 11, 2003

Full Review

Elissa Suh

Moviepudding

Northerner and Southerner sizzle and hiss, trading vulgarities with withering force. Once they’re stranded, their hostility gives way to a complex and sensual relationship.

Mar 6, 2023

Full Review

Neil Miller

Gay Community News (Boston)

Disheartening and incomprehensible.

Sep 8, 2022

Full Review

Karen Margolis

Spare Rib

Swept Away... is disappointing because it raises difficult questions about sex, class and eroticism which should be explored by women directors; yet its impact is to reinforce many man-made myths.

Sep 22, 2021

Full Review

Eileen Bresnahan, Kate Sharp, Terra, and Woodwoman

Big Mama Rag

This film is nothing less than anti-woman. That the director and producer was a woman is irrelevant.

May 20, 2020

Full Review

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Synopsis

Class warfare hits the high seas in this Italian comedy about Gennarino (Giancarlo Giannini), a long-suffering crew member who works on a rich couple's yacht. The wife, Raffaela (Mariangela Melato), verbally abuses Gennarino and regularly insults his communist views. But when a day trip leaves the pair stranded at sea, they wash up on a deserted island and Raffaela is, suddenly, no longer the one in control. The role reversal leads to an unexpected and contentious love affair.

Director: Lina Wertmüller
Screenwriter: Lina Wertmüller
Rating: R
Genre: Comedy
Original Language: Italian
Release Date (Streaming): Aug 22, 2017
Box Office (Gross USA): $7.9K

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