LINA WERTMULLER (1928 - 2021)

Lina Wertmüller, the Italian filmmaker who found international acclaim with "Seven Beauties" in 1975 which helped make her become the first woman nominated for the Academy Award for Best Director, has passed away today at the age of ninety-three. Easily identified by her signature white-framed glasses she usually wore, Wertmüller received an Honorary Oscar for her extraordinary career in 2019, making her only the second female director to receive this award. Her best work boldly blended comedy with political and social commentary, making her one of the most daring and exciting filmmakers in cinema.

She was born with the lengthy name, Arcangela Felice Assunta Wertmüller von Elgg Spanol von Braueich in Rome with her Italian father having some Swiss ancestory. As a young girl, she loved comic-books and was drawn to all areas in the performing arts. After graduating from the Silvio d'Amico National Academy of Dramatic Arts, Wertmüller found work as a set designer, avant-garde play producer, scriptwriter and puppeteer, traveling throughout Europe. Flora Carabella, a childhood friend, introduced her to actor, Marcello Mastroianni (who happened to be her husband) and he would later introduce her to filmmaker, Federico Fellini who would become Wertmüller's close friend and mentor.

After working as an assistant director on Fellini's "8 1/2", Wertmüller made her first film, "I basilischi (The Basilisks)" in 1963. She wrote and directed this drama that looks at the lives of three young men who live in a small, poverty-stricken village in southern Italy. This movie and her four subsequent feature films found local success but did not receive much attention outside of her home country. It was not until her 1972 feature, "The Seduction of Mimi" and "Love and Anarchy" from 1973 that put Wertmüller on the worldwide stage with both films nominated for Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival. Giancarlo Giannini, who first worked with Wertmüller in "Rita la zanzara (Rita the Mosquito)" in 1966, won Best Actor at Cannes for his performance in "Love and Anarchy". The actor would appear in eight of her films including Wertmüller's greatest successes, "Seven Beauties" and "Swept Away".

"Travolti da un insolito destino nell'azzurro mare d'agosto (Swept Away... by an Unusual Destiny in the Blue Sea of August)" was one of Wertmüller's most controversial yet popular films that starred Mariangela Melato as a snobby, wealthy woman who winds up swapping roles with one of the low-ranking crew members of her yacht (Giannini) after they get stranded on a desert island. "Pasqualino Settebellezze (Seven Beauties)" features Giannini as an Italian businessman who deserts the army during World War II, then captured by the Germans and sent to a prison camp, where he does anything to survive. In addition to Best Director, the film received Oscar nominations for Best Actor, Best Original Screenplay and Best Foreign-Language Film. 

Hollywood would come calling and Wertmüller signed a four picture deal with Warner Bros. Her first English language film was "A Night Full of Rain" in 1978 with Candice Bergen and Giannini but it was a box-office flop with the studio canceling the rest of the contract. Undeterred, Wertmüller returned home to Italy and continued to make films. She ultimately made twenty-three movies throughout her career with her last film, the comedy-drama, "Peperoni ripieni e pesci in faccia (Too Much Romance... It's Time for Stuffed Peppers) made in 2004 and starred Sophia Loren.