La chiave (1983)

La chiave: Directed by Tinto Brass. With Frank Finlay, Stefania Sandrelli, Franco Branciaroli, Barbara Cupisti. In 1940s Venice, after twenty years of marriage, a Professor and his younger wife witness the passion wane. Now, all that remains is to confess the rousing thoughts to an elaborate diary hoping to break free from ties and inhibitions.

“La Chiave (1983) is Brassu0026#39; only masterpiece,Mrs. Sandrelliu0026#39;s most interesting role,and a peak of the European u0026quot;trash filmsu0026quot; of the u0026#39;80s.I have seen this flick 4 times,and I found it excellent.Here,Brass is how he knows to be:shameless, shocking,clandestine, lascivious, tasty, scandalous, voluptuary,lustful,Nothingarian,misogynist at the basest level,lubricious;yes,indeed,quite a lot of things to enjoy.Brass is extremely skilled in exploiting his actressesu0026#39; physical endowments.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eu0026quot;La Chiaveu0026quot; is an anecdote of bourgeois sexuality during WW2,and a study in Animality;in fact,Brassu0026#39; coldness and detachment shows no trace of sympathy for his characters,hence the movieu0026#39;s naturalism.(u0026quot;Mirandau0026quot; brings on screen a rustic debauchery during the same WW2,while u0026quot;Lu0026#39;Uomo …u0026quot; is again a bourgeois adventure,but set in nowadays).WW2 is only an epic convention,because it gives a certain sense of exciting and violent trepidation and brutality and decrepitude,an epic device of the nihilist aestheticism (Pasolini,Bertolucci,Brass).Brass used WW2 as a narrative background in his Teresa Ann Savoy show,Salon Kitty (1976);in his Stefania Sandrelli show,La Chiave (1983) ;in his Serena Grandi show,Miranda (1985);in his Anna Galiena show,Senso u0026#39;45 (2002).Under the pretext of unmasking this Fascist epoch,it is obvious that these directors pretty much indulged in the world they described.(The same device,of a shattering and totalitarian epoch,was exploited the same way in some Romanian films of the u0026#39;90s,using the Bolshevick era of the u0026#39;50s as a background for sexual frolics).u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eStefania Sandrelli was 37 years in this movie,and lucent,slick,slightly adipose,of a very concrete and lusty beauty,luscious,soft-spoken,lurid,but also somehow lubberly.The passionless display of flesh expresses Brassu0026#39; proclivity for an almost clinical and documentary examination of the nakedness.With this movie,Mrs. Sandrelli became one of the u0026quot;Brass womenu0026quot;.No director was ashamed to undress Mrs. Sandrelli (Bernardo Bertolucci in Il Conformista,1970; Bigas Luna in Jamón, Jamón,1992;Lina Wertmüller in Ninfa Plebea,1996).She posed nude even as an adolescent,I know a piquant picture with the naked teen-ager Sandrelli.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eBarbara Cupisti is a suave and distinguished beauty.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThere is a particular density of the naked flesh,and of the settings also.Brass displays much gusto;his styleu0026#39;s plastic quality is extraordinary .u0026quot;La Chiaveu0026quot; is written by Brass more like a chapter of ethology,and of sexual behaviors.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThere are also other exciting Brass movies.Miranda (1985) (with Serena Grandi) is almost as good as La Chiave (1983),though in a different register,and Lu0026#39;Uomo Che Guarda (1994) (with Katarina Vasilissa,Cristina Garavaglia )is also a fine,thrilling show.u0026quot;Mirandau0026quot; is a little more cheerful then u0026quot;La Chiaveu0026quot;,and more picturesque as narration,its sexual content is also more erratic (though to see Mrs. Sandrelli asleep being taken advantage of,is no cheap fun either).All these 3 movies are frank and straight.Brassu0026#39; choice of the actresses is always exquisite.I have seen a photo representing Mrs. Sandrelli while her breast is fondled,or rather felt by Brass;the actress laughs wildly and she seems to be much older than in u0026quot;La Chiaveu0026quot;; this gallant scene looks like taking place in a very public space.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eWhile u0026quot;La Chiaveu0026quot;,Miranda (1985),Lu0026#39; Uomo Che Guarda (1994) show derisively womanu0026#39;s depravity,and warm it up, with malice and irony,Senso u0026#39;45 (2002) marks a decline;it tries to depict womanu0026#39;s love,and fails.Brassu0026#39; shamelessness lost all its charm and became the sheer Prosaism of Senso u0026#39;45 (2002) (a banal and conventional,tasteless adultery,moreover inverting Brassu0026#39; opinion about women;this man was libidinous,base, trenchant and lascivious,and turned sentimental and emotional).The only good thing about u0026quot;Sensou0026quot; is Mrs. Erika Savastani u0026#39;s supporting role as u0026quot;Emiliettau0026quot; .u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eu0026quot;La Chiaveu0026quot; is one in a series of medallions of beautiful women,astounding studies of women,on a par with Miranda (1985),Andrea Barziniu0026#39;s Desiderando Giulia (1985),Andrea Bianchiu0026#39;s Dolce Pelle Di Angela (1987),Spiando Marina (1992),Lu0026#39;Uomo Che Guarda (1994),Malèna (2000) ,etc..In the unconventional erotica,Brassu0026#39; equals are the far less famous Andrea Barzini (the author of the best Serena Grandi show,made when she was 27 years),Andrea Bianchi,the author of the underrated Dolce Pelle Di Angela (1987).These masterpieces,signed by Bianchi and Barzini,and other wonderful Deborah Caprioglio and Serena Grandi shows could be seen in Romanian movie theaters 13 years ago.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eMany are too preoccupied with the filmu0026#39;s sexual content,to may be able to notice the exceptional visual beauty.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eIf you have reasons to like Mrs. Sandrelli others than this movie,then u0026quot;La Chiaveu0026quot; will be a treat.”