Wertm�ller is not hesitant to utilize the reversal of the relationships between women and men. She does so to expound upon and problematize their societal differences. The concept is found in a number of her films. Such examples can be found in:

� in The Seduction of Mimi-Mimi begins a relationship with a grotesque woman (the wife of the man who had an affair with his wife) and his only desire is to impregnate the woman. But they become entangled in a role reversal which begins after the woman realizes that Mimi had deceived her in order to retaliate against his enemy. This woman becomes the dominant factor in their relationship. Her primary function is to force Mimi to repeatedly make love to her, against his will and to his utter disgust, until she is pregnant.
� in Seven Beauties-Pasqualino, upon entering a concentration camp, finds himself insubordinate to an ugly Nazi woman. He knows that she can be his savior in a dangerous position. He allows her to control him keeping in mind his own ulterior motives of escape. But in a sense, she really does end up controlling him more than he would have liked. She forces him to make a decision, to prove his loyalty to her, that leads to an innocent person's death in order to maintain his survival.
� in Love and Anarchy-A poor young peasant named Tunin becomes a pawn for two savvy prostitutes who end up completely governing his fate. He obeys one woman, Salome (his functional cousin), out of a sense of duty because she is an accomplice to carrying out his assassination of Benito Mussolini. And Tunin idolizes and follows the other woman, Tripolina, because she shows him love which he had never experienced before. The two women use Tunin for their own purposes and, eventually, destroy his identity and ruin his life.

In addition to the reversal of gender roles, Wertm�ller criticizes the subordination of women in order to offer her viewers examples of the things women can suffer at the hands of men and the world, in general. The crazy woman, in Seven Beauties, who is tied up in an insane asylum, is raped by Pasqualino. Because this woman has been rendered helpless by her situation and the ties that bind her, she becomes a victim of Pasqualino and the rest of society. Wertm�ller often seems to criticize both genders for the problems that exist between them. Although she likes to place women in the more powerful role at times, she always finds a way to show the ways they are flawed in thoughts or actions or how they can lose power by succumbing to the desires or need of men. For example, Folia, in Summer NIght With a Grecian Profile, Olive Eyes and the Scent of Basil, is the character who is given all the power and wealth but she has the flaw of liking to be dominated as she likes to dominate others. So her male captive can play upon the option of calling her a whore which makes her into something lower than she is. She only loses her power when she gives in to him and allows herself to fall for the fantasy of what could be. Two characters in two different movies (Tripolina in Love and Anarchy and Ester in Sotto, Sotto) are openly criticized for their obsessions with fantastic ideas of romance. Both of these women are ridiculed for their flawed ideologies that bring about a naive credence in things that are constructed by movies, images or any other type of media. Wertm�ller believes that these crooked ideologies cause them to be improperly and inaccurately influenced.

Lina Wertm�ller often deals with the politics in everyday life. She points out the different perspectives every person, involved in one common thing, can have and how those perspectives can be skewed by others. Many of the characters in her films are involved in political, societal and moral struggles. Lina Wertm�ller just wants to show the viewers many sides of the struggles. The interesting thing is to see how she will decide that situations will turn out and, after that, what caused them to end up that way.

Note: The ideas expressed here are mostly opinions. Most of which are based on discussions led by Professor Rodica Blumenfeld at Vassar College during the class, Four Italian Filmmakers.


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Questions? Comments? E-mail MaCatlett@Vassar.edu