Love and Anarchy
Director: Lina Wertmüller Run Time: 126 min. Format: Digital Release Year: 1973 Language: Italian with English subtitles
Starring: Eros Pagni, Giancarlo Giannini, Lina Polito, Mariangela Melato, Pina Cei
Screenwriter: Lina Wertmüller
Producer: Romano Cardarelli
The greatest anti-fascist sex worker romantic comedy you’ve never seen, Lina Wertmüller’s Love and Anarchy is a bawdy, beautiful, and brilliant masterpiece that demands to be rediscovered. On the eve of World War II, after the rise of fascist Italy, a newly radicalized farmer conspires with an anarchist sex worker to assassinate Benito Mussolini. While posing as her cousin in a high-end Roman brothel, the farmer falls in love with one of the girls and questions his dedication to the cause. With magnificent sets and Italian backgrounds, gorgeous period details, heart-rending romance, devastating humor, pathos, politics, and two dynamic performances from Wertmüller’s favorite actors and collaborators Mariangela Melato and Giancarlo Giannini, this movie contains multitudes!