''Black Journal'' () is a 1977 Italian

black comedy film Black comedy, also known as black humor, bleak comedy, dark comedy, dark humor, gallows humor or morbid humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally ...

directed by

Mauro Bolognini Mauro Bolognini (28 June 1922 – 14 May 2001) was an Italian film and stage director. Early years Bolognini was born in Pistoia, in the Tuscany region of Italy. After earning a master's degree in architecture at the University of Florence, Bol ...

. It is loosely based on real-life serial killer

Leonarda Cianciulli Leonarda Cianciulli (14 April 1894 – 15 October 1970) was an Italian serial killer. Better known as the Soap-Maker of Correggio (Italian: ''la Saponificatrice di Correggio''), she murdered three women in the town of Correggio, Reggio Emilia, i ...

, who killed three women between 1939 and 1940, and turned their bodies into soap and teacakes. It stars

Shelley Winters Shelley Winters (born Shirley Schrift; August 18, 1920 – January 14, 2006) was an American film actress whose career spanned seven decades. She won Academy Awards for ''The Diary of Anne Frank (1959 film), The Diary of Anne Frank'' (1959) and ' ...

Max von Sydow Max von Sydow (; born Carl Adolf von Sydow; 10 April 1929 – 8 March 2020) was a Swedish and French actor. He had a 70-year career in European and American cinema, television, and theatre, appearing in more than 150 films and several television ...

, Renato Pozzetto and Alberto Lionello, with the latter three in a

dual role A dual role (also known as a double role) refers to one actor playing two roles in a single production. Dual roles (or a larger number of roles for an actor) may be deliberately written into a script, or may instead be a choice made during produc ...

as both the victims of the killer, in drag, and those who apprehend her. In the film, a middle-aged mother is convinced that she can keep her only son safe and in her custody by offering

human sacrifice Human sacrifice is the act of killing one or more humans as part of a ritual, which is usually intended to please or appease deity, gods, a human ruler, public or jurisdictional demands for justice by capital punishment, an authoritative/prie ...

s to Death. After having already killed three victims, she plans further sacrifices to protect her son from the perceived threat of military service.

Plot

Lea, a mature

Neapolitan Neapolitan means of or pertaining to Naples, a city in Italy; or to: Geography and history * Province of Naples, a province in the Campania region of southern Italy that includes the city * Duchy of Naples, in existence during the Early and High ...

woman who runs a box office in a

northern Italian Northern Italy (, , ) is a geographical and cultural region in the northern part of Italy. The Italian National Institute of Statistics defines the region as encompassing the four Northwest Italy, northwestern Regions of Italy, regions of Piedmo ...

city, had thirteen children; all but one died from miscarriage or after a few months of life. Her only surviving child, Michele, receives Lea's morbid affection: she is convinced that she has stolen him from Death by negotiating with it, so she is not willing to sell him either to the army or to another woman. When Michele gets engaged to a beautiful dance teacher, his mother, to avoid separation, makes a new sacrifice to Death, killing three spinster friends, from whom she makes soap and biscuits. The call to military service arrives for her son: to make him return home, Lea would like to multiply her sacrificial rites, targeting, this time, a mute servant and Michele's hated girlfriend. The

carabinieri The Carabinieri (, also , ; formally ''Arma dei Carabinieri'', "Arm of Carabineers"; previously ''Corpo dei Carabinieri Reali'', "Royal Carabineers Corps") are the national gendarmerie of Italy who primarily carry out domestic and foreign poli ...

will stop her on time.

Cast

Production

was originally going to direct the film 15 years earlier, with

Anna Magnani Anna Maria Magnani (; 7 March 1908 – 26 September 1973) was an Academy Award-winning Italian actress.Obituary ''Variety Obituaries, Variety'', 3 October 1973, pg. 47 She was known for her explosive acting and earthy, realistic portrayals of ...

in the lead role. Later, he envisioned

Sophia Loren Sofia Costanza Brigida Villani Scicolone (; born 20 September 1934), known professionally as Sophia Loren ( , ), is an Italian actress, active in her native country and the United States. With a career spanning over 70 years, she is one of the ...

as the leading actress. The film had several working titles from 1976 to 1977, including ''Black Journal'', ''La cuoca del diavolo'', ''Sapone di donna'', ''Donne all'interno'', ''La saponificatrice'' and ''La signora degli orrori''.

Ornella Muti Francesca Romana Rivelli (born 9 March 1955), professionally known as Ornella Muti, is an Italian actress. Among the best-known Italian actresses, in her career, she has worked across various genres, working alongside Italian directors such as ...

was cast as the girlfriend of Lea's son, but dropped out in June 1977 and was replaced by

Laura Antonelli Laura Antonelli (née Antonaz; 28 November 1941 – 22 June 2015) was an Italian film actress who appeared in 45 films between 1964 and 1991. Early years Antonelli was born Laura Antonaz in Pula, Pola, Kingdom of Italy (in Croatian, Pula), ...

References

External links

* * 1977 films 1977 comedy-drama films 1977 black comedy films 1970s serial killer films Comedy films based on actual events Films about cannibalism Cultural depictions of serial killers Cultural depictions of Italian people Drag (entertainment)-related films 1970s Italian-language films English-language Italian films 1970s English-language films Films about Fascist Italy Films about superstition Films directed by Mauro Bolognini Films with screenplays by Luciano Vincenzoni Italian black comedy films Italian serial killer films 1977 multilingual films Italian multilingual films 1970s Italian films Films about human sacrifice Films about mother–son relationships English-language black comedy films English-language crime films {{1970s-Italy-film-stub