''The Flesh'' () is a 1991 Italian
drama film
In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...
directed by
Marco Ferreri
Marco Ferreri (11 May 1928 – 9 May 1997) was an Italian film director, screenwriter and actor, who began his career in the 1950s directing three films in Spain, followed by 24 Italian films before his death in 1997. He is considered one of t ...
. It was entered into the
1991 Cannes Film Festival
The 44th Cannes Film Festival was held from 9 to 20 May 1991. French-Polish filmmaker Roman Polanski served as jury president for the main competition.
American filmmakers Joel Coen and Ethan Coen won the Palme d'Or, the festival's top prize, ...
.
Plot
Paolo is a municipal employee, who in his spare time works at the piano bar of a club, is divorced and has two children who live with his ex-wife. Paolo often recalls his mother and his First Communion, with which he seems to live a totalizing experience in the divine.
In his friend Nicola's nightclub, Paolo meets the young Francesca, back from a relationship with an Indian guru, who has just had an abortion and is alone. Intimacy develops between the two: according to Paolo, this is the victory of the ultra sex and of the fusion that completes and exalts everything, a fusion that Francesca assures him thanks to a special oriental technique, which allows the partner a state of permanent efficiency.
They shut themselves up in his beach house south of Rome where, after filling the fridge, they spend their time eating and making love, interrupted only by a quick incursion of Paolo's children visiting him and a small group of friends. But Francesca at a given moment thinks of leaving for other shores, while Paolo understands that in order to "communicate" there is really only one alternative: either to love each other totally, or to tear apart that voluptuous female body, put it in the fridge and eat it by the sea in front of the sun. Thus, after having made animalistic love in the kennel of the beloved dog Giovanni, Paolo's insane anxiety is satisfied: he kills Francesca, cuts her up and keeps her in the refrigerator, eating her piece by piece.
Cast
*
Sergio Castellitto
Sergio Castellitto (born 18 August 1953) is an Italian film director, actor, and screenwriter.
Biography
Sergio Castellitto was born in Rome in 1953, to parents from Molise and Abruzzo, Southern Italy. After graduating from the Silvio D'Amico ...
- Paolo
*
Francesca Dellera - Francesca
*
Philippe Léotard
Philippe Léotard (his full name was Ange Philippe Paul André Léotard-Tomasi; 28 August 1940 – 25 August 2001) was a French actor, poet and singer.
Biography
He was born in Nice, one of seven children - four girls, then three boys, of whi ...
*
Farid Chopel
Farid Chopel (4 December 1952 – 20 April 2008) was a French actor, comedian and singer. He was of Algerian descent.
Filmography
*1983 – ''Les Princes'' (Tony Gatlif)
*1983 – ''La Femme de mon pote'' (Bertrand Blier)
*1984 – ''L'Ad ...
*
Petra Reinhardt
*
Gudrun Gundelach
*
Nicoletta Boris
Nicoletta is a name and feminine given name derived from the Greek ''Nikolaos'', most often used in Italy, Sweden, Denmark and Norway. Nicoletta is also a surname.
Given name
* Nicoletta (singer), full name Nicoletta Grisoni, French singer, kno ...
*
Clelia Piscitelli
*
Elena Wiedermann
*
Sonia Topazio
Sonia, Sonja or Sonya, a name of Greek origin meaning wisdom, may refer to:
People
* Sonia (name), a feminine given name (lists people named, Sonia, Sonja and Sonya)
:* Sonia (actress), Indian film actress in Malayalam and Tamil films
:* Sonia ...
*
Fulvio Falzarano
Fulvio Falzarano is an Italian actor.
Career
Fulvio Falzarano has worked in various companies in major Italian theaters. He worked with directors such as Mario Monicelli, Armando Pugliese, Renato Sarti and Giorgio Pressburger. He participate ...
*
Pino Tosca
Pino or Piño may refer to:
People
Surname
* Danny Pino (born 1974), American actor
* Domenico Pino (1760–1826), Italian general of the Napoleonic Wars
* Fernando Solanas (1936–2020), aka "Pino" Solanas, Argentine filmmaker
* Frank J. Pino ...
*
Eleonora Cecere Eleanora or Eleonora may refer to:
People
* Eleanora (name)
* Eleonora, three 17th century Swedish queens consort
* Countess Palatine Eleonora Catherine of Zweibrücken (1626–1692), Swedish princess
* Eleonora Luisa Gonzaga (1686–1741), Duche ...
*
Matteo Ripaldi
Matteo is the Italian form of the given name Matthew. Another form is Mattia. The Hebrew meaning of Matteo is "gift of god". Matteo can also be used as a patronymic surname, often in the forms of de Matteo, De Matteo or DeMatteo, meaning " escenda ...
*
Daniele Fralassi
Daniele is an Italian male given name, the cognate of the English name Daniel.
Danièle is also a French female given name, an alternative spelling of Danielle.
The name "Daniel" originates from the Hebrew Bible and is associated with the prophet ...
* Salvatore Esposito
References
External links
*
*
''The Flesh''at
Variety Distribution
Variety Distribution is an Italian-based film distribution company.
It distributes Italian films worldwide, produced from the 1930s onward.
History
Variety Distribution (formerly Variety Film and Variety Communications) has been in the film ...
1991 films
1990s Italian-language films
1991 drama films
Films directed by Marco Ferreri
Italian drama films
1990s Italian films
{{1990s-Italy-film-stub