''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 * Petra Reinhardt * Gudrun Gundelach * Nicoletta Boris * Clelia Piscitelli * Elena Wiedermann * Sonia Topazio *

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 * Eleonora Cecere * Matteo Ripaldi * Daniele Fralassi * Salvatore Esposito

References

External links

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''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