Spike Lee’s Essential Films (SLEF) — Episode 4 : Swept Away (1974)
Inspired by my friend Krishan’s 2016 goal to watch 100 films from 100 different countries, my dad and I have tasked ourselves with the similar project to watch all the films on Spike Lee’s Essential Films list. Every week we’ll try and have a quick conversation about what we just watched.
The list was picked out from a shortlist of many, on the basis that there are about 50 films on it that we have both not seen, and that cross a wide variety of genres, years, countries etc. I am not particularly a fan of Spike Lee as a director, but I do believe he has good taste!
We are using the site www.icheckmovies.com to track our progress. It’s a site I highly endorse for all film nerds and list lovers — you can find my profile here.
Today we watched Lina Wertmuller’s Swept Away, or Travolti da un insolito destino nell’azzurro mare d’agosto as it’s succinctly known in Italian…
Brief Synopsis: A trip into the Mediterranean sea becomes a trip into the discovery of how society’s frameworks of the rich and poor are delicate and temporary.
David: As you may have guessed from the first few stills I’ve chosen, Swept Away is your typical boy-meets-girl love story. Think Titanic meets Castaway.
Mick: Only, not at all…
David: Yep, I’ve never seen a romance like this before, decidedly unique storyline. Bizarre but entirely believable.
Mick: You know I wasn’t sure about this film: at times it was highly irritating, but at the same time compelling. The irritating bit was the dialogue between the two — you just wanted them to shut up and be a little bit reasonable!
David: Oh but this was a masterclass in linguistic put-downs — “Lousy slut!”
Mick: “Social democrat!”
David: “Industrial whore!” Ha, love it.
Mick: For context, this is because he was a peasant from the South of Italy, whilst she was from the rich Northern industrial Italy. The two main characters represent the Italian clash of classes, the social divide between the North and the South, and most obviously the battle of man vs woman.
David: You put those factors together with the beauty of the Italian language and you have one of the greatest range of insults ever put to script.
David: I once started watching Antonioni’s L’avventura, but got bored after 20 minutes (don’t hate me). The start of Swept Away is so similar it’s uncanny, but I felt it much more engaging. Perhaps because they’re caricatures, but right from the start you get a clear understanding of the players’ “characters” — the tensions and conflict are clear to see, and are emphasized in the dialogue — the first 10 minutes is a maelstrom of superficial political argument.
Mick: So could you see a certain inevitability of how the story would unfold?
David: Yes and no. I think mainly yes because I’d seen the DVD cover… The two characters are so at odds in the film’s first act that you question how the director’s possibly going to bring them together in credible fashion, but it does work.
Mick: Even when it does happen you’re suspicious that one or both of them are playing a game, as it turns out to be at first, in a pretty intense almost-rape scene. By the time they’re rescued though a different relationship has evolved, one that feels entirely natural against all odds.
David: That’s a tremendous feat in storytelling I think.
David: One thing I really enjoyed was the score. Plodding jazz, it was distinctly early 70s, a lot of the time creating a very laid back atmosphere.
Mick: Do you think the music was what influenced Madonna to remake this film?
Madonna starred in a 2002 remake directed by husband Guy Ritchie — it’s a distinctly awful 3.6/10 on IMDb.
David: I really hope Spike has included the Madonna version on his list too. I wouldn’t put it past him.
Mick: I don’t know if this is possible or not, but when he first came up on the island with a 2 foot lobster I was distinctly impressed. What a great way to turn the tables on her — Gennarino sitting on the rocks with his luxury dining, whilst Raffaella looks on desperate and hungry.
David: I was thinking how cheeky of him it was to chuck some of it straight onto the fire to burn whilst she starved, but of course this came in direct contrast to the earlier scene where she shrieks in disgust at the raw fish he has caught for her and then chucks it overboard, back into the sea. A lot of the film deals in contrasting moments and contrasting extremes — it’s very intentionally a film of contrasts.
Mick: All meant as analogies for the bigger picture — the political/social extremes they represent.
David: Let’s get to our final thoughts. Where does this rank among the SLEF films we’ve seen so far?
Mick: Good question, I’ll come back to my initial remarks, that it was irritating at the beginning, but it becomes increasingly compelling, and even talking about it I’m coming to appreciate it more and more.
David: I’ll cut right in and say that for me this was the best film we’ve seen so far. The most unique, the most powerful, and the most enticing narrative. There are a few more Lina Wertmuller films on Spike’s list and I’m now definitely excited to get to them. 9 out of 10 from me.
Mick: Well I’m never quite so generous as you, but in this case I’m going to give it an 8 out of 10.
David: Job done.
Join us next week when we watch Is Paris Burning?
