Swept Away Review

Swept Away
A snobby Italian socialite is stranded in the middle of the sea with a socialist sailor.

by David Parkinson |
Published on
Release Date:

01 Jan 1974

Running Time:

0 minutes

Certificate:

18

Original Title:

Swept Away

If ever a film needed to be rescued from the shadow of a remake, it's Lina Wertmuller's Swept Away By An Unusual Destiny In The Blue Sea Of August (to use its full title). Forget Mr. & Mrs. Ritchie's hideous effort and instead watch the desert-island power struggle between Giancarlo Giannini's socialist sailor and Mariangela Melato's repressed snob.

Such is Wertmuller's mischievously subversive approach that even the most cruelly un-PC episode is as likely to generate satirical laughter as socio-political shock. The class critique isn't always convincing, but that doesn't stop this from being consistently and courageously provocative.

The class critique isn't always convincing, but that doesn't stop this from being consistently and courageously provocative.
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