Swept Away
Written & Directed by Lina Wertmüller
Starring Giancarlo Giannini, Mariangela Melato
Rated R
Runtime: 1 hour and 54 minutes
Originally released on December 19, 1974
Re-release opens on January 31st in NYC at the Film Forum

by Carmen Paddock, Staff Writer

Few film lovers believe that art from the past loses its relevance or power to shock; if one meets such a person, Swept Away is almost certain to change their mind. Lina Wertmüller, the first woman to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Director, proposes a violent class and gender satire in its depiction of a man and woman stranded on a deserted island. Raffaella Pavone Lanzetti (Mariangela Melato) is a rich self-identified capitalist who celebrates the virtues of her ideology while scoffing at the champagne socialism of some of her companions and the more revolutionary ideals of many of her staff, including deckhand Gennarino (Giancarlo Giannin). Her days of sunbathing and swimming, and nights of games, wine, and political banter are interrupted when, after asking Gennarino to take her out on a dinghy to meet some friends, their motor gives way. After a night of drifting, the first land they come to appears uninhabited, and the two class enemies must find a way to survive.

Swept Away could very easily be programmed alongside Ruben Östlund Triangle of Sadness, another class and political satire set aboard an ill-fated yacht that devolves dramatically into a survival scenario that upends power balances and relationships. The latter film is almost ridiculously tame in comparison to Wertmüller’s unflinching, brutal work. Combining neo-realism and romanticism, Swept Away wastes no time showing the degradation both Raffaella and Gennarino subject each other two—one largely verbally, the other moving swiftly into lengthy scenes of physical assault. With minimal cuts and long takes on location, the sweat, effort, and exhaustion is palpable.

Even as an ironic read, it is hard to stomach the film’s misogyny (notably in the portrayal of the wife to whom Gennarino returns), and its class and political critiques are muddled in favour of a survival-of-the-fittest mentality. The reality of this situation gives way to extremity, and it seems the film aims to provoke reactions that override any critical thoughts unearthed. From this angle, and certainly throughout the first two acts, it does not meaningfully add to conversations about inequality and intersectionality. That said, the third act’s cynical reversion is where the film performs its most skillful sleight of hand, casting its lens back on society in a way that questions the efficacy or possibility of real systemic change when set against humanity’s unwillingness to learn from their mistakes and experiences.

But a film does not need to be a comforting or truthful picture to be effective and, in depicting an oppressed man’s immediate switch to violence and a previously powerful woman as ultimately powerless as the “natural” order, Swept Away is a visceral depiction of how people and societies are corrupted by power even as they need human connection to survive.

Regardless of its discomfiting moments and troubling message, Swept Away proves itself a classic in its uncompromising storytelling, fully committed performances, and stunning cinematography by Ennio Guarnieri. The new restoration brings out the sunburned and sun-bleached colours in all their beauty and terror—an escape from the winter rain and cold, though perhaps one that leaves viewers with more appreciation for the mundane, non-holiday times of life and a greater consideration for the ways their personal and societal relationships work.

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