R.I.P. Lina Wertmüller
Referred to as the queen of Italian comedy by the Italian Minister of Cultural Heritage, Dario Franceschini, Lina Wertmüller is the first woman nominated in the "Best Director" category at the Academy Awards. As one of the few female directors of the 1960s and 1970s in Italy, she paved the road to the next generations.
On December 9, 2021, she left us. She was then aged 93.
Which of her feature films is your favorite?
Discuss here
On December 9, 2021, she left us. She was then aged 93.
Which of her feature films is your favorite?
Discuss here
List activity
44 views
• 0 this weekCreate a new list
List your movie, TV & celebrity picks.
25 titles
- DirectorLina WertmüllerStarsRita PavoneGiancarlo GianniniRaffaele PisuRita fights against her patriarchal family to assert her rights and continue her musical career.
- DirectorLina WertmüllerStarsRita PavoneGiancarlo GianniniPeppino De FilippoRita, a rebellious boarding-school student, falls in love with a shy singing teacher who is secretly a rock singer at night.
- DirectorLina WertmüllerStarsSophia LorenF. Murray AbrahamCaspar ZaferMaria and Jeffrey are a couple in their seventies whose marriage is in crisis. Maria tries to get their two sons and one daughter and their grandchildren together to celebrate the birthday of Assunta, their grandmother, the owner of Maria's beautiful house which remains standing despite the ravages of time.
- DirectorLina WertmüllerStarsNino ManfrediLuciana PaluzziMargaret LeeAn industrial exploiter, an old knife thrower, a cynical professor, and an ungrateful husband depict the selfishness and superficiality of the male gender.
- DirectorLina WertmüllerStarsUgo TognazziPiera Degli EspostiGastone MoschinThe Minister of the Interior gets stuck in his ultra-technological car and a rival Member of Parliament tries desperately to help him, while chaos spreads around them.
- DirectorLina WertmüllerStarsEnrico MontesanoVeronica LarioLuisa De SantisWhile walking in a garden of statues of women, Ester and her friend Adele see two women kissing. Ester then dreams of kissing Adele and later imagines making love to her while she is in her husband Oscar's arms. She confesses her passion to Adele and tells Oscar she loves another. His jealousy takes over: he assumes it's a man and begs Adele to help him discover his rival's identity. Eventually Ester tells him she loves a woman. This makes him even less reasonable: he jumps between bewilderment ("Am I a cuckold?") and violent anger. After he gets drunk and figures out that Adele is the object of Ester's unconsummated desire, he becomes dangerous.
- DirectorMichelangelo AntonioniBernardo BertolucciGiuseppe BertolucciStarsTonino AccollaElio BartoliniAmelia MartelloPromotional omnibus film, made for the 1990 FIFA World Cup in Italy, featuring portraits of 12 Italian cities.
- DirectorLina WertmüllerStarsSophia LorenLuca De FilippoLuciano De CrescenzoPeppino and Rosa have been married for about 30 years. They live in a large house with a sea view in the Rione Terra with their children Rocco and Giulianella, grandfather Don Antonio, and Aunt Amelia.
- DirectorLina WertmüllerStarsTullio SolenghiGene GnocchiVeronica PivettiTunin and Zvanin are two metalworkers and left-wing militants who, with their families, look forward to the results of the 1994 elections.
- DirectorLina WertmüllerStarsStefania SandrelliRaoul BovaLucia CaraDuring World War II, in a small Italian village, Nunziata is an easy woman married to cuckold tailor Gioacchino. Her teenage daughter Miluzza teases men with her clothes and gets them to lust after her. One day Nunziata dies having sex with an Italian corporal at home and Miluzza finds a job in the factory of the wealthy Don Peppe, who rapes her. When she returns home she learns that Gioacchino died that afternoon. Soon there are rumors that Miluzza had an affair with Don Peppe, but her grandfather protects her. Then Miluzza's village is bombed, her grandpa dies, and she moves to another town to live with a friend. When she finds Italian soldier Pietro wounded in the leg in her house, Miluzza saves his life and helps him return to his family. Pietro proposes to marry her, but her mother wants to prove that Miluzza is virgin before blessing the marriage.
- DirectorPiero CristofaniLina WertmüllerStarsElsa MartinelliRobert WoodsGeorge EastmanAbused and dominated by men in her youth, Belle Starr now out-rides, out-smokes, out-shoots, and out-gambles them as she makes her way around the Old West, usually wearing male garb. One man who's her equal is Larry Blackie with whom she has an on-again/off-again relationship which is often argumentative and sometimes violent. Together they become involved in a robbery that goes awry. Belle must rescue Larry, and though he's grateful, he now wants to go his own way. However, he expresses the hope that someday they'll once more cross paths and then--who knows?
- DirectorLina WertmüllerStarsÁngela MolinaHarvey KeitelIsa DanieliA mysterious serial killer is targeting drug dealers in Napoli, stabbing them in the testicles with a hypodermic needle.
- DirectorLina WertmüllerStarsRutger HauerNastassja KinskiLorraine BraccoAn American journalist pretends to be infected with A.I.D.S. to investigate the syndrome and provoke a public reaction.
- DirectorLina WertmüllerStarsGiancarlo GianniniCandice BergenMichael TuckerA communist journalist and an American liberal photographer try to cohabit with their different perspectives of love and life.
- DirectorLina WertmüllerStarsMariangela MelatoMichele PlacidoRoberto HerlitzkaA charming billionaire manager kidnaps a criminal and locks him up in her private villa in Sardinia.
- DirectorLina WertmüllerStarsLuigi DibertiLina PolitoNino BignaminiA multitude of immigrants struggling to survive in Milan rent an apartment and face the reality of everyday life in the metropolis.
- DirectorLina WertmüllerStarsSergio AssisiGabriella PessionNicole GrimaudoOn his deathbed in the 1820s, King Ferdinando I of Naples tries to escape the ghosts of his bloody kingship by remembering his younger days when he was allowed to go hunting, have fun, and invent love games. Then he was obliged to marry Maria Carolina of Austria, daughter of Empress Maria Theresa, in a political marriage. They unexpectedly became happy lovers, until court power games divided them and a different historical season arrived.
- DirectorLina WertmüllerStarsSophia LorenMarcello MastroianniGiancarlo GianniniIn pre-World War II Sicily, just as the fascists come to power, two men fall in love with the same woman. The changes in their country's politics ultimately take all three on a journey across the ocean to New York City.
- DirectorLina WertmüllerStarsAntonio PetruzziStefano Satta FloresSergio FerraninoThe story follows the uneventful lives of three young men who live in a small, poverty-stricken village in southern Italy.
- DirectorLina WertmüllerStarsPaolo VillaggioIsa DanieliGigio MorraA teacher must deal with the underworld of Naples and his students' family problems.
- DirectorLina WertmüllerStarsGiancarlo GianniniMariangela MelatoAgostina BelliForced to leave his family in Sicily, Mimí finds a job in a factory in Turin, where he gets involved in an extramarital affair.
- DirectorLina WertmüllerStarsGiancarlo GianniniMariangela MelatoLina PolitoWhen a friend is murdered by the Facists, a melancholy farmer takes up residence in a Roman brothel as he and an anarchist prostitute plot to assassinate Mussolini.
- DirectorLina WertmüllerStarsGiancarlo GianniniFernando ReyShirley StolerThe defense of honor, a strong value in Neapolitan society, and its effects on the life of everyman Pasquale Frafuso.
- DirectorLina WertmüllerStarsGiancarlo GianniniMariangela MelatoRiccardo SalvinoA 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.