Melissa P (2005 film)
[Official Italian DVD release]
Outstanding
condition overall, other than the DVD disc, which is in very good order (lightly
used).
Italian DVD
release, with the film in its original language (Italian) and with the option
for English subtitles. The book this
movie is based on is the schoolgirl diary that scandalised Europe and became an
erotic bestseller: ‘One Hundred Strokes of the Brush Before Bed’ (and it’s
candid sequel ‘The Scent of Your Breath’ was also a hit).
Originally bought online from a reputable shop. Beware of fake DVDs.
[My ref: 87201]
Details
Aspect Ratio
: 16:9 - 1.85:1 (‘Panoramico’ Anamorphic Widescreen)
Is
discontinued by manufacturer : Unknown
Language :
Italian
Rated :
Suitable for 18 years and over (for the UK, although the Italian classification
is 16)
Package
Dimensions : 18.03 x 13.76 x 1.48 cm; 100 Grams
Item model
number : 8013123010933
ASIN :
B001PGXXJS
Director : Luca Guadagnino
Media Format
: PAL, DVD, Region 2, Subtitled, Widescreen, Colour,
Run time :
1 hour and 34 minutes approx..
Release date : 21 April 2006
Actors : Maria Valverde, Elio Germano, Primo
Reggiani, Fabrizia Sacchi, Claudio Santamaria, Carlo Antonelli, Maria Teresa
Bagardo, Pier Giorgio Bellocchio, Giulio Berruti, Vania Cadura
Subtitles :
Italian, English
Language :
Italian (Dolby Digital 5.1), Unqualified (Dolby Digital 5.1)
Studio :
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment / Universal Studios Italia S.r.l
Producers : Claudio Amendola, Jose Ibanez, Francesca
Neri
Writers : Barbara Alberti, Cristiana Farina, Luca
Guadagnino
Number of
discs : 1
Best Sellers
Rank: 78,488 in DVD & Blu-ray (See Top 100 in DVD & Blu-ray)
21,519 in
Drama (DVD & Blu-ray)
Customer
reviews: 3.2 out of 5 stars (112
ratings)
Description
A young
Italian girl, Melissa (María Valverde), falls in love with Daniele (Primo
Reggiani), a boy from her school. Daniele becomes aware of Melissa’s feelings
and takes advantage of her sexually on multiple occasions. When Melissa
realizes that Daniele does not have the same feelings for her as she has for
him, she takes out her anger by experimenting with other men in a spiral of
shame and self-destruction.
[ORIGINAL ITALIAN TEXT: Melissa è una ragazza siciliana
di 16 anni. Delusa dal suo fidanzato Daniele, incerta e spaventata, intraprende
un viaggio verso l'autodistruzione che la porta a scoprire un mondo di
perversione sessuale per lei fino a quel momento inimmaginabile. L'ancora di
salvezza per riuscire a tirarsi fuori dalla spirale di depravazione in cui è
caduta potrebbe celarsi dietro il volto e i ricordi dell'amata nonna paterna,
l'unica persona a cui Melissa si senta affine...]
Melissa is a
16 year old Sicilian girl. Disappointed by her boyfriend Daniele, uncertain and
scared, she embarks on a journey towards self-destruction which leads her to
discover a world of sexual perversion that was previously unimaginable for her.
The lifeline to be able to pull herself out of the spiral of depravity into
which she has fallen could be hidden behind the face and memories of her
beloved paternal grandmother, the only person to whom Melissa feels similar...
Actors: María Valverde, Letizia Ciampa, Primo Reggiani,
Fabrizia Sacchi, Geraldine Chaplin, Nilo Mur, Claudio Santamaria, Carlo
Antonelli, Pier Giorgio Bellocchio, Marcello Mazzarella, Elio Germano, Alba
Rohrwacher, Davide Pasti, Francesca Madaro, Esmeralda Prete
Directors: Luca Guadagnino
Writers: Barbara Alberti, Cristiana Farina
Studio: BESS
Movies and Pentagram Films
Distributor:
Columbia Pictures / Sony
Genres:
Drama
Countries: Italy
Additional
Info (adapted/translated from rear of case)
[Original Italian
text in normal font; English translation in bold and italics]
Forte. Bambina. Fragile. Donna. (Strong. Girl. Fragile. Woman.)
Based
on the sensational international best seller 'One Hundred Strokes of the Brush
Before Bed' Melissa P is about a steamy tale of raw emotions and frank
sexuality. Lonely, neglected by her parents and feeling the loss of her
grandmother fourteen-year-old Melissa turns to sex as an outlet of expression.
Propelling herself into impossibly risky liasons, the details of which she
records in her diary, this modern day Lolita suddenly and dangerously turns
into a bold seductress. by turns erotic and harrowing, Melissa P's disturbing
look into a teenage girl's secret life pushes the envelope of human desires.
Melissa e una studentessa sedicenne siciliana, incerta e
spaventata. La madre Daria, negoziante, nonostante sia sempre presente in casa,
sembra, alla ragazza, piu distante del padre ingegnere bloccato su una
piattaforma petrolifera nell'Oceano Indiano. In casa, pero, vive la nonna
paterna Elvira che la capisce perfettamente divenendo sua complice.
Melissa da un anno ama disperatamente Daniele, suo
compagno di scuola, non accorgendosi di Marco, un eccentrico compagno di classe
che veglia su di lei come un angelo custode purtroppo ignorato dall'oggetto del
suo amore. Melissa un giorno scopre il sesso. E proprio Daniele, il suo amato,
a farglielo conoscere; l'esperienza pero si rivela dolorosa e umiliante, molto
lontana dalla tenerezza che aveva sempre immaginato. Per comprendere le
motivazioni di questa delusione e capire cosa sia davvero il sesso Melissa
comincia a cercare la sua identita attraverso esso e gli occhi degli uomini,
registrando di volta in volta sul suo diario, che considera il suo migliore
amico, non solo gli incontri con i vari uomini che conosce, ma anche i suoi
dolori e le sue incertezze.
Il taciturno custode di un museo, Arnaldo, l'amico sadico
e apparentemente disumano di Daniele e il frequentatore di una chat erotica dai
gusti eccentrici e pericolosi sono solo alcuni degli uomini che incontra nel
suo percorso. Questi uomini la considerano un giocattolo ma la sua
sottomissione e solo apparente. Melissa stessa infatti pretende sesso da loro,
nonostante il prezzo che di volta in volta paga, soprattutto quando il diario
finisce nelle mani di sua madre e della sua amica fidata Manuela.
Melissa
is a sixteen-year-old Sicilian student, uncertain and scared. Her mother Daria
is a shopkeeper, whilst always present at home, she seems more distant to the
girl than her father, an engineer stuck on an oil platform in the Indian Ocean.
Fortunately, her paternal grandmother Elvira lives in the house and understands
her perfectly, becoming her accomplice.
Melissa
has desperately loved Daniele, her schoolmate, for a year, not noticing Marco,
an eccentric classmate who watches over her like a guardian angel. Unfortunately Melissa is ignored by the
object of her love. One day Melissa discovers sex. It is Daniele, her beloved,
who introduces him to her. However, the
experience turns out to be painful and humiliating, very far from the
tenderness she had always imagined. To determine the reasons for this
disappointment and understand what sex really is, Melissa begins to search for
her identity through sex and the eyes of men.
From time to time recording her encounters in her steamy diary. Her diary becomes her confidante and she
considers it like a best friend. Not
only does she record the encounters with the various men, but also her trials,
tribulations and uncertainties.
Along
her journey, she meets a variety of characters, including the taciturn
custodian of a museum, Arnaldo; Daniele's sadistic and apparently inhuman
friend; and the frequenter of an erotic chat with eccentric and dangerous
tastes. These men consider her a sexual plaything, but her submission is only
apparent. In fact, Melissa herself demands sex from them, despite the price she
pays from time to time, especially when the diary ends up in the hands of her
mother and her trusted friend Manuela.
SPECIAL
FEATURES / EXTRAS / BONUS MATERIAL
- Commento
del regista e del montatore (Audio Commentary by the Director and Editor)
- Dietro le
quinte (Behind The Scenes featurette)
- Scene eliminate (Deleted Scenes)
- Video
musicale “Swan” by Elisa (Music video “Swan” performed by Elisa)
- Trailer vari
(Various Trailers)
Review(s)
4.0 out of 5
stars “Difficult erotic subject, handled
tactfully”
Reviewed in
the United Kingdom on 4 March 2011
Based on the
book "One hundred strokes of the brush before bed" (which I haven't
read), this film describes the descent of a young girl into a series of
increasingly unwise sexual encounters. It is far less explicit than the UK's 18
certificate might suggest (unless nipples on display are nowadays sufficient
reason to slap the red badge on), and it is far better than any of the comments
I have read would give it credit for.
As parents
we do need to be aware that for vulnerable girls, who may be low on
self-esteem, there are very real dangers arising from their sexuality and from
its ruthless exploitation by men of all ages. The recent phenomenon of the
"loverboys" in the Netherlands, who coax schoolgirls into
prostitution, shows that this is not as rare as we might have hoped.
The film
handles this difficult subject tactfully. For instance, the nudity is only on
display when Melissa is ensconced in the comfort of her home, either alone in
her room, or in the bathroom with her beloved grandmother (whose nipples are
also revealed in an old photograph - maybe that pushed the censors over the
edge?). On the other hand, the more dangerous her encounters with men become,
the less we get to see of them, and the more is left to the viewer's
imagination.
The film
only makes limited use of language - as I understood most of the Italian
without ever having learned that language, it can't have involved any
sophisticated phrases. I`m guessing this may be on purpose, as the body and
visual languages are more important to the protagonists and the movie, and lead
actress Maria Velverde can express herself very eloquently without saying a
word.
On the
visual side, I loved the locations chosen with a great sense of place and
visual effect, such as the descent into the improbably cavernous historic
basement which ends up being a descent in more than one way.
Here's
another film condemned to the trash bin by people who can't see past a bare
chest, and that's a shame.
9 people
found this helpful
3.0 out of 5
stars “A good watch, but not true to the
book”
Reviewed in
the United Kingdom on 17 September 2016
I liked the
film, but couldn’t help thinking that the storyline from the original book had
been subverted to change the whole meaning of the story. Despite her sexually charged diary entries, the
girl seemed incredibly innocent and it became a story of her being abused and
controlled by men, whereas in the original book she was more of a nymphomaniac,
who could only control her desires by succumbing to them, with the men
effectively being used to this end.
On occasion
I thought the director was too focused on the sexual abuse angle. For example there was an apartment scene
where a gentlemen attacks her with a whip. So these types of scenes, in which a seemingly
innocent girl is abused against her will contradicts the bright enigmatic
sexual girl who wrote the diary. Where
was the strong girl that wore stockings and stiletto boots and told Daniele to
'f** off'?
Shame that
the director took a ground-breaking brave novel and turned it into another film
of a submissive abused by men. The
original story needs to be made into another film ASAP! In summary, fans of the book will be
disappointed that the original vision hasn’t been realised, but those with no
expectations will still find it a good watch.
3.0 out of 5
stars “Rated ‘18’...beats me...”
Reviewed in
the United Kingdom on 13 July 2008
Judging by
the cover you'd expect some kind of teen-(soft)porn. Well, it isn't and it’s
way better than that. No full frontal nudity, just a few short topless scenes.
Yes, there are some erotic scenes but these are more a matter of suggestion
than anything else. So if it isn't porn, then why the "18" rating?
Please do tell me... Especially strange, when you consider that the Italian DVD
is rated ‘14’!
As far as I
can see this is just a well-acted and believable story about a sensitive and
yes, sensuous, girl who tries to find some kind of solace in sexual contacts
that could be potentially harmful but in her case only serve to heal, thanks to
her inner strength and basic mental health.
And BTW:
Geraldine Chaplin makes a quite lovable granny...
17 people
found this helpful
4.0 out of 5
stars “surprisingly rather good”
Reviewed in
the United Kingdom on 18 July 2011
I expected
to hate this film and turn it off after about ten minutes for being bad italian
soft porn but it is actually a rather excellent film. Geraldine Chaplin as the
grannie with painted black fingernails and dancing through her pain is
excellent . Maria Valverde is lovely . It might not be a p.c. story and some of
the scenes may be more teenage fantasy than actual fact, but for me it was an
engaging, thought provoking late night movie.
3 people
found this helpful