La Moglie Piú Bella: The Most Beautiful Wife

Indeed, the most beautiful.

Ornella Muti has always been an interesting actress. Like a lot of her Italian contemporaries--Eleanora Giorgi, Jenny Tamburi, Gloria Guida--she has been in a lot of exploitation films, but unlike these other actresses, or any other actress who's made a career in the mentioned genre,  she has also managed to turn in a lot of superb roles in more highbrow art films, and her career has thus lasted a lot longer. On the other hand, her courage in choosing film roles has also allowed her to endure a lot longer than a lot of American actresses who never want to risk doing anything that might be exploitative and as a result never do anything really interesting either. The director Damiano Damiani is the same way--he's done art films like this, on one hand, but some the most exploitative trash imaginable (like "Amityville Horror 2"), on the other, but his films are rarely less than interesting.

La Moglie Piú Bella AKA, The Most Beautiful Wife is the kind of movie I usually avoid. I usually don't go for these overly depressing tales. But The Most Beautiful Wife is oddly compelling and drew me in from the start. The film is based on a true story and deals with the barbaric treatment of women (who am I kidding, these are adolescent girls) at the hands of their future husbands. Rape was an acceptable means of forcing a marriage. No other man would want the woman as she was no longer a virgin (?) 

Don Antonio behind bars. Enter Vitto.

No surgery can compare to real beauty.

But as depressing as the subject matter may be, director Damiano Damiani and cinematographer Franco Di Giacomo created an incredibly lovely film with The Most Beautiful Wife. The contrast between the green, lush farm lands and the crumbling city scenes is pleasing. And Ennio Morricone's score is what I've come to expect – a work of genius. It suits the film perfectly.

Ornella Muti gives a terrific performance in the title role. And when you consider that this was her debut film and that she was barely 14 years old, it makes all the more amazing. As the whole film is centered around her and as she is the focal point of almost every scene, it's imperative that her performance be believable if The Most Beautiful Wife has a chance at all to work. She pulls it off flawlessly. I doubt an actress twice her age with years of experience could have done any better. It's an impressive piece of work and that is reason number 1 to watch this movie in case you still haven't. 

Vitto Juvara, a fucking piece of shitty scumbag.

The mob's way or the highway babe!

This movie based on a true story, is about a poor young countryside Sicilian girl named Francesca (Ornella Muti) who is constantly stalked by the son of a Mafia don who is trying to marry her by either good will or by taking her virginity away forcefully. Francesca of course, is not the "Valley girl" type so she won't make it easy for Vitto Juvara (frequent mobster actor Alessio Orano) As the plot unveils with each scene, we're introduced to a city in ruins where everyone leads a hardworking life under the shadow of a Mafia family led by Don Antonio. The setting is very important to the mood the film wants us to perceive. Poor families like Francesca's, see having their daughter married to a mobster as a way of improving their lives or at least as a way out of poverty for their offspring. Obviously, the mafia is well aware of that so whenever a new "Don" is born, they set their minds on finding a wife to help them run the city. The only condition, is that such woman has to be the kind of a pure soul that's not been poisoned and where can a mobster find such fine woman? In the poorest side of town, where Francesca happens to live.

Since Ornella Muti was only 14 years old when this movie was filmed, nudity or sex scenes were completely our of the question. Nevertheless, in the late '70s a French-dubbed release version of this film had over 10 minutes of added hardcore sex scenes, mainly appearing at the beginning of the film, featuring anonymous performers, yet its overall running time was 20 minutes shorter than the original Italian film. Fortunately, or unfortunately depending on how you look at it, Ornella Muti would pursue a career not only taking advantage of her acting talent but also of her mesmerizing beauty. Her earliest nude scenes would appear on her second film Il Sole Nella Pelle (1971) From then on, if needs be, she would have no issues on filming nude.

Francesca gives the finger to the mafia in its face.

You can't buy me lowlife, get it?

La Moglie Piú Bella may not be everyone's cup of tea, as it deals with topics that are presented in a dated point of view. Subjects like forced marriage, virginity, rape, submission to the strongest, mafia running not only the city but its citizens lives. However, that is exactly what makes Francesca's character so interesting. She's not afraid of leading the life she wants to life despite what her family and mafia has to say about it. In the final scenes she sort of becomes a the heroine girls of her age will look after to. 

Overall, a solid Italian film with good storytelling, acting, drama and action. This movie is not the average mafia film that would plague movie theaters after the Godfather made its debut. The story here is not about bloody murder and guns, this movie's story deals with human emotions and aspirations put to their limits when facing mafia with all you have: Will to live your life freely and completely unafraid. After all, we've watched many movies where the only way to defeat the mafia is by shooting back. This time, the mafia cannot deal with Ornella Muti, she's just too much of a woman to them.

Here's the movie trailer: