The Key [DVD]

Product Information

Tinto Brass candidato con i Radicali". La Stampa (in Italian). 22 January 2010 . Retrieved 25 August 2011. Films in Review: Article about Nerosubianco, and about the retrospective". Archived from the original on 29 August 2014 . Retrieved 29 August 2014. Sally K. Brass (not related): "Director's Quest for Reality". In: Los Angeles Times, 2. September 1970, S. 13. This section of a biography of a living person does not include any references or sources. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living people that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately. The Key ( Italian: La chiave) is an Italian erotic film directed by Tinto Brass. Set in Venice under the fascist regime in the early months of 1940, it recounts a tale of a voluptuous woman in her forties who is unable to respond to her husband but undergoes a belated sexual awakening with her daughter's fiancé, which enables her to please her husband at last. The film caused scandal in some quarters because it contains several explicit shots of nudity (characterised by certain critics as "gynecological") [2] and sex scenes involving the well-known actress Stefania Sandrelli. [2] [3] However, the film ultimately obtained a decent level of commercial success. [2] [3] Plot [ edit ]

Brass' films since his early works follow an impressionistic style – they tend not to show immense landscapes, but bits and pieces of the scenery and peripheral characters and objects through pans and zooms, thus imitating how the viewer might see the events if he were actually present. This also gives the films an extraordinarily rapid pace. He often uses a television-like multicam method of shooting, with at least three cameras running at once, each focusing on something different. This DVD had been calling out to me from the cult section of my local video store for about two months before I rented it. The cover art of Stefania projects an allure that is only the begining of a very profound experience. Brass manages to create a film that doesn't make some epic statement of love, society and relationships. Instead he presents a rather odd and erotic situation that makes you think and feel (in various ways) the gravity of the characters situations. The film is also not afraid to come accross as a little silly at times. Oh, let’s count the ways, starting with provocateur, auteur, ass-obsessed, movie director, subversive, sleazy, uncompromising, golden, offensive, vital, brilliant, gutsy, and most importantly, artistic. Many of Brass' works qualify as period drama set during World War II ( Salon Kitty and Senso '45, set in Berlin and Asolo respectively), in postbellum Italy ( Miranda and Capriccio), antebellum Italy ( The Key), and in 1950s Italy ( Paprika and Monella). While Tinto is a filmmaker who gets the misogynist brand now and again, so much of his work is built around the women and not just in a physical way. Is the latter a huge part of it? Of course, but tied to that is how his female protagonists consistently shine and even overshadow their male counterparts. There are a few exceptions, like Frank Finlay in The Key, but by and large, the men are damned to merely exist in the hot shade of their luminously larger than life female stars.

See also

A definite new talent. Gene Moskowitz, "Few 'Quality' at Venice: Emphasis on Art via Austerity". In: Variety, 11 September 1963, S. 5. Scan found at: [1] In 1940s Venice, after twenty years of marriage, a Professor and his younger wife witness the passion wane. Now, all that remains is to confess the rousing thoughts to an elaborate diary hoping to break free from ties and inhibitions.

The 1980s and onwards would usher in a new era of Tinto as a filmmaker. The erotic subtexts riddled around more prominent historical and political themes in his earlier work would soon break ground straight to the forefront. Elements like humour would become more pronounced, though often still perverse and unapologetically weird, as if the man is patting us on the ass just as a reminder that he is still the balls to the wall director we know and love. The

Rate And Review

La Chiave" is one in a series of medallions of beautiful women,astounding studies of women,on a par with Miranda (1985),Andrea Barzini's Desiderando Giulia (1985),Andrea Bianchi's Dolce Pelle Di Angela (1987),Spiando Marina (1992),L'Uomo Che Guarda (1994),Malèna (2000) ,etc..In the unconventional erotica,Brass' equals are the far less famous Andrea Barzini (the author of the best Serena Grandi show,made when she was 27 years),Andrea Bianchi,the author of the underrated Dolce Pelle Di Angela (1987).These masterpieces,signed by Bianchi and Barzini,and other wonderful Deborah Caprioglio and Serena Grandi shows could be seen in Romanian movie theaters 13 years ago. Fast forward to 1976 with Tinto’s powerful Salon Kitty, where themes of espionage, romance, sexual games, and more play out in Nazi-era Germany. The way that Tinto deftly contrasts the cabaret glitz of Madame Kitty’s (played to perfection by Ingrid Thulin) establishment with the brutality of fascism is mesmerisingly visceral. It’s a work that often gets planted with the “naziploitation” label and while its success certainly did influence that weird and nasty sub genre, Salon Kitty is as arthouse and essential as Bob Fosse’s Cabaret. Its notoriety also helped garner the attention of Penthouse magazine founder Bob Guccione, who would bring Tinto into the still-controversial saga that would become 1979’s Caligula. Arrow (Blu-Ray & DVD) (UK RB/R2 HD/PAL) / WS (1.78:1) (16:9), Cult Epics (US R0 NTSC), Raro (Italy R0 PAL) / WS (1.66:1) (16:9)

Tinto Brass is the type of pure spirit that is automatically not going to be for everyone. Even in the world of cinematic Eros, Tinto is the perversive and pervasive outlier, often weaving in elements of the outré that can slither into straight up dada. This is something he should be rightfully exalted for! After all, simple prurience is old hat. Creators of pure, unimaginative smut are rarely remembered, much less celebrated and discussed. However, it takes a true visionary to infuse sexual imagery and sensuous stories with something special and rarefied that can capture us with various levels of thrall.

Throughout the film, the themes of love and infidelity are explored with nuanced sensitivity, and the performances by the leading actors are both tender and heartbreaking. Finlay delivers a powerful portrayal of an aging man struggling to maintain his sense of masculinity, while Sandrelli's unflinching performance as the object of his obsession is both vulnerable and strong. There is a particular density of the naked flesh,and of the settings also.Brass displays much gusto;his style's plastic quality is extraordinary ."La Chiave" is written by Brass more like a chapter of ethology,and of sexual behaviors. From a contemporary review, the Monthly Film Bulletin found that "Despite its solid production values, The Key has a reassuringly uninflated approach to its material" and that the film "is a much more creative use of genre than many more 'respectable' commercial attempts." [1] Chi è Caterina Varzì, moglie di Tinto Brass". Viaggi News (in Italian). 10 July 2010 . Retrieved 25 August 2020. Tinto Brass discusses his original ideas for the film, plus talks about the style of the current film as it was released (video)". YouTube . Retrieved 5 November 2014.