Capriccio veneziano (2002 Video) User Reviews

Hunting down every Bruno!

[BandSAboutMovies · 4/10 · 18 May 2021]

You'd be forgiven if you think Venetian Capriccio is Desire, another Bruno Mattei - Vincent Dawn this time - softcore romp in which an American girl comes to Italy to learn the art of music and spends more time learning the language of the aardvark.

Our lady this time is Roberta (Emily Crawford, an adult actress whose mainstream acting career consists of this movie and another Mattei film, Belle de Moirre), who has come to Venice to teach music when she runs into an artist named Lorenzo (Gualberto Parmeggiani). Before you can say "Cinemax After Dark" he's taking her to nightclub orgies and having her genderbend and make some tourists nervous.

But is it love? Or just cazzo?

This movie also has a very 60s attitude toward relationships, with Roberta giving her boyfriend Riccardo to another teacher named Luisa as well as her also making some horizontal music with her female friends Anna and Letizi.

With a name that literally means go with the flow, this is pretty much Mattei doing that, finding a genre that he can make some money in. His heart never feels in these gauzy romantic films, as if he sadly wants everyone to devour one another and not just as part of foreplay.

Low budget naughtiness but pretty scenery

[augustian · 2/10 · 8 October 2009]

The dictionary defines caprice as "change of humour or opinion without reason". It can also mean going with the flow and in a broader sense, naughty. Bruno Mattei's (under the pseudonym Vincent Dawn) Capriccio Veneziano is about a woman who is lured into a life of seeing things and doing things that she would not in all probability choose for herself. The theme of capriciousness was best explored in Sliding Doors but in this film it is the participant who must recognise the path she is being lead down and make the changes.

Roberta, (Emily Crawford) arrives in Venice to take up a music teaching post. While out shopping, she meets Lorenzo (Gualberto Parmeggiani) who, we learn early on is an artist with very much a hands-on approach to his subject. Lorenzo inveigles himself into Roberta's life and soon he is leading her into the seedier sides of Venice and his own philandering existence. Lorenzo encourages Roberta to try different things such as an orgy in a night club and to dress up as gay men in order to goad a couple of gondoliers into a fight. She gets to see Lorenzo at work and she realises what is happening but it is she who must choose whether to go with the flow or break away.

It is difficult to work up any enthusiasm for this film. The cast in this film will probably never win any acting awards. Mr Parmeggiani looks more like a body builder than an artist and Ms Crawford goes through her scenes with hardly a hint of emotion on her face. She looks good naked though, as do the other women. Also looking good is Venice where the film was shot, so that scores a point or two. The film looks to have been shot on videotape and this gives a rather cheap look to the production.

The DVD reviewed here is from Russia. The audio is English with Russian dubbed over it but the Russian audio can be switched off from the menu. One obvious fault is that the English audio track is out of synchronisation with the video by one or two seconds. The DVD cover states that the aspect ratio is 4:3 but it is actually close to 1.78:1. The bad points in this production far outnumber the good so only 2 stars.