Actualités

We meet a colorful cast of characters in Diva Futura, the women whose lives were shaped by the rise and fall of Italy’s pioneering pornography agency. There’s Ilona Staller, better known to fans as Cicciolina, a singer and free spirit whose collaboration with agency founder Riccardo Schicchi launched them both to notoriety.

Rising through the ranks was glamorous actress Moana Pozzi, determined to forge her own path after facing rejection from the mainstream film world. Riccardo’s secretary, Debora Attanasio, joined hoping the job would further her journalism career but found her outlook expanding. And Hungarian starlet Eva Henger, whose relationship with Riccardo would become both passionate and tumultuous.

Each woman brought unique strengths and backgrounds, yet all faced challenges pursuing careers in the adult industry during its controversial early years. While praised for her beauty, Ilona faced backlash for entering politics.

Moana strived to prove herself as more than a sex symbol,...

Harking back to a simpler, more innocent time, when porn stars got elected to Parliament and the “sexual revolution” was still shiny and new, the comic-tragic feature Diva Futura pays tribute to the Italian adult entertainment empire of the same name and the colorful characters who founded and worked for it. Comparisons to Paul Thomas Anderson’s similarly themed Boogie Nights (1997) will be inevitable and probably not flatter the much messier, less bravura Diva Futura. Nevertheless, writer-director Giulia Louise Steigerwalt’s (Settembre) sophomore effort definitely has its moments and some standout performances.

Moreover, most of the characters met here — such as La Cicciolina (Lidija Kordic), aka Ilona Staller, the porn-star politician, and her tragic fellow star Moana Pozzi (Denise Capezza) — correspond to real-life figures. Only insiders from that time will know exactly how much of this movie (and the memoir by Debora Attanasio on which it’s based) is true.