Submission (1976) User Reviews

erotic, perverse and shocking

[stolenalice · 7/10 · 5 August 2007]

This was a film I had been keen to see for a while, having read some interesting articles and reviews about it. It is now available on DVD, if you know where to look, in an Italian-audio only version.

There is a genuine sense of things seeming beyond the characters' control in Scandalo - the conflict of WW2 coming closer to the French town where the film is set, the now-chilly relationship between Lisa Gastoni's Eliane and her husband and ultimately, the charged emotional and sexual bondage that she finds herself embroiled in with Franco Nero's Armand, several moments of genuine and heated sensuality finally culminating in the shocking denouement involving Eliane's daughter.

Gastoni is impressively tight-laced, then emotionally wild. Nero is darkly seductive, then chillingly shameless - a further example of his talent, and willingness to play morally ambiguous roles to the hilt.

Scandalo's intent is beyond the realms of erotica, into psychological drama. Definitely not a film for the faint-of-heart, or easily offended.

The Explicit Pharmacy

[mike-925 · 9 May 2000]

Armand (Franco Nero)is a shopboy, living with his mother in 1940 France. Elianne (Lisa Gastoni)is the unfullfilled wife for whom Armand works in the Pharmacy below the apartment where she lives with her husband and daughter.

The Germans are due to arrive in Paris. One night Armand gropes a woman he believes to be Juliette the shopgirl in the dark at closing. It is not Juliette, it is Elianne. Elianne is incensed but when she tries to tell her husband, he interrupts and tells her about his latest treasured art discovery. Distracted and disgusted with her husband, Elianne decides not to tell him at all.

Armand, aware that he has groped the wrong woman, waits several days for the ax to fall. When he is not fired, he is perplexed: "Is it possible, does the woman like me?" In a few days he gropes her again. Voila! It appears she does like him.

From there it is a slide down a slippery slope. Armand takes more liberties with his mistress. Gradually he can't be bothered to boff Juliette any longer. Except on one occasion he forces Elianne into an humiliating sexual triangle with Juliette.

Armand finds new ways to humiliate his mistress. On one occasion, he forces her naked out onto the nighttime sidewalk in front of the Pharmacy. From inside Armand baits her to strut her wares like a prostitute, walking up and down the street like a strumpet. An amiable drunk emerging from the bar across the street spots her. But by the time he has alerted his companions, Elianne has disappeared back inside the pharmacy. Where Armand finds her laughing uproariously and in good spirits. It turns out Elianne loves the erotic dare.

Now, with the German army closing in, Armand must find still other ways to bring down his aristocratic boss. And upstairs, Elianne's life with her distracted husband is imploding. She whispers a midnight confession of her infidelities with Armand to her sleeping husband's back. The Camera cuts to her husband. He is awake. And now he knows. But he does nothing.

Bombs are exploding in the distance and sirens warn of the approach of the Germans. Disaster is imminent for the French, and implicitly, for the family of Elianne and her husband, Professor Henri Michaud, collector of treasured artifacts.

Armand now directs his erotic gaze at Justine the couple's daughter. Elianne is appalled, but with war approaching and her husband distracted, there is little she can do.

The drama continues, the sirens blare, the war comes closer. And the audience waits for the denouement. Its a wonderful tragedy with a soundtrack that crosscuts between sounds of the approaching war and a salacious piece of music that heralds another erotic episode between Armand and Elianne.

Under whatever name; Scandalo, Scandal, Submission, this film is one of the most erotic ever made.

this is a gem

[fr66 · 10/10 · 31 October 2002]

This is perhaps the sexist movie I have ever seen, not only because of the truly believable performance of the beautiful Lisa Gastoni, but also because of the movie's undercurrents of tension between submission and control, and between explicit and implicit sexuality. The 1940 setting creates an atmosphere of tension; the professor-husband's indifference adds realism; and Eliane's descent into complete emotioanl and sexual submission--as evidenced so exquisitely by her midnight walk outside the pharmacy--throbs with excitement. Although originally titled Scandal, the title Submission is more fitting, since it captures the film's ironic portrayal of a strong woman's submission not only to her lover but also to her fate as wife and mother. It's a shame that this gem is not available on DVD or video.

Erotic, atmospheric and daring

[mccreanor · 8/10 · 25 October 2006]

It's been many years since I saw " Scandalo ", twice in one week in 1977 in a Sydney art house cinema where it ran for many weeks. Not big audiences but obviously one of those word-of-mouth movies that needs time to attract audiences. I don't recall the political or philosophical content but what stays vivid is the daring performance of Lisa Gastoni and her completely naked walk at night in the village. Brave stuff and very erotic. The music and photography were the other aspects I remember vividly, the crazily inventive movement and lighting of the great Vittorio Storaro and a music score that was equally atmospheric and memorable.

Not entirely original, but powerful Italian art film

[lazarillo · 10 November 2008]

During the 1940 invasion of France by Germany, a bourgeois housewife (Lisa Gastoni) becomes involved with an employee (Franco Nero) of the pharmacy the family runs, after the latter sexually gropes her in the dark, mistaking her for her maid with whom he is also sexually involved. As the Nazis approach, the sexual relationship between the two becomes increasingly dark, perverse, and sadomasochistic. He makes her stand naked outside on the street until a passerby sees her, and he tries to force her into a three-way with the maid. Eventually he pressures her to "deliver" her virginal teenage daughter to him.

As another reviewer remarked, it's no coincidence that this movie takes place during France's eventual capitulation to Germany. The metaphor shouldn't be lost on anyone. This movie somewhat resembles the director Salvatore Samperi's most well-known work "Malizia" (with Laura Antonelli). The end especially with the lights flickering off and on as the German mortar fire approaches very much resembles the violent thunderstorm finale of "Malizia". But this movie is even darker and more apocalyptic (or perhaps nihilistic). The relationship between the couple is much more perverse than that of the maid and the teenage boy in "Malizia", even approaching the existential emptiness of Calveani's "The Night Porter" or the bleak tragedy of Bertolucci's "Last Tango in Paris". The subplot with the daughter, on the other hand, actually resembles an earlier Lisa Gastoni vehicle, Fernidand DiLeo's "The Seduction". But that movie was much more exploitative with the adolescent girl being much more of a willing Lolita (and played by sexy older actress). This is a more an art film, and the girl here is a true innocent caught up in the couple's obsessive relationship and the collapse of the whole social order in the wake of the German invasion.

The greatest strength of this movie though lies in the performance of the two leads. Gastoni gives a performance that's even more powerful and daring than the one she gave in "The Seduction". Nero meanwhile plays against type as the sexually corrupt villain--only in Pasquale Campanile Festa's "Hitch-hike" did the charismatic and likable Nero play such a thoroughly unlikeable character. Clearly, this movie deserves a better DVD release as others have said (one that both looks good AND has decent English subtitles), but it is worth seeing regardless.

Period piece with sex.

[Movie Hound Video · 10/10 · 17 September 1999]

Not the best movie ever, but for it being set just before the invasion of France in 1940, it has the style and moments to keep your attention. If nudity and sexual content offend you, do not watch this movie. Lisa Gastoni shows you that nudity can be as beautiful as art!

A Positive Review Constitutes Self Incrimination..! - (LOL)..!

[retrodeco · 10/10 · 6 July 2021]

That's RIGHT If You Admit To Enjoying This Move, It Could Come Back To Haunt YOU, Male Or Female...!

Now My Wife & I First Saw This Movie, On Cable,Maybe HBO In The Late 70's Or Early 80's... We Have Since Purchased A DVD Years Ago...

This Movie Is Probably "THE Sexiest, Uncomfortable Movie Ever Made".

I Have My Favorite Scenes, My Wife Has Hers, And From A Woman's Perspective I TOTALLY Understand Her Choices Of Favorites...

I Can't Say Enough About This Film, A TRUE SEXUAL Treasure In Every Sense Of The Word It Covers The Gamut.

Shame no one put this out on DVD :(

[larossa-immortal · 25 January 2004]

I remember seeing this one as a beat up Prism VHS tape back in the 80's and I also remembered how good I thought the film was. I wouldn't say that it was the sexiest film ever made though it comes pretty darn close. The film would pre-date Adrian Lynne's 9 1/2 WEEKS by 12-13(?) years, interestingly enough. Both films deal with very similar subject matter: the sexual submission and domination of someone else. The difference here is that this film is way more perverse. One questions the likeability of these two characters but the one which garners the most sympathy has to be the woman whom just as France is destroyed by the invading Nazi forces, so is the woman's family and marriage. Although softcore, if explicit sexuality offends you, I wouldn't recommend seeing this. But if sexual cat and mouse games are your cup of Espresso, then I say go for it!

It really is a pity this hasn't found it's way to DVD, especially import DVD. Any flick with Franco Nero is a must-see.