La Pretora (1976) from ICMS |
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While researching the career nudity of Edwige Fenech, I noticed
that she seemed to show the most skin in La Pretora (1976), a movie
directed by Lucio Fulci. Since this film is available on DVD in Italy, I
ordered a copy and checked it out. Boy, was I ever right! During the first
18 minutes Edwige unveils nothing, but then she practically can't keep her
clothes on for more than five minutes in a row! And it's not just
her breasts she's showing, but the full monty.
The movie itself deals with a judge (pretore/a) in a small provincial town in
Italy. Edwige Fenech plays judge Viola Orlando, a severe magistrate who is
known as a morally strict and uptight woman who can't be bought. Viola's
troubles begin while she is handling the case of a con man who tried to sell
off cans of dog food as goulash. He comes across a topless woman near a hotel
swimming pool whom he thinks is Viola because she looks exactly like her. As
he later finds out, this woman is Viola's twin sister Rosa, an easy-going,
uninhibited woman who doesn't think about the consequences of her actions.
Rosa's main source of income is picking up rich men in hotels and living at
their expense for a while, but with our con man, who is penniless, this
tactic backfires and she gets into financial strife.
The con man informs Viola's enemies of the twin sister and her troubles, which
prompts them to organize an erotic Snow White photoshoot starring Rosa. Since
Rosa and Viola look exactly the same, Viola gets in troubled water as everyone
in town thinks that she is the one in the pictures. Keep in mind that even
now, thirty years later, a naked judge is still a no-no. Furthermore Viola
also has a fiancé, a somewhat naive count who raises bio-chickens on his
estate, and who is disappointed with Viola in bed and would prefer her to be
more like her twin sister in that domain. So Viola is now faced with a double
challenge: preserving her good name on the one hand, while also becoming more
sensuous to prevent losing her fiancé. Will she succeed?
All in all this 30-year-old comedy was a pleasant surprise. It has held up
fairly well over the years. It's still funny, with plenty of sexual puns and
double entendres, many of which were lost to me because my Italian simply
isn't good enough. (English subtitles would have been welcome on the DVD.) The
camera work is above average, and the actors all seemed to enjoy themselves
and put in solid performances. A special mention here must go to Edwige Fenech,
who was simply brilliant in the double role of Viola/Rosa. Edwige is a
beautiful, classy woman and a good actress who is aware of her talents and
enjoys showing them off. Director Lucio Fulci really couldn't have made a
better choice to play the female lead role. Add to that a beautiful remastered
anamorphic widescreen DVD transfer plus copious nudity by primarily Edwige
Fenech and this film is a genre classic!
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