Original subtitles

ATTENTION The following documentary contains previews on the ending and on the plot

NOTES ON EROTICISM

This is a film that has to do with women.

The take-off point was a novel

then I adapted it...

"The Seduction"

with Lisa Gastoni

and Maurice Ronet.

This film contains eroticism too.

It compares the eroticism of a 15-year-old girl

and the more adult eroticism of her mother.

The girl comes on rather strong

and becomes her mother's lover's lover.

"The Seduction" was a great film.

Lisa Gastoni was in her prime, she was beautiful.

What I can say about Maurice Ronet...

except that I liked his face and was amazed by his moves...

is that maybe he wasn't the right person to play a Sicilian.

I admit that.

But that isn't very important for the film.

It takes place in Sicily but no one speaks Sicilian.

The Sicilian setting is basically just for background effect.

It isn't a Sicilian film,

it's a film that takes place in Sicily.

Then again, Lisa Gastoni isn't very Sicilian either.

I found out there was a novel entitled "Graziella".

My friend Montero told me someone was making a film on it.

They were in Catania shooting a few takes.

The two of them went there... they're both dead so I can say

they went to Catania with cameras but no film.

The producer was Faccenda and he spent a million liras.

I found out about this and went to see Faccenda.

I asked him to give me the film and how much he wanted for it.

He wanted the same amount he'd spent.

Fernando Di Leo wrote the script.

But he made it so saucy...

that we would have all been arrested back then.

And Lisa Gastoni rejected it.

So I called two writers whose names I've forgotten...

they're in the credits, anyway.

It was a man and a woman and I had them write the script.

Tonino Pinto was in charge of promotion and press relations.

That's how "Seduction" came to be.

The externals were shot in Catania.

But I had the internals designed in a studio.

I already knew Lisa Gastoni

because we'd worked on a film before when I was production director.

It was a film about Ancient Home.

We met up again when she ran away from her husband in Greece.

I remember she ran away wearing her slip.

Her millionaire husband used to beat her daily.

Fernando Di Leo's "The Seduction" is a wonderful film

based on Ercole Patti's novel

and I played Graziella.

My mother was Lisa Gastoni.

Maurice Ronet was in it too with whom I'd done another film.

"Splendori e miserie di Madame Royale".

Obviously, I was in love with Maurice Ronet

who paid no attention to me because I was a little girl.

He'd go out to dinner with Lisa Gastoni while I cried.

I would get so upset... little girl things.

But it was fun.

And Di Leo would try to make me feel better.

He said I was too young and maybe Ronet didn't like little girls.

Do you realize what you've done?

Yes, I won't do it again.

I can't trust you.

Then trust Giuseppe.

She tries so hard to seduce her mother's lover.

Lisa Gastoni's slap left a mark on my cheek.

I had to put ice on it.

Maybe she didn't like me or maybe I got on her nerves.

I can't be liked by everyone.

I guess I was little...

When you're young and already famous...

you're a bit precocious... and full of yourself...

a little bitchy... Can I say that?

I'm talking about myself so I guess I can.

It's the truth, you know. Kids have no idea.

I'm going to my room to sleep.

There was a great feeling on the set.

I think it's the director who sets the atmosphere.

We were staying in a new hotel.

So it was very nice, there was a swimming pool.

Once Lisa Gastoni and I had a race in the pool.

I left her trailing behind.

Looking back, that's where the slap came from.

I tried to recreate

the atmosphere of outside light shining through the blinds,

typical of Sicilian homes.

During the hottest hours of those summer days

when the actors are all sweaty

and there's sex in the air.

Jenny Tamburi was good too.

So was Maurice.

Her flirting with Ronet with her feet between his legs

was incredible, without being too explicit.

Like having her tits or nice ass sticking out.

The sofa seduction scene was a moment of conception for many children.

Because you couldn't see anything.

That's why it was so good.

In my opinion, eroticism isn't seeing nudity,

it's imagining it.

That scene was loaded with sensuality.

It was like no one else was there, just me and the camera.

When I found out what I had to do, I was shocked.

I couldn't sleep, I got sick... it was a nightmare.

Then we filmed the scene and that was it, I got dressed.

I realized it was painless.

I was completely unaware of any erotic charge.

I discovered those things later on.

It was instinctive, natural.

That was me.

My boyfriend even says it to me now:

"You have this erotic charge and an angelic face..."

But I don't notice it, it's normal to me.

The problem with nude scenes in Italian films

is mostly related to scene length.

I have to be a little vulgar in order to explain this

but I don't think vulgarity even exists in this area.

It's one thing to show a scene like that so long

that the viewer gets excited to the point that I won't mention...

But it's another thing to show a scene just long enough

to figure out what kind of eroticism exists between the two characters.

That's different.

Eroticism is a good thing.

Why can't one tell an erotic story?

But it's more than just a couple of naked thighs.

At least that's my opinion.

Maybe it's more erotic to see an actress in bed through a door,

even from ten meters away.

I think something like that is more erotic

because it stimulates more of the viewer's imagination

than an explicit sex scene.

Turn the page.

Have you looked?

- Yes. - Tum the page.

Turn the page.

"Lolitaism", let's use this term...

should not be confused with "unripe" girls.

I mean, when a girl has started menstruating,

she has the curiosity her body provides her

and she takes whatever she finds.

It could be her mother's lover, but she goes for it anyway.

None of this should be labelled a sin,

or betrayal.

I stand behind women who do these things in a natural way

despite a common moral condemnation.

Because these things actually happen a million times over.

What happened in "The Seduction"

is very common in Southern Italy.

Not in northern European countries

where the mothers have their daughters get laid at the right age.

Not only do they have them get laid but they have the boys sleep over.

I remember in the 1950's people talked about the Swedish custom...

You can imagine how we in Puglia reacted to these stories.

We thought it was the height of civilization.

And Sweden and Norway really were.

I've always had this kind of foresight into female psychology.

But keeping within my little... without exaggerating.

I paid attention to the new fads that developed.

Things went in that direction.

I felt that female psychology was going to go in that direction.

Maybe you haven't noticed, but I really like women.

Sometimes my characters

might seem kind of young.

We must make a distinction between paedophilia and Lolitaism.

Paedophiles should be shot on sight.

The most hideous beings in existence.

Lolitaism is not.

When a girl starts menstruating, her sensations are at full throttle.

She's no longer passive

and you can't violate her like you can children.

The worst thing in existence.

There may be no worse crime then paedophilia.

It's insane to go with nine or 10 year-old kids.

I don't know what to do with those people.

Lolitaism is a different thing.

Lolitaism is the same game as what's in "The Seduction"

and to a higher degree in the novel "Lolita".

Because Nabokov is much more important

than the film made us believe.

This topic should be considered in the face of today's reality.

Nowadays, as soon as girls start menstruating,

they put on fashionable trousers to be up to date.

They want to be a part of the grown-up world immediately.

They want to speed up time by imitating grown-ups.

Sometimes it's the mother who pushes them to be fashionable.

Because maybe she saw her friend's daughter

and they dress them a certain way

with tight trousers and high heels

and when it rains they get wet but couldn't give a fuck.

The entertaining thing is that they're slaves to it.

"| have to be that way or I'll be out of date,

I won't be a part of this world."

I offered Ornella Muti 10 million liras for this film.

Back then she was one of the most beautiful girls and still is.

I told her that when she goes to Di Leo's house,

not to wear high heels but to wear a longer outfit

and to dress differently.

Because she was so beautiful, people would stop her in the street.

She was gorgeous!

I was in my office and I saw her come in...

I'll never forget her.

Tight white jeans,

high-heeled shoes,

a shirt with...

Gastoni saw her and said: "I'm not making a movie with her!"

She said just her presence would kill her.

And then Ornella Muti didn't do the film.

Before that episode, I had already met Jenny Tamburi.

I called her the next day

and told her to get ready because filming was starting the next day.

Lisa Gastoni didn't want Ornella Muti so we got rid of her

and I called Jenny Tamburi.

That's how she did her first film with me.

My name is Luciana Tamburini.

Jenny was my second name but that's what they called a me at home.

Lucherini chose Jenny Tamburi for me in "Madame Royale"...

When he called me that the first time I said it was a horrible name!

He said: "Is Gina Lollobrigida a nice name? But people remember her.

Sophia Loren? But people remember her.

People will remember you too." He was right.

Even though I stopped acting years ago,

I still use my stage name because my real name isn't me

and people still say they remember me.

Or at the hairdresser's, a woman will say:

"My husband has always been a fan of yours."

I never thought I'd turned on so many men.

"Splendori e miserie di Madame Royale" was my first film.

Before that I'd done extras

and Ira Furstenberg's body double.

I went to an American boarding school so I spoke English at 10 years old.

So I was Charles Bronson's wife's body double

in Sergio Sollima's "Violent City".

Then I was a backup singer at the Piper in Home,

things I enjoyed.

I'd work as an extra, ditch school.

Actually it wasn't ditching because I'd always tell someone.

I never could fake my grandma's signature.

I drove my poor grandma insane.

One day I went to see a friend in Parioli in Home,

where the production office was.

As soon as I came out I met an agent who told me

I'd be perfect for a Vittorio Caprioli film.

I figured it wouldn't hurt to audition.

So I went with a friend of mine.

I was the main character in "Madame Royale"

along with Ugo Tognazzi, it was directed by Caprioli.

The audition consisted of a bunch of cursing.

It was great because I wasn't allowed to at home.

My grandfather wouldn't allow it, he was very strict.

It was a kind of liberation for me, like a session with a shrink.

I liked saying bad words.

I got the part, it was all by chance.

I started studying acting later on.

I had an awful voice. I spoke through my nose.

I was disgusting.

When I hear myself back then, I was just awful.

I studied with Toni Maestri, the great Anna Maestri's father.

He was my private tutor.

I was working a lot then, even two films at once.

Graziella.

Honey, what's wrong?

Stop crying, say something.

What's wrong?

I have nothing to say, Mom.

Please, talk to me.

Just try...

Stop that.

He... he... He's going out with...

Who?

With Rosina.

- Rosina? - Yes.

Yes 1!

But he doesn't love her, I just know it!

He doesn't love me either!

He loves you! He told me!

We have to forget about him.

You're a grown-up, get him back!

You're a grown-up, you know how to do it!

What am I supposed to do?

Get him back!

What am I supposed to do?

The film that got my name spread around

was "Sins in the Family" and "The Seduction".

Those two films changed my life. I was in great demand.

The best thing about "Seduction"

was that Di Leo made me feel so relaxed,

even with the incredible things I had to do.

He always gave me a reason to do it.

This made him very similar to another person I really loved,

Aristide Massaccesi,

a director I've always been very close too.

Despite all the wonderful memories I have of "Seduction",

there was one unpleasant episode.

We see the dailies the day after filming.

At the first daily showing Lisa Gastoni was there

and the lab had sent a really awful print.

So there were a lot of problems with that.

I'm really sensitive about these things.

I realized right away this was a touchy situation.

The next day I asked Fernando if he wanted me to resign.

He said no

and we went to the lab to see the new material.

This time it was great.

The next morning, Gastoni came on set and said:

"I'm such a bitch

because I accused Villa of using bad lighting on me

but then I saw the new material and it was perfect."

So I should have a bad memory of the film but I don't.

It was a great film, I really liked it.

I can't tell this story because it's a little vulgar.

- No, I can't. - Come on!

During the sofa scene...

I'm older now so I can say it.

Especially with things nowadays.

During the sofa scene

when my foot was exploring around...

This is horrible!

Don't worry, you can always change the channel.

A cameraman said: "Has the cyclops come up?"

I didn't even know what he meant!

I figured it out later but I was too young.

These are just stories.

But how can you concentrate after a remark like that?

The poetry's gone!