Spoilers? Few Surprises Here to Spoil!
No fan of 70s fashion at its most lurid should miss D'Amore Si Muore. The clothes in this film are so wondrously over-the-top, they throw its morbid romanticism into comic relief. "I don't love you, I adore you," sighs Lino Capolicchio over the telephone. "I'll only be happy when you are dead." He plays a hypersensitive film student, obsessively in love with a free-spirited older woman (Silvana Mangano). Unable to cope with his chronic emotional neediness (who can blame her?) Mangano dumps him and he commits suicide. The bulk of his story is told in flashback.
This youth's other great obsession is Maria Callas, whose posters adorn his room, and whose voice warbles Il Trovatore on the soundtrack. A clue - as if we needed one - that D'Amore Si Muore (like most other films written or directed by Giuseppe Patroni Griffi) is really a gay love story in heterosexual drag. That may explain the presence of Milva, a campy pop diva who was Italy's answer to Barbra Streisand and Dusty Springfield. She acquits herself surprisingly well in an acting role, as a slutty 'other woman.'
As for la Mangano, she manages to look as effortlessly lovely in white trouser suits and gold batik jackets as she did in her sumptuous Belle Epoque gowns in Death in Venice. Her role gives her nothing to do but look gorgeous and be idolised by young men, but I must say she fills it to perfection. The real star, however - and the main object of the camera's interest - is darkly handsome Luc Merenda. As a would-be actor who stars in arty underground porn flicks, he spends his time lounging about shirtless in skin-tight jeans.
No fan of 70s fashion at its most lurid should miss D'Amore Si Muore. The clothes in this film are so wondrously over-the-top, they throw its morbid romanticism into comic relief. "I don't love you, I adore you," sighs Lino Capolicchio over the telephone. "I'll only be happy when you are dead." He plays a hypersensitive film student, obsessively in love with a free-spirited older woman (Silvana Mangano). Unable to cope with his chronic emotional neediness (who can blame her?) Mangano dumps him and he commits suicide. The bulk of his story is told in flashback.
This youth's other great obsession is Maria Callas, whose posters adorn his room, and whose voice warbles Il Trovatore on the soundtrack. A clue - as if we needed one - that D'Amore Si Muore (like most other films written or directed by Giuseppe Patroni Griffi) is really a gay love story in heterosexual drag. That may explain the presence of Milva, a campy pop diva who was Italy's answer to Barbra Streisand and Dusty Springfield. She acquits herself surprisingly well in an acting role, as a slutty 'other woman.'
As for la Mangano, she manages to look as effortlessly lovely in white trouser suits and gold batik jackets as she did in her sumptuous Belle Epoque gowns in Death in Venice. Her role gives her nothing to do but look gorgeous and be idolised by young men, but I must say she fills it to perfection. The real star, however - and the main object of the camera's interest - is darkly handsome Luc Merenda. As a would-be actor who stars in arty underground porn flicks, he spends his time lounging about shirtless in skin-tight jeans.
