Luigi Comencini, born in 1916 in Salò, was a pivotal figure in Italian cinema, known for his deft direction and storytelling. His work on Bebo's Girl (1964) showcases his ability to blend humor with poignant social commentary, a hallmark of his style. In The Dolls (1965), Comencini explores the surreal and unsettling, pushing the boundaries of genre. His later film, Strange Occasion (1976), further cements his legacy within the realm of cult cinema, where his unique narrative approach continues to resonate.
Strange Occasion
Three sexy and comedic episodes. First segment: Giobatta is an Italian immigrant in the Netherlands, who barely earns a living selling castagnaccio to the locals. While checking his pockets during a night robbery, some muggers discover Giobatta is well-endowed and take him to the owner of a nightclub, who forcibly hires him as a live sex performer. While the profits improve the livelihood of Giobatta and his unaware wife Piera, their sexual life suffers. When Piera finds out about Giobatta’s moonlighting, she allows him to continue on the condition that she be the female performer. Seeing as Giobatta is too shy to perform with Piera in public, the nightclub owner demotes him to doorman and hires another male performer for Piera. Second segment: Antonio is a man who has the taboo of sex. When his wife and daughter go on holiday, at the door of the house of Antonio knocks the beautiful Cristina, a Swedish girl, the daughter of a friend of his. Antonio begins to fall in love, and so Cristina falls in love with him too. That night the two have sex, and the day after Cristina, believing that Antonio has a very clear conception of sex, tells him that his wife made love with her father. Antonio, indignant, doesn’t… welcome his wife. Third segment: In Rome, a bishop: Ascanio, is stuck in the elevator of a building with a beautiful woman. The bishop was going to see his mistress, but now he is stuck, and then Ascanio goes having a chat with the woman about sexual matters, expressing all his indignation at the manner in which the Italians of that time approach to sex. The woman manifests sound moral principles; but at the end, when the elevator is unlocked, the contradictions of the two characters are shown.
