Description:
If you have ever heard the term "Felliniesque", and wondered what it meant, then the simplest definition might be to say that it is anything that blends fantasy and reality to the point of indiscernible confusion along with profuse symbolic sexual imagery. If you have ever wondered what a film with a giantess as a central character might be like, if it were created by a director with a healthy libidinous imagination, then fortunately such a film exists. 'Boccaccio 70' represents a significant entry in the realm of giantess appearances in 20th century cinema, not simply because it was directed by Federico Fellini, but more for the fact that Fellini's vision of Woman is that of an irrepressable force of nature, whose sexuality ultimately dominates and overwhelms all attempts by a patriarchal society to control her. While it can be argued that earlier films such as Juran's "Attack of the 50 Foot Woman" could be viewed as proto-feminist dogma, which contained some tongue-in-cheek symbolic elements, e.g.: a woman exploding out of the confinement of her home, Fellini's contribution to the multi-chapter film, entitled "The Temptations of Dr. Antonio" marks the first serious appearance of a giantess as an overt symbol of feminine sexual power in the medium of commercial film. The story directly addresses the central theme of the giantess fantasy: the imbalance of power between a repressed symbol of masculine conceit and the vastly more powerful feminine force that eventually dominates him. Poor Antonio is hopelessly outmatched by the towering symbol of unleashed female sexuality who becomes the focus of his fear, adoration and source of his ultimate downfall. The choice of Anita Ekberg to portray the Venus symbol in this tale was appropriate, as she was a very prominent sex symbol at the height of her popularity, and certainly gifted with the face and figure of a goddess. The excerpt from the film which is presented here, contains the original Italian dialog soundtrack with English subtitles. The film is currently available on DVD from NoShame films.
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