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The Flesh
La carne
1991 90 min Italy 16+
★6.4
Drama, Romance
Director: Marco Ferreri
Trailers
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Description
A piano player meets and falls in love with a beautiful and voluptuous woman who, by some strange procedure, leaves the man unable to move but with a permanent priapism. After some time he becomes sick of it and she relieves his paralysis. Eventually she gets bored and decides to leave, but he can't take it because he loves her…
Starring
Sergio Castellitto
Actor
Francesca Dellera
Actor
Philippe Léotard
Actor
Awards
Cannes Film Festival 1991
— Palme d'Or
Key opinion
Marco Ferreri’s 'La carne' is a polarizing exploration of primal instincts, pagan philosophy, and the obsessive worship of femininity. The film eschews traditional morality in favor of surreal, dream-like imagery, presenting a cynical yet hypnotizing meditation on the destructive nature of human desire.
| Theme | Ferreri employs a distinctly pagan lens, rejecting Christian morality in favor of an instinct-driven worldview that prioritizes physical matter and nature over traditional concepts of sin or sacrifice. | |
| Theme | The film acts as an anti-Christian narrative that utilizes religious symbolism purely for ironic or parodic effect to ground its exploration of extreme eroticism. | |
| Production | The film's visual language uses cramped interiors contrasted with expansive coastal settings to heighten the protagonist's sense of entrapment and obsession. | |
| Acting | Viewers are sharply divided on the film's depiction of the lead actress; some see her as a sublime vessel of primal mystery, while others find her 'silicone' appearance artificial and difficult to engage with. | |
| Ending | The bleak conclusion leaves the audience split, with some interpreting the ending as a necessary, sobering warning against possessive love, while others struggle with the nihilistic implications of the protagonist's total abandonment. |