De Sica x2

Laura Kipnis's "Bound and Gagged: Pornography and the Politics of Fantasy in America" turned out to be very different from my expectations. I hadn't realized it's a crossover academic/mainstream book, a sort of popularization of scholarly ideas (one of the back-cover blurbs euphamizes this quality thusly: "the best general interest book on pornography . . .") That said, the book does play to Kipnis's strengths as a polemicist. The sarcastic quip is her forte. When Jeffrey Masson claims that incest pornography is produced and distributed by the "proincest lobby," Kipnis responds: "I confess I haven't heard of this group. Whom do they lobby exactly--Congress?"

However exciting her prose, however refreshing her no-nonsense attitude, Kipnis's thinking remains uncompelling. Her theoretical stance is both the closest to orthodox Freudianism and the closest to classical Marxism (through Raymond Williams/Pierre Bourdieu) one can imagine getting away with at the present conjucture (or indeed in 1996 when this book was published). So I have little to say about the book.

More excitingly, my wife and I have been enjoying the Boston Museum of Fine Arts' current film series "Signore & Signore," spotlighting Italy's great actresses. A couple of weeks ago we saw "La Signora Senza Camelie," an early (1953), uncharacteristic and largely disappointing Antonioni film. Then, on Thursday, we went for a double feature of Vittorio De Sica. First, as director, De Sica's 1960 "La Ciociara," known in English as "Two Women." Jean-Paul Belmondo is his usual cool self, but to me Sophia Loren was the real surprise. Delivering a performance ranging from carefree playfulness to shattering anguish, she richly deserved her Best Actress Oscar for this film. De Sica's camera choices reminded me of the fluidity and vim of, yes, a Martin Scorsese. Both these films were presented in pristine 35mm prints; they can't have looked much better back when they first premiered.

The print for the second feature on Friday's double bill, "Pane, Amore e Fantasia," was not as impressive as the prints for those other two movies. But this film was even more delightful: De Sica in a typical comedic role, as the bachelor marshall of a carabinieri squad assigned to an out-of-the-way mountain village. Standard screwball antics ensue, especially well-played by De Sica and leading lady Gina Lollobrigida. Both "Pane" and "Camelie" are unavailable in the US in anything but crappy VHS versions. I feel lucky to be living finally in a place where opportunities exist to attend such programming.