Melissa P (2005 film)
[Official British and Irish DVD
release]
Excellent condition overall. DVD disc lightly used, everything else near mint.
This movie is based on "the schoolgirl diary
that scandalised Europe and became an erotic bestseller: ‘One Hundred Strokes
of the Brush Before Bed’ by Melissa Panarello". NB It’s candid sequel is ‘The Scent of Your Breath’, which I believe is also being made into a film (I am not selling it here though!).
Originally bought from a high street shop. Beware of fake DVDs.
Details
Aspect Ratio
: 16:9 - 1.85:1
Is
discontinued by manufacturer : Unknown
Language :
Italian
Package
Dimensions : 18.03 x 13.76 x 1.48 cm; 83.16 Grams
Item model
number : 5035822095137
Director : Luca Guadagnino
Media Format : PAL, Subtitled
Run time :
1 hour and 40 minutes
Release date
: 11 Sept. 2006
Actors : Carlo Antonelli, Maria Teresa Bagardo, Pier
Giorgio Bellocchio, Giulio Berruti, Vania Cadura
Dubbed: : French, German, Turkish
Subtitles: : Czech, Bulgarian, Danish, Croatian,
Dutch, Arabic, English, French, German, Finnish, Hungarian, Hebrew, Hindi,
Icelandic, Greek, Polish, Norwegian, Turkish, Swedish, Slovene, Romanian
Language :
Italian (Dolby Digital 5.1), German (Dolby Digital 5.1), French (Dolby
Digital 5.1)
Studio :
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Producers
: Claudio Amendola, Jose Ibanez, Francesca Neri
Writers : Barbara Alberti, Cristiana Farina, Luca
Guadagnino
Number of
discs : 1
Best Sellers
Rank: 78,488 in DVD & Blu-ray (See Top 100 in DVD & Blu-ray)
21,519 in
Drama (DVD & Blu-ray)
Customer
reviews: 3.2 3.2 out of 5 stars (112
ratings)
Description
A young
Italian girl, Melissa (María Valverde), falls in love with Daniele (Primo
Reggiani), a boy from her school. Daniele becomes aware of Melissa’s feelings
and takes advantage of her sexually on multiple occasions. When Melissa
realizes that Daniele does not have the same feelings for her as she has for
him, she takes out her anger by experimenting with other men in a spiral of
shame and self-destruction.
Actors: María Valverde, Letizia Ciampa, Primo Reggiani,
Fabrizia Sacchi, Geraldine Chaplin, Nilo Mur, Claudio Santamaria, Carlo
Antonelli, Pier Giorgio Bellocchio, Marcello Mazzarella, Elio Germano, Alba
Rohrwacher, Davide Pasti, Francesca Madaro, Esmeralda Prete
Directors: Luca Guadagnino
Writers: Barbara Alberti, Cristiana Farina
Studio: BESS
Movies and Pentagram Films
Distributor:
Columbia Pictures / Sony
Genres: Drama
Countries: Italy
Additional
Info (copied from rear of case)
Based on the
sensational international best seller 'One Hundred Strokes of the Brush Before
Bed' Melissa P is about a steamy tale of raw emotions and frank sexuality.
Lonely, neglected by her parents and feeling the loss of her grandmother
fourteen-year-old Melissa turns to sex as an outlet of expression. Propelling
herself into impossibly risky liasons, the details of which she records in her
diary, this modern day Lolita suddenly and dangerously turns into a bold
seductress. by turns erotic and harrowing, Melissa P's disturbing look into a
teenage girl's secret life pushes the envelope of human desires.
SPECIAL
FEATURES / EXTRAS / BONUS MATERIAL
- Director
and Editor Audio Commentary
- Deleted
Scenes
- Behind-the-Scenes
featurette
- Music
Video – SWAN performed by Elisa
Review(s)
4.0 out of 5
stars “Difficult erotic subject, handled
tactfully”
Reviewed in
the United Kingdom on 4 March 2011
Based on the
book "One hundred strokes of the brush before bed" (which I haven't
read), this film describes the descent of a young girl into a series of
increasingly unwise sexual encounters. It is far less explicit than the UK's 18
certificate might suggest (unless nipples on display are nowadays sufficient
reason to slap the red badge on), and it is far better than any of the comments
I have read would give it credit for.
As parents
we do need to be aware that for vulnerable girls, who may be low on
self-esteem, there are very real dangers arising from their sexuality and from
its ruthless exploitation by men of all ages. The recent phenomenon of the
"loverboys" in the Netherlands, who coax schoolgirls into
prostitution, shows that this is not as rare as we might have hoped.
The film
handles this difficult subject tactfully. For instance, the nudity is only on
display when Melissa is ensconced in the comfort of her home, either alone in
her room, or in the bathroom with her beloved grandmother (whose nipples are
also revealed in an old photograph - maybe that pushed the censors over the
edge?). On the other hand, the more dangerous her encounters with men become,
the less we get to see of them, and the more is left to the viewer's
imagination.
The film
only makes limited use of language - as I understood most of the Italian
without ever having learned that language, it can't have involved any
sophisticated phrases. I`m guessing this may be on purpose, as the body and
visual languages are more important to the protagonists and the movie, and lead
actress Maria Velverde can express herself very eloquently without saying a
word.
On the
visual side, I loved the locations chosen with a great sense of place and
visual effect, such as the descent into the improbably cavernous historic
basement which ends up being a descent in more than one way.
Here's
another film condemned to the trash bin by people who can't see past a bare
chest, and that's a shame.
9 people
found this helpful
3.0 out of 5
stars “A good watch, but not true to the
book”
Reviewed in
the United Kingdom on 17 September 2016
I liked the
film, but couldn’t help thinking that the storyline from the original book had
been subverted to change the whole meaning of the story. Despite her sexually charged diary entries, the
girl seemed incredibly innocent and it became a story of her being abused and
controlled by men, whereas in the original book she was more of a nymphomaniac,
who could only control her desires by succumbing to them, with the men effectively
being used to this end.
On occasion
I thought the director was too focused on the sexual abuse angle. For example there was an apartment scene
where a gentlemen attacks her with a whip. So these types of scenes, in which a seemingly
innocent girl is abused against her will contradicts the bright enigmatic
sexual girl who wrote the diary. Where
was the strong girl that wore stockings and stiletto boots and told Daniele to
'f** off'?
Shame that
the director took a ground-breaking brave novel and turned it into another film
of a submissive abused by men. The
original story needs to be made into another film ASAP! In summary, fans of the book will be disappointed
that the original vision hasn’t been realised, but those with no expectations
will still find it a good watch.
3.0 out of 5
stars “Rated ‘18’...beats me...”
Reviewed in
the United Kingdom on 13 July 2008
Judging by
the cover you'd expect some kind of teen-(soft)porn. Well, it isn't and it’s
way better than that. No full frontal nudity, just a few short topless scenes.
Yes, there are some erotic scenes but these are more a matter of suggestion
than anything else. So if it isn't porn, then why the "18" rating?
Please do tell me...
As far as I
can see this is just a well-acted and believable story about a sensitive and
yes, sensuous, girl who tries to find some kind of solace in sexual contacts
that could be potentially harmful but in her case only serve to heal, thanks to
her inner strength and basic mental health.
And BTW:
Geraldine Chaplin makes a quite lovable granny...
17 people
found this helpful
4.0 out of 5
stars “surprisingly rather good”
Reviewed in
the United Kingdom on 18 July 2011
I expected
to hate this film and turn it off after about ten minutes for being bad italian
soft porn but it is actually a rather excellent film. Geraldine Chaplin as the
grannie with painted black fingernails and dancing through her pain is
excellent . Maria Valverde is lovely . It might not be a p.c. story and some of
the scenes may be more teenage fantasy than actual fact, but for me it was an
engaging, thought provoking late night movie.
3 people
found this helpful