Swept Away … by an Unusual Destiny in the Blue Sea of August
1974, R, 116 min.
Directed by Lina Wertmüller, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Mariangela Melato, Giancarlo Giannini.

No, it’s not the much-ridiculed Madonna and Guy Ritchie remake that stalled in its tracks before making it to Austin – or much of anywhere else. This is the 1974 original that put Italian filmmaker Lina Wertmüller on the map (and into the hearts of anti-feminists everywhere). Her fable about class and sexual-power imbalance shows a bossy, rich broad and a subservient sailor swapping roles after they’re stranded together on an uninhabited island. Ain’t that always the way.

This article appears in 2002.

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Marjorie Baumgarten is a film critic and contributing writer at The Austin Chronicle, where she has worked in many capacities since the paper's founding in 1981. She served as the Chronicle's Film Reviews editor for 25 years.