Cert:

Cat.no: DV 1124

Running time: 87 minutes

Year: 2000

Pressing: 2003

Region(s): 2 (UK PAL)

Chapters: 15 plus extras

Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1

Languages: Italian/French/English

Subtitles: English (part-subtitled)

Widescreen: 1.85:1

16:9-enhanced: Yes

Macrovision: No

Disc Format: DVD 9

RRP: £19.99

Extras: Behind the Scenes, Asia Argento Interview, Asia Argento Biography, Trailers & TV Spots, Production Stills Gallery, Audio Commentary

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Director:

Asia Argento (DeGenerazione, La Scomparsa, L'Assenzio, La Tua lingua sul mio cuore, Loredasia, Scarlet Diva)

Producers:

Claudio Argento and Dario Argento

Screenplay:

Asia Argento

Music:

John Hughes

Cast:

Anna Battista: Asia Argento
Kirk Vaines: Jean Shepard
Aaron Ulrich: Herbert Fritsch
Dr Pascuccia: Gianluca Arcopinto
Mr Parr: Joe Coleman
Margherita: Francesca d'Aloja
Veronica Lanza: Vera Gemma
J-Bird: Justinian Kfoury
Anna's Mother: Daria Nicolodi
Hash-Man: Schoolly D
Quelou: Selen
Hamid: Alessandro Villari

Scarlet Diva is apparently a semi-autobiographical tale as porn star - although she calls herself a whore to some people - Anna Battista (Asia Argento) goes on an experimental search, with both men and women, to find someone she can feel loved by and make love too, not just fuck. She goes for rock star Kirk Vaines (Jean Shepard) early on but it's not to last.

We learn how Anna used to be in a threesome relationship with Hamid (Alessandro Villari) and Veronica (Vera Gemma), but we're led to believe that him treating Veronica like shit is for real when it's just part of a sick sordid fantasy in which, in Veronica's case at least, she likes to get beaten up as part of that relationship. Takes all sorts, I suppose.

Anna also reminisces about her troubled childhood when her mother (Asia's real-life mother Daria Nicolodi) told her how masturbation was dirty and how things became even more tragic while she grew up in the family home with just her mother and brother.

Asia Argento certainly isn't shy about stripping off for the camera, but overall it's not a film that reflects the Rolling Stone quote on the cover, "Here's the movie that should be called xXx.", since it's not the horny sex-fest it's made to sound like. It's like a post-modern arthouse film, and by post-modern I mean 'weird for the sake of weird'.

The film is presented in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen and largely looks very good, but there's occasionally print defects, such as at the start of chapter 9 in a hotal lobby where they're quite prevalent. It's very well filmed, though, in terms of the style.

The sound is in Dolby Digital 5.1 and really comes into its own in the bizarre flashbacks, drug-induced and dream-like sequences as voices echo all around your system. Filmed in several different countries, the dialogue cuts between Italian, French and English without a second thought and the English subtitles appear only during non-English dialogue and can be turned off as well if you're multi-lingual.

As mentioned above, this is the first two-disc release for a Bond film and the extras are as follows:

• Behind the Scenes (8 mins): Shot in 4:3, this blends work-in-progress footage on-set and various crew members. Sadly, there's no English subtitles for this section so unless you can understand Italian you've got no idea of what they're talking about.

• Asia Argento Interview (17 mins): Ah, this is in English. Asia talks to an off-screen interviewer about what the film means to her and how personal it is, given that her father is a co-producer and her mother plays the same role in the film.

• Asia Argento Biography: Four pages of text and then a brief filmography.

• Trailers and TV Spots: The original theatrical trailer (16:9 anamorphic, 1½ mins) before the DV-recorded content was treated (decently) to look like film, and three TV spots in 16:9 letterbox, running 15, 30 and 60 seconds, respectively.

• Production Stills Gallery: 28 pictures.

• Audio Commentary: Voiced in English by director and star Asia Argento.

There are a mere 15 chapters to the film, albeit labelled 2-16 if you're selecting them individually, I've mentioned already that the subtitles only appear when non-English dialogue is being spoken and the menus have small repeated sections of sound and animation.

FILM CONTENT PICTURE QUALITY SOUND QUALITY EXTRAS
OVERALL

Review copyright © Dominic Robinson, 2003.

DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TXW32R4 32" widescreen TV connected to either a Creative Dxr2 DVD-ROM player or Microsoft Xbox and played through a Sony STR-DB930 amplifier.

PC games reviewed by the editor are on: