"Pasqualino ""Settebellezze"", a despicable small boss reigning as a tyrant over the women of his family, makes himself the flamboyant archetype of the Wertmüllerian character. Drawn despite himself into the whirlwind of World War ΙΙ, he appears to us to be increasingly unsympathetic by dint of opportunistic decisions, taken to the detriment of his comrades. An aesthetic of degradation whose cornerstone lies in the brilliant interpretation of the director's favorite actor, Giancarlo Giannini, who by the mere flame of his gaze makes us switch from the erotic to the libidinous, from the graceful to the vulgar, from the panther to the hyena.
(Nicolas Métayer)"

First woman to be nominated for the Best Director Oscar for the film Pasqualino in 1976, Lina Wertmüller (1935-2021) has made exacerbation the nerve center of her work. In a great formal and narrative debauchery, the filmmaker strived to dilate the failings of a politically apathetic, macho and lustful Italian society, by having them jointly endorsed on the screen by pathetic heroes. She started as a screenwriter and assistant director for Fellini's film 8½ in 1963.
(Nicolas Métayer, Céline Ruivo)