The Vacation -la Vacanza- - Tinto Brass 1971 -s... !full! -
Plays the sympathetic poacher who becomes an ally in her journey.
La Vacanza premiered at the , where it famously provoked a near-riot. While the audience responded with shouts of "Schifo" (disgusting) and "Basta" (enough), the film was paradoxically awarded the prize for Best Italian Film .
: The iconic Italian star (best known for Django ) serves as the film's male lead. Nero's performance as the earthy, anarchic poacher grounds some of the film's more bizarre sequences. The Vacation -La Vacanza- - Tinto Brass 1971 -S...
Critical opinion on La Vacanza remains divided, though the balance has shifted toward appreciation over the years. The film currently holds a rating of 5.4 out of 10 on IMDb, based on a relatively small number of user votes. Some critics have been baffled by the film’s lack of conventional structure. One IMDb reviewer, writing in 2010, bluntly stated that the biggest mystery surrounding the film was “how it managed to get named ‘Best Italian Film’ at the Venice Film Festival,” calling it “impenetrable” and noting that even the charismatic presence of Redgrave and Nero could not entirely salvage the “ungodly mixture”.
Anyone expecting the glossy, high-contrast, buttock-centric framing of All Ladies Do It will be disoriented. La Vacanza is shot in a gritty, verité style by Silvano Ippoliti. The camera is restless—handheld, jittery, zooming in and out with nervous energy. The villa is not a glamorous Italian escape; it is a dusty, half-furnished mausoleum with peeling plaster and oppressive heat. Plays the sympathetic poacher who becomes an ally
When cinephiles hear the name , they immediately think of Caligula (1979) or his later “erotic-comic” masterpieces like The Key (1983) and Paprika (1991). They envision extreme close-ups of posterior anatomy, liberated women, and a baroque, almost carnivalesque celebration of hedonism.
La Vacanza was very much a passion project for all involved. Following the success of their previous collaboration on the romantic drama Dropout (1970), Brass, Redgrave, and Nero enjoyed working together so much that they decided to reunite for another film. Crucially, the three of them financed the production out of their own pockets, shooting on 16mm film to keep costs manageable. This no-budget, independent spirit pervades every frame of the finished product, lending it a rough-hewn, intimate quality that distinguishes it from the slicker productions of the era. : The iconic Italian star (best known for
Yet, audience reception has historically been baffled. A famous contemporary review on IMDb notes: “Ultimately, the biggest mystery surrounding this film... is how it managed to get named ‘Best Italian Film’” . However, modern reappraisals are kinder. The film has been described as “irreverent, provocative, anarchic and grotesque... a masterpiece of denunciation against psychiatry” .
Below is a comprehensive, deep-dive article into the film La Vacanza (internationally known as The Vacation ), directed by Tinto Brass in 1971.