IMDb RATING
5.5/10
4.5K
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During her Italian vacation, a young and beautiful American tourist finds herself as a guest in a coastal villa inhabited by some odd people.During her Italian vacation, a young and beautiful American tourist finds herself as a guest in a coastal villa inhabited by some odd people.During her Italian vacation, a young and beautiful American tourist finds herself as a guest in a coastal villa inhabited by some odd people.
Henning Schlüter
- Catone
- (as Henning Schlueter)
Mogens von Gadow
- German #1
- (as Mogen von Gadow)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaWhen producer Robert Evans was trying to coax Roman Polanski to direct Chinatown (1974), he found Polanski thoroughly absorbed with this film, to the extent that he had bought a 50% share in it. Evans eventually lured Polanski by saying that whatever "What" made in its opening week, he would pay him as his salary for directing "Chinatown". Polanski readily agreed to this, expecting "What" to do well as he considered it the best thing he had done up to that point. Unluckily for Polanski, "What" only grossed $64 on its first week.
- GoofsNancy's hands are well manicured throughout the movie, but quite ordinary during close-ups, when she's supposedly playing the piano.
- Crazy creditsThe opening titles are written in Nancy's diary.
- ConnectionsEdited into Marcello, una vita dolce (2006)
Featured review
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Sydney Rome is an American traveling in Italy who flees to a private villa after being attacked by some really inept rapists. Within the estate she meets a bunch of crazy people, including former pimp Marcello Mastroianni in what has to be the craziest, most outlandishly go-for-broke performance of his career. Comparisons to Alice in Wonderland (always mentioned in conjunction with this film) are a huge stretch, I think. There's an innocent girl in a strange place surrounded by crazy people, but that's about the extent of the parallels. At best it's like Lewis Carroll reinterpreted by a horny high schooler who still giggles when he hears the word "breast." Nevertheless, for the first half hour or so I thought this was one of the funniest movies I had ever seen. Unfortunately it climaxed with Mastroianni crawling around in a tiger hide making meowing noises (whereupon Rome starts "taming" him with the whip). After that the film never really recovers the energy it started out with and viewers are left with little to do but wonder how Rome will be humiliated next (first her shirt is ripped, then stolen, then she walks around wearing a napkin until she finds another shirt, but then her pants are stolen, finally she loses the shirt, etc). I love unadulterated nonsense (SCHIZOPOLIS, FORBIDDEN ZONE, THE BED SITTING ROOM) but aside from a couple of choice moments this film's particular pointlessness was lazy and uninspired.
helpful•2513
- CaptEcco
- Aug 24, 2006
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Details
- Release date
- Countries of origin
- Languages
- Also known as
- Diary of Forbidden Dreams
- Filming locations
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Gross US & Canada
- $64
- Runtime1 hour 52 minutes
- Aspect ratio
- 2.35 : 1
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