Smell of Flesh (1975) – AKA La Sbandata
A Dirty, Sun-Baked Sicilian Sex Comedy where a homesick “American” uncle returns with money in his pocket—and finds his brother’s beautiful young daughter and voluptuous wife competing for his attention.
After thirty years of working as a cobbler and shoe shiner in New York, Salvatore Cannavone comes home to Sicily carrying enough cash to look like a rich man. His brother Raffaele welcomes him into the family house, but the warm reunion soon becomes a shameless little business arrangement. Salvatore is immediately bewitched by twenty-one-year-old Mariuccia, whose ripe beauty and playful teasing make him forget both his age and the awkward fact that she is his niece. Mariuccia realizes exactly what he wants, while Raffaele and his wife Rosa quietly encourage her to keep the old fellow excited, generous and under their roof. Gifts, money and promises begin changing hands as flirtation turns into a secret affair. But Salvatore is no innocent victim: lusty, vain and constantly judging...
every woman he sees, he also develops an appetite for the curvaceous Rosa. Mother and daughter therefore become partners, rivals and opportunists in an increasingly tangled triangle of desire and financial bargaining. Matters grow messier when Mariuccia’s respectable fiancé enters the picture and her parents try to play romance, scandal and marriage against one another for maximum advantage. The film is less polished erotic fantasy than bawdy provincial farce, mixing softcore temptation, broad Sicilian humour, family hypocrisy and a streak of social satire. Domenico Modugno makes Salvatore ridiculous yet strangely energetic, even sharing his private thoughts with a photograph of President Nixon, while the direction keeps returning to the wandering male eye that gets this foolish uncle into trouble. It is uneven, sometimes vulgar and proudly disreputable, but it has the sweaty vitality of Italian sex comedies made before the genre became mechanical.
Set in the traditional, gossip-conscious world of 1970s provincial Sicily, the film plays old family respectability against the decade’s new sexual boldness. It was shot around Giarre, Sant’Alfio and Taormina, giving the comedy real village streets, rustic houses and bright Mediterranean scenery rather than a studio-made backdrop. The atmosphere is hot, earthy and slightly shabby: doors rarely stay closed, relatives know more than they admit, and money excuses behaviour that everyone publicly condemns. Beneath the bare breasts and bedroom jokes lies a cynical view of family loyalty, with affection, lust and greed sitting comfortably at the same dinner table.
Eleonora Giorgi is the obvious visual centre as Mariuccia, all youthful curves, mischievous glances and seemingly innocent smiles that become more calculating once she understands her power over Salvatore. She plays the girl as both temptation and conspirator, looking fresh, soft and almost painterly while confidently carrying the film’s most provocative teasing. Luciana Paluzzi supplies the mature counterweight as Rosa: fuller, bolder and more knowingly sensual, with a memorable scene in which Salvatore opens her blouse and begins fondling her breast while she tries to continue an agitated conversation. The erotic content is candid but softcore rather than hardcore—female nudity, exposed breasts, intimate touching and plenty of leering suggestion, without explicit intercourse. Giorgi provides the sweet young allure; Paluzzi brings the experienced womanly heat; and together they make Salvatore’s supposed homecoming feel like a long, dangerous invitation.
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