Love and Anarchy (Italian: Film d'amore e d'anarchia, ovvero: stamattina alle 10, in via dei Fiori, nella nota casa di tolleranza..., lit. 'Film of love and anarchy, or rather: this morning at 10, in via dei Fiori, in the well-known brothel ...') is a 1973 Italian film directed by Lina Wertmüller and starring Giancarlo Giannini and Mariangela Melato.[1] The story, set in Fascist Italy before the outbreak of World War II, centers on Giannini's character, an anarchist who stays in a brothel while preparing to assassinate Benito Mussolini.[2] Giannini's character falls in love with one of the women working in the brothel. This film explores the depths of his emotions concerning love, his hate for fascism, and his fears of being killed while assassinating Mussolini.
The film begins with Tunin (Giancarlo Giannini) learning that his friend, an anarchist who was plotting to kill Benito Mussolini, has been killed by Mussolini's fascist police in the countryside.[4] Tunin decides to take up the cause his friend died for. The movie then shows Tunin entering a brothel in Rome and meeting Salomè (Mariangela Melato),[5] and the two have a casual sexual encounter. Salomè explains her reasons for helping in the assassination plot as her former lover was wrongfully beaten to death by Mussolini's police in Milan.[6] The story continues as Salomè arranges for her, Tunin and Tripolina (Lina Polito), another prostitute at the brothel, to spend the day with Spatoletti (Eros Pagni), the head of Mussolini's police. The four of them go to the countryside near Rome where the assassination will take place in a few days' time. Salomè keeps Spatoletti busy while Tunin scouts out the area and makes a plan. Tunin takes an interest, however, in Tripolina, and they fall in love.[7] Tunin convinces Tripolina to spend the next two days with him before the assassination as he fears they may be his last. On the morning of the assassination, Tripolina is supposed to wake Tunin early. She loves him and is scared he will die so she decides she will not wake him. Tripolina and Salomè argue about this and what to do but in the end they decide to let him sleep. Tunin wakes up and is furious at both of them, and he goes into a tirade that draws the attention of the police. He starts a shootout with them and screams that he wants to kill Mussolini. He is captured and beaten to death by the police. The film ends the way it began showing the full title of the film "Stamattina alle 10, in via dei Fiori, nella nota casa di tolleranza..." This morning at 10, on Via dei Fiori (Flowers Street), in a noted brothel which is the headline of an unnamed newspaper. The article, displaying fascist censorship, states that Tunin (who is unnamed) was arrested and then killed himself.
For the initial American release, editor Fima Noveck created a prologue which featured a montage of photos of Mussolini, along with a crawl explaining his rise to power and the violent activities sanctioned in his name during his reign. Also, in this edit, the full Italian title is not displayed, in favor of the abbreviated English title Love and Anarchy.
Bullaro, Grace Russo (2006). "Love and Anarchy". Man in Disorder: The Cinema of Lina Wertmüller in the 1970s. Troubador Publishing. pp. 31–53. ISBN978-1-905886-39-5.
Porton, Richard (2005). "Film and the Anarchist Peril". In Slocum, John David (ed.). Terrorism, Media, Liberation. Rutgers University Press. pp. 37–55. ISBN978-0-8135-3608-8.
Renga, Dana (2007). "Failed Anarchists and Anti-Heros in Lina Wertmüller's Amore e anarchia". In Gundle, Stephen; Rinaldi, Lucia (eds.). Assassinations and Murder in Modern Italy: Transformations in Society and Culture. Springer. ISBN978-0-230-60691-3.
