Review of Swept Away (2002)

Introduction

There is an apocryphal story that one of the preview audience for this picture ran towards the screen, screaming `Please, God! Make it stop!` Having seen the movie, I can sympathise.

The day before the O*car ceremony in Hollywood, "Swept Away" cleaned up at the rival Razzie awards given to the year`s worst movies. Madonna was said to be upset by this recognition, but quite frankly she and hubby director Guy Ritchie only have themselves to blame.

It`s a movie trying desperately hard to be a romantic comedy, but it fails miserably to be either romantic or comedic. Ultimately it fails to deliver any satisfactory denouement. Hell, what you do get is a genuinely disappointing ending - and that`s no spoiler because you can`t spoil something that`s already ruined.

Madonna, showing off a physique reminiscent of a brick outbuilding, spends most of the movie being a cliched, spoiled, rich bee-itch. Her Italian co-star Adriano Giannini wavers between sympathetic underdog, misogynistic psychopath and lover. During their enforced isolation together on their little island, Madonna falls for Giannini`s deckhand in a manner oddly reminiscent of Stockholm syndrome (where the victim eventually identifies with the kidnapper). She certainly has no grounds to become romantically interested in him, and yet she does. Unfortunately, what could be a quite chilling piece of psychology is played out on screen as half-baked comedy with the inclusion of a couple of fantasy sequences (one of which is a musical number) and a cringe-making game of charades.

The movie is based on a 1974 picture "Travolti da un insolito destino nell`azzurro mare d`agosto"(Swept Away... by an Unusual Destiny in the Blue Sea of August) by Lina Wertmueller. The male lead in that picture was Giancarlo Giannini (father of this movie`s lead Adriano Giannini). Comparing the two movies` user comments on the IMdB, I`m inclined to believe that the new version of the story falls down because it *doesn`t* go as far as the original.

Video

Presented in 1.85:1 anamorphic, the image is excellent - hardly surprising as the US release of the movie was severely curtailed and internationally the movie has debuted direct-to-DVD. The dupe negative will have seen very little wear and tear as a result, so the transfer to DVD has been pristine. The photography is unspectacular, given the opportunities for landscape beauty shots provided by the locations.

Audio

The soundtrack is in DD5.1 with no alternative options. The sound is unremarkable and unadventurous. Madonna`s opportunity for a musical number has the lady in a gold lame frock lip-synching to an old recording of "Come on a my house".

Features

A director`s yak-track throughout the picture. There is a quite psychotic making-of where Madonna and Guy interview each other. This demonstrates that us Brits are having a bad effect on Madge as she is picking up a lot of Anglicisms and other bad habits. There are a huge number of deleted scenes (which turn out to be trims, alternate takes or bits that deservedly ended up in the Avid delete bin). There are text filmographies for the principals and a theatrical trailer (plus trailers for fellow box-office bomb "Glitter" and "Riding In Cars With Boys".)

Conclusion

I get the impression this movie was more fun to make than it is to watch. If you`re a connoisseur of bad movies, this might have something for you. If you`re a fan of Madonna or Guy Ritchie, then see it by all means for completeness. If you fit neither of these categories, you might be better off with something else - like `flu.