Skip to content

Productions: Movies > The Skin (1980)

The Skin

1980_lapelle_locandina_01

Storyline

Naples 1944. After the insurrection against the Nazi, the writer Curzio Malaparte is given two assignments: make deals for the Us Army with the local Mafia – who are demanding large ransoms for handing over the Germans they’ve arrested during the Four Days of Naples – and organize a renaissance-themed dinner for the wife of an American Senator.

In the background, the lowlife of Naples’ dejected neighborhoods unfolds where mothers sell their daughters to soldiers. Malaparte is convinced that the US corruption is humiliating the local poor.

Even the senator’s wife will have to share into the plight of the innocent and defeated Neapolitan women as she too will get raped by drunk soldiers.

Technical Specifications

sceneggiatura: Robert Katz, Liliana Cavani, adapted from “La pelle” by Curzio Malaparte
director: Liliana Cavani
assistant director: Paola Tallarigo
set design: Dante Ferretti
costumes: Piero Tosi
editing: Ruggero Mastroianni
photography: Armando Nannuzzi
music: Lalo Schifrin
executive producer: Manolo Bolognini
producer: Renzo Rossellini for Opera Film Produzione (Rome), Gaumont SA (Rome)
released by: Gaumont
origin: Italy-France
film: 35 mm, color
lenght: 131 minutes

Selected for…

  • XXXIV Cannes Film Festival, 1981
  • Montreal Film Festival, 1981
  • Manila Film Festival, 1981
  • XVIII Chicago Film Festival, 1982

Cast

Marcello Mastroianni (Malaparte)
Burt Lancaster (General Mark Cork)
Claudia Cardinale (Princess Caracciolo)
Ken Marshall(Jimmy Wren)
Alexandra King (Deborah Wyatt)
Carlo Giuffré (Eduardo Mazzullo)
Yann Babilée
Jacques Sernas
Jeanne Valerie
Liliana Tari
Giuseppe Barra
Cristina Donadio
Maria Rosaria Della Femmina

Awards

  • “Biglietto d’oro Anec-Agis”, 1982