Saturday, December 8, 2012

Swept Away

No, Dear Reader, this is not a photograph of a sandy seashore covered with seashells.


Rather, it is a photograph of a towel, spread out on our dining room table at Darlington House, covered with the shells that once occupied our Shell Mania mantel display, the subject of an earlier post of mine.

Now that Christmas is fast approaching, we are beginning to ready Darlington House for the holiday.  That meant that this summer's Shell Mania decoration needed to be, well, swept away to make room for more seasonal embellishments.


Which reminds me of one of my favorite films, Lina Wertmüller's Travolti da un Insolito nell' Azurro Mare s'Agosto, which loosely translates into English as "Destiny in the Blue Sea of August" (it was distributed in this country as Swept Away).  It is a marvelously amusing and sexy movie about an insufferable, spoiled, rich Italian woman (played to perfection by Mariangela Melato) whose Mediterranean yachting vacation takes an unexpected turn when she and one of the boat's crew become stranded on a desert island, and their roles are deliciously and hilariously reversed.  Do yourself a favor, Dear Reader, and rent it (or download it) in the original Italian language version with subtitles, and not a dubbed version (and certainly not Madonna's disastrous remake thirty years later).  Ms. Melato's performance in Swept Away is absolutely divine, and much of the pleasure of watching the film is listening to her non-stop complaining, snarling, shrieking, and—ultimately—purring as she first reviles and then falls helplessly in love with the character played by Giancarlo Giannini.

For those of Reggie's readers who may now be longing more for sandy shores than sleigh bells, he highly recommends it.  He is confident that you, too, will be swept away . . .

Photograph of shells by Boy Fenwick

12 comments:

  1. Although I am doing a very abbreviated version of Christmas decoration this year, I whole-heartedly endorse seasonal changes in decor.

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  2. I remember when Swept Away came out. Quite the cause celebre it was. Fun for us young ones to feel so daring.

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  3. Technically Echinoderms, not seashells.
    :)

    I love both though.
    Cheers!
    p.s. I teach Zoology.

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    1. Scaley - we do love you, even at your most pedantic!

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  4. I can't believe I've never seen your blog, I love it. I've just spent the last 45 minutes reading over old posts. New follower for sure. I loved the original Swept Away, very funny and very sexy.

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    1. Hello Kathy, Thank you for your kind comment, and welcome! May I suggest that--if you are interested in some of my better posts--you look up my December 12, 2010 post titled "The Best of Reggie, Year One"? It has links to some of my pasts that I hope you will enjoy. Thanks, Reggie

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  5. Reggie, I'm off to The Wolseley on Wednesday night, can't wait.
    And how has Kathy never visted you before - you were made for each other!

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  6. That movie is great and he is a scream. Haven't watched it in years thanks for reminding me.

    BTW I have been battling the Retail Red urge and noticed one of our mutual "friends" has a post on Red All Over. In case you are wondering her initials are CR. I must admit her red is a bit more muted and elegant. I wonder how she feels about yellow mums.....

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  7. Swept Away is closely based on "The Admirable Crichton" a play written by J.M. Barrie (of Peter Pan fame)in 1902. It was adapted for the screen in 1918 and 1957, and there were TV versions in 1950 and 1968

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  8. Wow, I just visited your Shell Mania mantle post. It is stunning. I'm a new follower too and look forward to following your advice to Kathy.

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  9. ah reggie. i adore the movie swept away. i saw it in hollywood years and years...and years ago. i watched it again recently and was no less enthralled by it. i remember the first time i saw it i was shocked by its rawness. still am.
    you have such a lovely blog here and i'm glad i found you through tabitha. xoxo janet

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