Swept Away

"Swept away" pretty much describes the theatrical fate of this shipwreck of a movie that proves Madonna may just be the anti-muse. After sullying first husband Sean Penn's brilliant career with Shanghai Surprise, she sinks second husband Guy Ritchie with this who-asked-for-it remake of Lina Wertmüller's 1975 cause celebre. Madonna goes way overboard as Amber, a spoiled, wealthy über-bitch sailing with her husband and two other couples on a yacht bound from Italy to Greece. A demanding traveler, she ends up making life especially miserable for one crewmember (Adriano Giannini, son of Giancarlo, who played this role in the original), whom she treats with contempt. But the tormented becomes the tormentor when the two are stranded on a desert island, and here Giannini exerts the upper hand, insisting that Madonna call him master, among other demeaning acts. And, woe be to feminists, she likes it. So unsympathetic is Amber, and so one-note is Madonna's performance, that we don't care what happens to her, or to the starry-eyed couple, buff though they may be. Without Wertmüller's more overt political subtext, Swept Away is merely adrift. Not recommended. [Note: DVD extras include a love-is-blind audio commentary by director Guy Ritchie and producer Matthew Vaughn, a 20-minute behind-the-scenes movie special featuring Ritchie and star Madonna, 16 deleted scenes with optional commentary, filmographies and trailers. Bottom line: even Ritchie's mildly entertaining commentary can't save this cinematic shipwreck.] (K. Lee Benson)[Blu-ray/DVD Review—Sept. 19, 2017—Kino Lorber, 114 min., in Italian w/English subtitles, R, DVD: $19.95, Blu-ray: $29.95—Making its latest appearance on DVD and Blu-ray, 1974's Swept Away features a fine transfer and a DTS-HD 2.0 soundtrack on the Blu-ray release. Extras include audio commentary by filmmaker Valerio Ruiz, an excerpt from Ruiz's 2015 documentary Behind the White Glasses (10 min.), an interview with filmmaker Amy Heckerling (9 min.), and a booklet with essays by director Allison Anders and author Grace Russo Bullaro. Bottom line: this controversial Italian classic looks much improved over earlier home video releases.]