Some years ago I read a short review (I can’t remember where) of an Italian film that sounded very interesting, but seemed to be extremely difficult to obtain. I forgot about it until some months ago when I noticed that it had received a DVD release in Italy, with English subtitles, on the Rarovideo ‘Nocturno’ imprint. The film in question is Fernando Di Leo’s controversial 1978 Avere Vent’Anni, or Being Twenty in English. Di Leo was a very prolific director who, like so many other directors in the heyday of Italian cinema, dabbled in various genres with differing levels of success. The majority of his work was in the ‘poliziesco’ genre (violent cops’n’robbers films) and his marvelous Milano Calibro 9 (1972) is widely regarded as one of the principle examples of this cinematic subgenre. He was also responsible for the dire borderline giallo Slaughter Hotel (1971) starring Klaus Kinski, a couple of strange misfire action films and some unusual social dramas, usually with erotic content. Being Twenty falls into the latter class.

The film opens with a group of young people lying about on a beach. Someone turns on the radio and they seem to come to life, dancing and swimming. When they leave, two girls remain – Tina (Lilli Carati) and Lia (Gloria Guida). Striking up a friendship, the two head off to Rome, hitch-hiking their way there. They shoplift, before heading to a commune run by Nazariota (Vittorio Caprioli). Tina falls for a stoner living at the commune (Ray Lovelock) and the girls have sex with other male ‘residents’. A film-maker turns up and asks them about their lives, before leading a debate on feminism. They go out selling encyclopedia subscriptions, leading to various sexual encounters. Later, the police bust the commune and order the two girls to return to their home towns. They stop by a secluded restaurant on their way home, and provoke some locals by dancing in extremely revealing mini-shorts. They leave and are pursued by the men, leading to a violent conclusion…

The film was only briefly shown in this version – audiences reacted badly, somewhat understandably, to the ending which seems to have strayed in from I Spit on Your Grave or one of the Lenzi/Deodato ‘cannibal’ films (the most explicit scene: Tina is eventually help upside down naked and a large branch is rammed into her vagina twice). A gentler ending was shot and the film was re-released in this form. As far as I’m aware, there hasn’t been an official release of the uncut version of the film prior to this with an English language option, so its reputation has largely been formed by people reading about it rather than seeing it. Both versions of the film are included in the DVD release.

It’s clear that the summer of love was very much over when Di Leo conceived the film (he wrote the screenplay some years before it was actually filmed), though he seems to be on the side of the carefree girls for most of the time. Viewing the film today, they seem even more like caricatures than they probably did back in ‘78, naïve and uninhibited, wearing their sexuality on their sleeves (if they ever wore anything that concealing!). Nazariota refers to them as ‘Peace and Evil’ and they are obviously written as clear archetypal opposites. Tina is dark haired, fiery, aggressive, loud, whilst Lia is blonde, sweet, passive, quiet - “we’re young, hot and pissed off” is their catchphrase. We discover that both have rebelled as a result of their upbringings – Tina ran away from her oppressive parents (“they found out I was a sex maniac”), whilst Lia was brought up in an orphanage before living in a strict catholic boarding school. They consider sex completely natural – no big deal – and are happy to experiment with lesbian trysts, group sex, etc.

This is where the film seems split, as all exploitation films tend to be: on one hand, the film makes it clear that both girls want sex and are often the active partners, rather than the passive ones women are often portrayed to be (at one point a frustrated Tina asks a room full of stoned men “does anyone want to sleep with me?”) However, on the other hand they are very much shown as tantalizing sex objects (both girls were former ‘Miss Italy’ winners), and happily act as whores in order to pay for their room at the commune. The conclusion can easily be interpreted as the girls getting what they deserve (even more so thanks to the heavy handed handling of the dialogue in the scene), or as a cautionary tale, depending on how much slack you’re prepared to cut Di Leo.

The film opens with a quote from French philosopher Paul Nizan’s 1931 essay 'Aden, Arabie': “I was 20 years old. I will never allow anyone to say that these were the best years of my life”. It also references Wilhelm Reich’s 'The Sexual Revolution' (1945), communism, feminism, capitalism, etc. Despite its highbrow pretensions however, it remains a strictly exploitational affair.

There is some interesting casting in the film – Gloria Guida as Lia is simply stunning, one of the most attractive actresses working in Italian cinema during the 70’s. She’s probably best known for her lead role in Silvio ‘Amuck’ Amadio’s 1975 giallo So Young, So Lovely, So Vicious and also appeared in notorious Mexican director Rene Cardona Jnr’s The Bermuda Triangle (1978). It’s worth pointing out that she sings the theme song to Being Twenty, lending extra poignancy to the final scenes. Lilli Carati is less successful in her portrayal of Tina, which is so one-note that is becomes very tiresome and probably helks to lessen the impact of the film’s climax. She went on to appear in a string of softcore porn films for Joe D’Amato in the 80’s.

Ray Lovelock needs to introduction to genre fans, I’m sure, but he’s given very little to do here and is basically anonymous in the role of Rico. Fulci favourite Daniela Doria pops up in a minor role, whilst Leopoldo Mastelloni (Daria Nicolodi’s butler in Inferno (1980)) provides the film’s humour in his role as a bizarre white-faced ‘spiritual being’. Fans of Renato Polselli's films will recognize Raoul as a police commissioner, whilst Fernando Cerulli, Daniele Vargas and Vittorio Caprioli are all recognizable from a string of minor roles in 70’s genre flicks. I also spotted Franca Scagnetti in a brief appearance – she’ll be instantly familiar as the creepy woman in Suspiria (1977) who Jessica Harper encounters in the dance academy corridor.

Overall, Being Twenty is very much worth seeing, especially for fans of lesser-known Eurocult cinema. There’s plenty of (full frontal) nudity of both sexes (ever wanted to see Ray Lovelock’s schlong? then this is the film for you!), social commentary, hit-and-miss humour and a real feeling of what Italy must have looked like in the late 70’s. Then there’s the controversial side of the film – the ending is genuinely nasty, the emphasis being on physical violence towards the two girls as opposed to rape and titillation, which would perhaps have been more typical in a film of this type. It’s certainly an unusual film, eschewing the more straightforward softcore comedy approach often taken by Italian directors in the 70’s (Sergio Martino for example) for something altogether darker and more serious. Intriguingly, Di Leo wrote a kind of prequel to the film, which was to have been called “Quello che volevano sapere due ragazze perbene”, or “What two well-to-do girls wanted to know”, and would have been set in the 40’s. It was never filmed.