Call Me Salome

Oscar Wilde Would Approve
The legend of Salome and John the Baptist gets a modern day overhaul in this excellent adaptation based on an idea by Oscar Wilde. Director Claudio Sestieri pulls out all the stops but never goes for the grossout gore and excessive sex like Director Tinto Brass's 'CALIGULA'. The film takes place in a warehouse atmosphere resembling a Disco nightclub and King Herod is portrayed like a Mafia crime boss who has John held prisoner on site. Salome is smitten with him(or is she) and manages to seduce everyone into her power. After her legendary dance, she naturally asks for the token head of John with disastrous results for the realm. Director Ken Russell attempted the same premise with his 'SALOME'S LAST DANCE'-1988 but it plunged into sheer farce. Director Sestieri gives his version a serious tone and the production values will remind you of Director Federico Fellini's 'SATYRICON'-1970 and Julie Taymor's Shakesperian adaptations 'TITUS'- 2000 and 'THE TEMPEST'-2009. The scene...

Salome Meets the Sopranos
'Call Me Salome' is the latest entry in a substantial list of DVDs that are based on the Biblical story of King Herod, his step daughter Salome (whom he lusts after), and John the Baptist (who Salome lusts after) - and particularly based on the 'notorious' turn of the century play 'Salome' penned by Victorian libertine; Oscar Wilde. For some obscure reason I got real interested in this play and subsequently sought out and purchased a goodly sampling of the different versions that are available on Amazon) to check them out. The oldest version was lensed in 1923 with silent film actress Nazimova in the lead role and features sets & costumes inspired by the infamous drawings of Art Nouveau master Aubrey Beardsley - it is a decidedly surreal film experience. There are a bunch of DVDs based on the operatic version of Wilde's play written by Richard Strauss, all of which set the story to music & song to relatively good effect. Acclaimed British actor Steven Berkoff directed & starred in...

Salome Relieves Herself in the Pool
Born in 1948, writer/director Claudio Sestieri has only eight movie and tv productions (1980-2005) listed on IMDb. The Salome film is a modernization of the Oscar Wilde play. Sestieri is creative but restrained, limiting the impact that prolific composer Luigi Ceccarelli (43 titles on IMDb, 1982-2005) might have added to the film, especially in The Dance.

Herod is a bantam-sized criminal supremo. Herodias is a lanky worn fashion-model type. Salome is thin, unembellished pretty, with a 20-year-old face and the budding chest of a 13-year-old. The combination set is laid out on one sound stage, and is mostly un-ostentatious, except for a swimming pool with colored lights. Notably, the major entrance to this "club" complex is spanned by an English name: The Last Emperor. (In the dialog, America is besmirched a few times as a criminal paradise.)

Though the Wilde play, and the Strauss opera therefrom, are usually obligated to be lurid, psychotic, shocking, actually...

Click to Editorial Reviews