Scarlet Diva

Director: Asia Argento Asia Argento

Overview

Shot on digital video, this no-holds-barred, semi-autobiographical film from Italian actress/model Asia Argento presents the bleak decent of a popular actress into a haze of drugs and overindulgence. Anna Battista (Argento) has seemingly everything anyone could ever want, yet sometimes everything is never enough. Fed up with going through the motions as an actor, Battista aspires to seek a career as a director so that she may truly explore her currently latent artistic talent. The queen of excess, Battista's attempts to realize her true talent are time and again shattered as the she is used and abused by everyone she comes into contact with. After a one-night fling with an emotionally distant and uncaring Australian rock star (Jean Sheperd) leaves the self-confessed whore a lovelorn mother-to-be, Battista's desperation to bring her story to the screen finds her dealing with a shady American producer (Joe Coleman), an agent reluctant to assist her in branching out, and a heroin-addicted former filmmaker who is as close to ending his life as Battista is to beginning hers. Her career in disarray and her uncertain future growing increasingly grim, Battista embarks on a numbing binge of sex and drugs that takes her from Europe to America and back again. Attempting to seek-out the father of her unborn child and find some sense of stability, Battista finds the truth about her one-time lover.

Product Details

Release Date:	09/25/2018
UPC:	0859686006680
Original Release:	2000
Rating:	NR
Source:	Film Movement
Region Code:	A
Sound:	[Dolby Digital Stereo]
Language:	English
Time:	1:31:00

Special Features

Two Audio Commentaries by Asia Argento (2000 & 2018); Looking into the Eye of the Cyclops with Joe Colema; Asia Argento interview; Making of Scarlet Diva; Original release promos; New essay by Kier-La Janisse

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Asia Argento	Anna Battista
Jean Shepard	Kirk Vaines
Vera Gemma	Veronica
Fabio Camilli	Pierre
Joe Coleman	Mr. Paar
Luce Caponegro Selen	Quelou
Herbert Fritsch	Aaron
Daria Nicoldi	Anna's Mother
Justinian Kfoury	J-Bird
Vanessa Crane	Luke
Schooly-D	Hash Man
Alessandro Villari	Hamid
Leo Gullotta	Dr. Vessi
Paolo Bonacelli	Swiss Journalist
Jeff Alexander	Tyrone
David Brandon	Director
Robert Sommer	Cesare, the Actor
Gloria Pirrocco	Anna as a Child
Leonardo Servadio	Alioscia as a Child
Deborah Restante	Simona
Massimo De Lorenzo	Drunk
Giovanna Papa	Fast Food Woman
Taiyo Yamanouchi	Japanese Man
Angelica Di Majo	Piercing Girl
Jean Shepherd	Actor
Francesca d'Aloja	margherita
Daria Nicolodi	Anna's Mother
Gianluca Arcopinto	Actor
John Hughes	Composer

Technical Credits

Asia Argento

Asia Argento	Director,Screenwriter,Producer,Producer,Executive Producer
Sergio Stivaletti	Special Effects
Andrea Lancia	Sound/Sound Designer

Scene Index

Disc #1 -- Scarlet Diva
2. Veronica [8:07]
3. Hamid [11:40]
4. The Morning After [6:23]
5. Stickers [5:21]
6. Premonition [10:10]
7. Off To London [5:11]
8. A Walking Nightmare [7:52]
9. Cleopatra [7:03]
10. A Vicious Attack [9:59]
11. Running Away [5:41]
12. Chapter 12 [4:42]
13. Chapter 13 [:01]
0. Chapters
1. Chapter 1 [8:00]
2. Chapter 2 [:01]
0. Chapters
1. Chapter 1 [16:56]
2. Chapter 2 [:01]
0. Chapters
1. Chapter 1 [8:26]
2. Chapter 2 [:02]
0. Chapters
1. Chapter 1 [8:02]
2. Chapter 2 [:02]

Menu

Disc #1 -- Scarlet Diva
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      Original Release One Minute Promo
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      Film Movement Trailers
         Film Movement Trailers:
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            In Between
            Full Moon In Paris
            Antonia's Line
            The Pillow Book
            My King
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Editorial Reviews

It's often said that for an artist's work to truly resonate, the artist needs to have had life experience. Anyone familiar with Asia Argento's background undoubtedly knows that even at the relatively youthful age of 25 the worldly actress probably has enough experience to fill a trilogy. This said, the competent but flawed Scarlet Diva finds the ambitious Argento still struggling to find her footing as a director. It's easy to throw around words like "pretentious," "over-indulgent," "self-absorbed," and "vanity project" when confronted with an often uncomfortably excessive film such as Scarlet Diva, though closer inspection reveals that Argento is actually trying to say something about the entertainment industry and the soulless existence which can result from getting sucked into it's temptations. Containing a refreshingly punkish unrestraint and some telling situations that may cut a little too close to the bone for some entertainment industry insiders, Argento has filtered her experiences in the film and modeling business into a telling semi-autobiographical expose. In addition, Argento's powerful visual sense results in some striking and grotesquely beautiful imagery, no surprise coming from the daughter of one of the most visually flamboyant directors out there, Dario Argento. Yet despite the film's strengths, Asia Argento's inexperience in directing results in some stiff and unconvincing performances across the board, herself included. Her father's films have often been criticized as exercises in style over substance, and though Scarlet Diva certainly contains substance in abundance, the substance never hits the viewer as hard as Argento seems to have anticipated. In terms of effectively conveying the plight of her characters, Argento will never be truly effective until she finds the means to work with her actors to extract the emotion needed for her films to have true impact.

All Movie Guide - Jason Buchanan

What a world we'd live in if Argento's Hollywood counterparts -- say, Sarah Michelle Gellar, or even Christina Ricci -- had this much imagination and nerve. Few of them, at any rate, have Argento's reserves of lonesome passion and unspigoted woe.

Village Voice - J. Hoberman

It's a demented kitsch mess (although the smeary digital video does match the muddled narrative), but it's savvy about celebrity and has more guts and energy than much of what will open this year. Manohla Dargis

Los Angeles Times