SCARLET DIVA

Minerva, 2000. DVD by Shriek Show, 2002. Written and Directed by Asia Argento. Original music by John Hughes. Starring Asia Argento, Daria Nicolodi, Jean Shepard and Herbert Fritsch.

 
     By Stephen Pytak 
     Disturbing film shot on video with a documentary feel, about an
actress struggling to become an artistic film director, while drowning in
a world of drugs, drink, obsessed fans and rape-minded users.
     What makes Asia Argento's directorial debut much more
frightening is the note on the DVD cover suggesting it was based on 
part on her life.
     All I really know about Asia is what I've read in magazines, books
and on the Internet, and seen in the movies she's been in. Never had
the opportunity to meet her.
     Born Sept. 20, 1975, according to IMDB.com, she's the daugher 
of giallo-master filmmaker Dario Argento and actress Daria Nicolodi. 
She's made a number of films with her father. The first was "Truama 
(1993)" and most recent was "The Mother of Tears (2007)." 
     According to IMDB.com, she's been acting in films since 1985,
but her earliest film I can recall is "The Church (1989)."
     She matured into a beauty, with dark features and a bit of the
devil in her dark-brown eyes.
     Like Madonna in the late 1980s, Asia has had her wild moments
in the spotlight. The wildest I can recall was the time she posed
for a VERY revealing picture spread for "Bizarre" magazine in July
2001. She was pregnant at the time.
     I heard about her "Scarlet Diva" project back when it came
out in 2000, didn't get a chance to see it in a theater and didn't get
around to seeing it on DVD, until the other night, July 4, 2008.
     In a personal introduction before the film, Asia said the film
did not get good reviews all around, but she believes the film has
weight.
     Her "Anna Battista" is, according to one powerful line of dialog,
"a whore."
     She's addicted to a party life where rules and boundaries are
either blurred or completely nonexistent. For the most part, she
appears to shurg off the craziness she faces: dealing with photo-
crazy fans who bother her at a restaurant, finding a friend tied 
up in a dangerous S&M game for 48 hours, getting a visit from
a hot and heavy lesbian who claims to know her, "Quelou (Selen),"
while Anna can't remember from where.
    Once she falls for a rocker after a one night stand, the tone of
the film turns much darker. In many ways, it becomes a thriller and
a horror film.
     He disappears from her life. She finds out she's pregnant. She
is attacked by a film producer trying too hard to get her into his
bedroom. She is drugged during a photo shoot, almost drowns, then
is sexually assaulted by the photo crew. It goes on and on, from one
bad situation to the next. 
    In the end, she turns to a filmmaker friend in an effort to direct her
own film, "Scarlet Diva." A needle junkie at the end of his rope, he
attacks her as well.
    The climax, in which she attempts to meet the father of her child, is
traumatic. The ending, inconclusive. But if you ask me -- SPOILER 
ALERT -- I think her character dies at the end.
     While watching every sick and twisted episode of this thing play
out, I kept wondering how much of Asia Argento's real life was
brought into play.
     Celebrities -- in particular this child star who is an icon in the
horror genre -- can't get a break. They're hounded. They struggle.
And often, they can't break free of the molds society trapped them in.
     I found "Scarlet Diva" to be a moving, frightening and 
disturbing picture of what that could be like. And while some of it seems 
over the top, it makes you wonder if Asia was being true to life. Or was 
she  just employing a gimmick?
     Truth is, unless she pens an autobiography, we'll never know.
     Some critics bashed this film for the acting and so forth. I thought
Asia did pretty well first time out. I haven't seen her other directorial
efforts, but "Scarlet Diva" held my interest, and I'd like to see more
of her work behind the camera.
Copyright 2008 By Stephen Pytak