Scarlet Diva

UPC: 631595022698

Studio: Shriek Show

MPAA Rating: NR   Contains:[Not For Children, Substance Abuse, Sexual Situations]

Summary: 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. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Category: Comedy Drama

Features: Interview with Asia Argento
Directors commentary
Original theatrical trailer
Liner notes
Photo gallery

Scarlet Diva

Format: DVD

Release Date: 11/26/2002

Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 Theatre Wide-Screen

Runtime: 91 Minutes

Sides: 1

Number of Discs: 1

Region: USA & territories, Canada

Chapters: Side #1 --
1. Opening Credits [2:25]
2. Conditioning [6:18]
3. Untie Me [9:15]
4. Lost Love [11:22]
5. Coping Skills [4:55]
6. The Lonliest Girl [3:23]
7. Memories [5:06]
8. The Proposition [8:51]
9. Coke Party [3:20]
10. In the Depths [2:40]
11. Cleopatra [:21]
12. Abuse [11:57]
13. Bottoming Out [5:37]
14. Redemption [7:26]
15. End Credits [2:32]

Jason Buchanan

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. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Cast and Crew: Asia Argento  Director 
Asia Argento  Screenwriter 
Claudio Argento  Executive Producer 
John Hughes III  Composer (Music Score) 
Asia Argento  Actor 
Herbert Fritsch  Actor 
Joe Coleman  Actor 
Francesca D'Aloja  Actor 
Vera Gemma  Actor 
Daria Nicolodi  Actor 
Leo Gullotta  Actor 
Paolo Bonacelli  Actor 
Gianluca Arcopinto  Actor 

Country: Italy