Swept Away

Swept Away... by an Unusual Destiny in the Blue Sea of August, usually shortened to Swept Away, is a 1974 Italian romantic adventure comedy drama written and directed by Lina Wertmüller, starring Giancarlo Giannini and Mariangela Melato. The film follows a wealthy woman whose yachting vacation with friends in the Mediterranean Sea takes an unexpected turn when she and one of the boat's crew are separated from the others and they become stranded on a desert island. The woman's capitalist beliefs and the man's communist convictions clash, but during their struggle to survive their situation, their social roles are reversed. Swept Away was released to divided, but largely positive, reviews, and it won the 1975 National Board of Review of Motion Pictures Award for Top Foreign Film. An English-language remake starring Madonna and directed by her then-husband Guy Ritchie, was released in 2002. Plot An arrogant wealthy woman named Raffaella Pavone Lanzetti is vacationing on a yacht in the Mediterranean Sea with friends—swimming, sunbathing, and talking incessantly about the virtues of her class and the worthlessness of the political left. Her nonstop political monologue infuriates one of the deckhands, Gennarino, a dedicated communist who manages to restrain his opinions to avoid losing his good job. Despite her humiliating insults, Gennarino agrees to take her out on a dinghy late in the evening to see the rest of her friends who have gone ahead without her. On their way, the outboard motor gives out, leaving them stranded in the middle of the sea with no land in sight.