Upon its premiere at the 32nd Venice International Film Festival on September 4, 1971, La Vacanza won the "Best Italian Film" award (Critics' Prize), a significant accolade for such an experimental picture.

To understand La Vacanza , one must understand the Tinto Brass of 1971. This was the director who made L’urlo (The Howl, 1970)—a wild, psychedelic, anarchist satire that openly mocked the Vatican, the military, and the Communist Party with equal venom. Brass was a radical leftist, but an individualist one. He distrusted all power structures, from the state to the family.

: Stars as Immacolata in what critics have called one of her most unglamorous and powerful roles.

The film was a deeply personal project for its leads; Vanessa Redgrave and Franco Nero (a real-life couple at the time) co-produced and financed the 16mm production out of their own pockets following their collaboration on Brass's previous film, Dropout .

The narrative follows (Vanessa Redgrave), a peasant woman who had been working as the mistress of a wealthy local count. When the count decides to return to his wife, he uses his influence to have Immacolata committed to a psychiatric hospital to eliminate her as a distraction.

La Vacanza was very much a passion project for all involved. Following the success of their previous collaboration on the romantic drama Dropout (1970), Brass, Redgrave, and Nero enjoyed working together so much that they decided to reunite for another film. Crucially, the three of them financed the production out of their own pockets, shooting on 16mm film to keep costs manageable. This no-budget, independent spirit pervades every frame of the finished product, lending it a rough-hewn, intimate quality that distinguishes it from the slicker productions of the era.

Perhaps the most compelling assessment comes from Tinto Brass himself. In interviews, he has described La Vacanza as his second-favorite film of all the movies he has ever directed, ranking it just behind L’Urlo . Given that Brass has directed dozens of films over a career spanning more than five decades, this is an extraordinary endorsement. It suggests that La Vacanza holds a deeply personal significance for its director, representing a moment when his political convictions, his formal experimentation, and his humanism were in perfect alignment before he turned his attention toward the erotic genre that would come to define his legacy.

For now, your best bet is to seek out the 2002 Italian DVD (Region 2, no English subtitles) or the rare British VHS from 1989 titled The Vacation: A Film by Tinto Brass . Beware of YouTube uploads—they are invariably taken from a fifth-generation copy of the French broadcast, with the Jimmy Page guitar solo badly compressed.

La Vacanza is notable for its deliberate use of stylistic contradiction. A scene depicting serious, tragic events might be filmed with a light, almost comedic tone, using fast-paced editing and an unconventional soundtrack. This technique forces the viewer to look beyond the immediate emotion of the scene and engage intellectually with the underlying message—the absurdity of the injustice being depicted. Performances and Cinematic Style

The story follows (Vanessa Redgrave), a woman previously committed to a mental asylum after a scandalous affair with a Count. She is granted a one-month "vacation" to test her ability to reintegrate into normal society. However, the world she returns to—filled with a rejectionist family, bizarre bureaucrats, and social outcasts—is often depicted as more "insane" than the institution she left. During her journey, she meets Osiride (Franco Nero), an understanding poacher, and together they embark on a series of free-flowing, often surreal adventures that challenge societal norms. Key Highlights and Themes