Setenta veces siete

Seventy Time Seven (1962)

** (out of 4)

Cora (Isabel Sarli) is a poor young girl who agrees to marry a sheep herder (Jardel Filho) who quickly takes her to a farm out in the middle of nowhere. Pretty soon a horse thief (Francisco Rabal) comes across the farm and Cora quickly begins to have feelings for the man.

SEVENTY TIMES SEVEN, also known simply as THE FEMALE, is an Argentina picture that is well-made and well-acted but sadly it's also deadly boring and that keeps it from being better known. Actress Sarli became a cult figure due to some of her sex films like FEUDO but if you're looking for anything overly sexual here then you're going to be disappointed as this here is pretty much a melodrama.

For the most part I thought the film was well-made and the director at least showed that he could tell a story. The cinematography is also exceptionally good and I thought all three actors were good in their roles. The problem is that you just really don't care about any of them and this adds to the film being rather boring, which in the end causes the film to be hard to get through. A tad bit more energy or passion might have helped things but as they stand, SEVENTY TIMES SEVEN is for Sarli fans only.