The story follows (Vanessa Redgrave), a peasant woman who has been committed to a mental asylum by her former lover, a Count, after he tires of her and returns to his wife. The film begins with Immacolata granted a one-month "vacation"—an experimental leave to determine if she can reintegrate into society. Her return to "civilization" is anything but welcoming:
The film’s title thus carries a powerful irony. Immacolata’s “vacation” is a cruel joke—a brief taste of freedom that is destined to be snatched away. The happiness she finds with Osiride and the gypsies is authentic but fleeting, a small pocket of resistance within a world that is fundamentally hostile to her. When she is ultimately returned to the clinic, the implication is clear: true freedom, for those who exist outside the bounds of society, is impossible.
Critics today view it as a key work in Brass’s "political" phase, showcasing a "modern fairy-tale" structure that challenges the conventions of the time. It stands as a stark reminder of a period in European cinema when directors used the medium to aggressively deconstruct social and legal institutions. Cast and Crew Highlights Tinto Brass Immacolata Meneghelli Vanessa Redgrave Osiride (The Poacher) Franco Nero Gigi (The Englishman) Corin Redgrave The Judge Leopoldo Trieste Cinematographer Silvano Ippoliti Vacation (1971) - IMDb
: Stars as Immacolata in what critics have called one of her most unglamorous and powerful roles. The Vacation -La Vacanza- - Tinto Brass 1971 -S...
You need plot resolution, sympathetic characters, or any of the erotic whimsy Brass later trademarked.
Anyone expecting the glossy, high-contrast, buttock-centric framing of All Ladies Do It will be disoriented. La Vacanza is shot in a gritty, verité style by Silvano Ippoliti. The camera is restless—handheld, jittery, zooming in and out with nervous energy. The villa is not a glamorous Italian escape; it is a dusty, half-furnished mausoleum with peeling plaster and oppressive heat.
The haunting soundtrack perfectly complements the film’s transition from whimsical liberation to crushing disillusionment. The story follows (Vanessa Redgrave), a peasant woman
At its core, La Vacanza tells the story of Immacolata Meneghelli (Vanessa Redgrave), a young peasant woman from the Veneto region of northeastern Italy whose life is upended by a cruel twist of fate. Immacolata has fallen in love with Count Claudio, a wealthy nobleman who seduces her and then summarily discards her when he grows bored with the affair. Rather than simply moving on, the count takes the extraordinary step of having Immacolata committed to a forensic psychiatric hospital, accusing her of harassment and stalking. Locked away in an institution for the criminally insane, she is labeled as delusional and dangerous simply for having loved the wrong man.
As a film emerging from the late 1960s/early 1970s, La Vacanza is steeped in anti-establishment sentiment. The film often employs surrealist elements to critique capitalism and the ruling class. Scenes of rural poverty contrast sharply with the absurd, staged, and often comical bureaucracy that governs the characters' lives. 3. A Stylistic Contrast: Joy and Pain
: After escaping her family, Immacolata finds genuine human warmth only among those society deems outcasts—such as gypsies, an underwear salesman, and Osiride (Franco Nero) , a rugged, independent poacher and birdcatcher. Critics today view it as a key work
The narrative follows , a vulnerable young peasant woman who has been unjustly committed to a psychiatric asylum. Her "crime" was not mental illness, but rather becoming an inconvenience: she was the mistress of a local Count who had her institutionalized so he could return to his wife without scandal.
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.