The female characters representation in the Italian cinepanettoni

It was 23 December 1983 when Vacanze di Natale was released in theatres, a comedy starring Christian De Sica, Jerry Calà and Claudio Amendola clutched in their sheepskin coats and Paninari down jackets, which recounts the adventures of an Italian family in pursuit of the bourgeois dream in the snows of Cortina. The success at the box office is so great (almost 3 billion lire) that it prompts the producers to continue the saga by offering the public a new film every Christmas. For over 30 years, the only certainty for the average Italian is to find under the tree, along with the gift packets, a story, preferably interpreted by the Boldi - De Sica couple, that projects their vices, virtues and aspirations onto the screen. All nicely wrapped up to provoke easy laughter and multiply cinema ticket sales. Every year the destination changes (Cortina, Aspen, New York, Caribbean, India, Miami, ...), but the format remains the same. For about two hours, viewers can count on low-grade gags, repetitive plots based on betrayals and misunderstandings, stereotypical characters, vulgar and viral jokes, disco soundtrack and a handful of beautiful girls dominated by an actress drawn from among the starlets of the moment. 

Sabrina Ferilli, Michelle Hunziker, Megan Gale, Elisabetta Canalis, Alba Parietti, Nancy Brilli, Stefania Sandrelli, Alena Seredova, Belèn Rodriguez, Anna Falchi, ... the actresses who have appeared in the various cinepanettoni are many, but always forced to play the same roles or small variations of them: the wife, the lover, the daughter, the escort, the unattainable model. In all these films, the women are beautiful, busty and half-naked. So conspicuous as to be invisible. They are always present yet confined to a corner, relegated to statuettes in a sheepish crib set up on the altar of patriarchy. Their jokes are restrained and full of double entendres, their poses are reminiscent of soft porn films, and their clothes are tight and skimpy, designed to expose their sinuous body shapes. Hypersexualised and objectified, no matter whether they are wives or daughters, their storyline within the film revolves only around sex and male gaze. The former do not do it, snubbed by the spouse who dreams of or experiments with escorts and younger women, and if they do, never with their husbands, while the latter are hindered by fathers who would like them to remain pure and chaste girls. And then there is never a shortage of mistresses and starlets, who are portrayed as nymphomaniacs, ditzy, apparently unaware of the possibility of a more "woke" femininity and always ready to satisfy the partner on duty. If in the early films female protagonists such as Karina Huff (but also in the more contemporary interludes with Ambra Angiolini and Michelle Hunziker) flaunt a more discreet charm, in those of the 1990s and early 2000s the sexualization is total and subservient to the male protagonists. It is only in the more recent chapters, especially those starring Sabrina Ferilli, that we begin to see a glimmer of emancipation or at least equality in relation to the male leads. Whether you are a fan of cinepanettone, barely tolerate it as the obnoxious uncle at Christmas dinner, or loathe it, it is undeniable that it offers a monotonous narrative of the female figure.

We have identified six main stereotypes that are never (or almost never) missing: the wife, the girlfriend, the mistress, the daughter, the model or celebrity and the escort.    

The Wife

In the various Vacanze di Natale, the wives are marginal figures, often intransigent and chastened, perhaps ugly and therefore mocked, or rich, aloof and superficial, who are either indifferent to their husband's betrayals or are unaware of them and find out by catching their husband in the act, while he is entertaining his lover. There is also the case of the rich and despotic wife (usually more adult than her husband), married only for her wealth, like the one played by Moira Orfei in Vacanze di Natale '90. With her nails painted to match her lipstick, her fierce smile and her aggressive and somewhat boorish nature, she takes revenge on the serial cheater at her side. This attitude is as atypical for the wives of cinepanettoni as it is for the women played by Ferilli. In Vacanze di Natale a New York and Christmas in Love she is the cheating wife, while in Vacanze di Natale a Cortina she is a Roman bourgeois, tough and witty. The line she utters when her husband finds her in bed with a naked man is historic: "tu le corna te le meriti", she says, avenging in a few words all the wives who have been betrayed by their husbands in the cinepanettoni.

The Girlfriend

Cinepanettoni's girlfriends are generally somewhere between the figure of a wife and that of a daughter. Like the former, they are often betrayed or neglected, while like the latter they are a sort of angelic figure, endowed with naivety and discreet charm, reflected by the much more chaste and less flamboyant clothes than those sported by the other women in the films. The actress who, despite almost forty years have passed, still best embodies the girlfriend of the various Christmas Vacation films is Karina Huff, the Samantha who in 1983 Vacanze di Natale is Roberto Covelli's undercover partner. The character, who has the face of a young Christian De Sica, shows off his girlfriend in front of family and friends to hide the fact that he is gay. Samantha is a sophisticated bourgeois beauty, capable of alternating between Moncler jackets, wool jumpers, maxi blazers, pearl earrings and hair clips for afternoons at the chalet, but also furs and glittering evening dresses with an 80s silhouette for evening parties. 

The Mistress

The mistress is increasingly young, attractive, available and endowed with an explicit sexuality and sensuality exhibited by tight outfits that leave large portions of her body naked. This figure has been played by many actresses in cinepanettoni, among those we remember most is Aida Yespica in Natale in Crociera. The showgirl has an affair with the cheating Paolo Cioffa (Christian de Sica) who hides her from his wife, but shows her off to others like a trophy, in micro bikinis and flashy bright red minidresses with bling-bling accessories. Eventually, she will tire of the man's behavior and find herself a new partner, a plot very similar to that of Carmen Electra's character in Vacanze di Natale '90, which, in keeping with the less "woke" era was told and exhibited in an even more explicit and vulgar manner. 

The daughter

"Oh, Dio! Me la ciula, me la ciula!" Lorenzo Colombo exclaims when he sees his daughter Marta (Cristiana Capotondi) dancing and then leaving the club in the company of her dream man, star  Luke Perry, Dylan from the series Beverly Hills 90210, playing himself. A line, uttered in the final scene of Vacanze di Natale '95, that sums up the conception of daughters within the cinepanettoni: young girls (in this specific case a teenager) to be defended from the advances and the gaze of other men, who, like their father himself, are often serial cheaters and "womanizers". The character played by Capotondi dresses like a collegiate girl (and we are not of the erotic drift nor of the preppy fashionista à la Gossip Girl). Her wardrobe consists of V-neck pullovers and understated jumpers worn over a white shirt, turtlenecks, flouncy skirts, sheer black tights, Fay jackets, ponchos and minimal scarves. Combined with a bob with curtain fringe, sometimes enlivened by a headband, and a soapy face. Even when trying to catch Luke's eye Marta opts for a fresh look à la Non è la Rai: white turtleneck sweater, black shorts and parisians. In the following Vacanze di Natale a New York and Vacanze di Natale a Miami, the daughters played by Elisabetta Canalis and Vanessa Hessler are a more adult evolution of Capotondi. Beautiful, natural, fresh girls who, for a sort of karmic revenge, fall in love with adult men who mirror their father's behaviour. For example, Canalis is the lover of her father's lover's husband.

The escort

Beautiful, busty women in equivocal positions and subservient to the sexual needs of men are an ever-present ingredient in Cinepanettoni. They are often transient and nameless figures, quickly dismissed in a few shots. A slightly more complex and sophisticated version (although perhaps calling it that may seem exaggerated) is the Poppea from S.P.Q.R. - 2000 e ½ anni fa. Here the format of Vacanze di Natale moves to ancient Rome and Poppea), the diabolical prostitute hired by Caesar Atticus (Christian De Sica) to try to compromise the reputation of the fearsome magistrate Antonio Servilio (Massimo Boldi), has the face and body of Anna Falchi. The actress sports peplums with abysmal cleavage, veils and several half-naked scenes in the shower or under the sheets. 

The Model

Italian and international models, starlets and celebrities appear in every cinepanettone and there are so many to list, usually playing the role of themselves. A few names? Maria de Filippi, Mara Venier, Victoria Silvestedt, Valeria Mazza, Alba Parietti, Brigitte Nielsen and even Cindy Crawford who is in the cast of 2000's Body Guards. The emblem of the beautiful and unattainable celebrity, the erotic dream of the protagonists and the average Italian, is perfectly embodied by Megan Gale in Vacanze di Natale 2000. Australian, a TV star of the early 2000s thanks to a popular commercial, the model appears in Body Guards and, above all, in Vacanze di Natale 2000. Her highlight scene? When she comes down the snowy mountain in a tight, sleeveless and low-cut latex jumpsuit, definitely fetish-like, accessorized with a hairy beanie. Because you know models don't suffer from the cold like other mere mortals.