In Supersex, the new seven-episode Netflix series from creator and writer Francesca Manieri, more than one disclaimer says it’s only loosely based on the life of pornographic legend Rocco Siffredi. Despite its splashy title and the successful career of its subject as an adult film actor, director, and producer, Supersex is more concerned with the family traumas and toxic relationships that formed “The Italian Stallion” as a person. Alessandro Borghi stars as Siffredi, with Saul Nanni as his 19-year-old self; Supersex also features Jasmine Trinca, Adriano Giannini, Enrico Borello, Gaia Messerklinger, and Vincenzo Nemolato. So, with the rallying cry of “Ifix tcen tcen!” – you’ll see – let’s get into it.
Opening Shot: “Every child has a superhero. Mine was called Supersex,” Rocco Siffredi (Borghi) tells us in a voiceover. And what was Supersex’s superpower? Sex, naturally. And he was strongest at the point of release. It’s 2004, we’re at a sex convention in Paris, and Rocco is mobbed on the red carpet.
The Gist: At the sex-con in Paris, everyone wants a piece of Rocco. The press, the public – even an adoring staffer. “He’s a man who can enter the homes and desires of us all – disturbing and reassuring at the same time.” Rocco has an unexpected message for the fans, the cameras, and even his cousin Gabriele (Borello), who’s also his manager. But before we learn the reasons why, Supersex flashes back to 1974 and the little Italian town of Ortona, where Rocco spent his formative years.
For nine-year-old Rocco Antonio Tano (Marco Fiore), life in the crowded council estate with his father, mother, and brothers is only tolerable when Tommaso is around. (Francesco Pellegrino plays Tommaso at 21.) Tommaso’s handsome and confident, with cool clothes and a car, and he’s even dating Lucia (Eva Cela), the prettiest girl in town. Rumors swirl that Tommy is only Rocco’s half-brother, and the young man’s relationship with Rocco’s mother and father is rocky. But the little boys idolize him, and his PDA with Lucia is a source of inspiration for the prepubescent set. As local priests proclaim the evils of fornication, Rocco finds a XXX photobook, where pornstar Gabriel Pontello is Supersex, the powerful, copulation-crazy alien whose Ifix tcen tcen! catchphrase is his finishing move. “I had dynamite in me,” the adult Rocco says in voiceover. And though he did not yet know how to harness it, he knew it was the key to outrunning the anger and poverty all around him.
As Supersex unfolds, Rocco’s 19-year-old self (Nanni) will look to an adult Tommaso (Giannini) for his indoctrination into the merged worlds of sex and conquest. He’ll travel to Paris, discover the underground sex party scene, and eventually enter the business of porn. But it’s his earliest experiences with sexuality, repression, power dynamics, and longing for the love of family that will remain with Rocco as he struggles to define a personal autonomy apart from his professional obligations and ambitions. “You’re just flesh,” he tells a sexual partner in 2004, though it seems like he’s talking to himself. “The barrier between your life and porn will be no greater than this.”
What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Supersex star Alessandro Borghi is probably best known to American viewers as Aureliano Adami, the brooding antihero of Suburra: Blood on Rome. And Bang Bang Baby is another recent Italian series with its own, occasionally surreal interpretation of true events, in this case the life story of mafia princess Marisa Merico. And there’s also Rocco, a documentary about the life of Siffredi that was on Netflix for a long time (but, sadly, is not there now).
Our Take: What will Rocco do with his dynamite? Even though we know parts of how that played out – at its core, Supersex is still a biographical drama – from its earliest moments it establishes the various personal costs of lighting that fuse, as its most conflicted character is the main attraction everyone sees as invincible. That’s an interesting dynamic, and one we hope to see explored more in the series present, with Alessandro Borghi as Rocco. The flashbacks, with Rocco as either a little boy or a young man in his 20s, can lend clarity. But by beginning the series with the character already considering his porn career in the past tense, Supersex makes us really want to know what got him into that headspace.
And that’s really the most intriguing element in the early going of Supersex, the concept it establishes of controlling the world through big dick energy. Tommaso is full of advice for young Rocco, and though the character’s charisma in the past is palpable, his one dimensional worldview seems like it will prove limiting to his protege, or even detrimental. Anger at your parents, personal anguish over not being loved enough, and the grinding self-determination to escape poverty – from the POV of Tommaso and in turn Rocco, all of this becomes fodder to “Fuck the Pain Away”. Reclaim your power by becoming a supersexhero. How the series interprets and represents the consequences of that mindset – the adult Rocco calls it the “price I didn’t know I’d need to pay” – are its biggest draw.
Sex and Skin: Yeah, both, lots. But Supersex isn’t really interested in staging its own interpretation of a conventional porn shoot. he series instead portrays sex as a volatile force with the ability to both control and confuse.
Parting Shot: In 2004, Rocco Siffredi has just rocked the pornographic film industry with a bombshell press conference. But his inner turmoil has never been more pronounced, he’s experiencing physical discomfort, and is or is he not seeing a dead loved one in the crowd?
Sleeper Star: Marco Fiore plays Rocco at 9 years old, and he’s got a lot to do, conveying the typical mischief-making of a growing boy while also being bullied by local kids and expressing the confusing impulses of Siffredi’s sexual awakening.
Most Pilot-y Line: In 1974, Tommaso imparts a worldview to Rocco that will stay with him. “What’s more powerful than a knife, a pistol? Men and women have dynamite between their legs. Whoever controls that controls everything.”
Our Call: STREAM IT. Sure, there’s some spicy stuff here. But what Supersex is getting into is about more than just getting off. While biographical, the series also explores the more primal forces at work in Rocco Siffredi’s life – lasting family traumas, the heroes he chose, and what really happens when you light the fuse on a stick of sexual dynamite.
Johnny Loftus (@glennganges) is an independent writer and editor living at large in Chicagoland. His work has appeared in The Village Voice, All Music Guide, Pitchfork Media, and Nicki Swift.