Wertmüller achieved international fame with his fifth film, Ferito nell’onore metallurgical mimi (1972), a satire on sexual hypocrisy and changing social mores. His next movie was Film d’amore e d’anarchia… (1973; Love and Anarchy), about an anarchist torn between his plan to murder bio: {@ Benito Mussolini} and his love for a prostitute who gave him refuge in a brothel in Rome.
The two best films of Wertmüller They are Travolti gives an unusual destiny nell’azzurro mare d’agostor (1974), a witty comedy in which a poor sailor establishes his dominance over a rich and haughty woman while they are stranded on a desert island, and Pasqualino settebellezze (1975), a film about an Italian dandy who must betray all moral values while trying to survive World War II and his internment in a Nazi death camp. For this last work, Wertmüller made history with his Oscar nomination for best director. She also got an Oscar nod for her screenplay.
The later films of Wertmüller they were critically and commercially disappointing, but his reputation was sustained on the basis of his previous films.