The Madonna-Guy Ritchie movie "Swept Away" has already been determined by critics to be the frontrunner in next year's Golden Raspberry Awards for the worst movie of the year, but an even more critical voice has emerged: that of Italian director Lina Wertmuller, who made the original "Swept Away" in 1974.

The filmmaker, 74, tells The Washington Post's "Reliable Source" column in Thursday's editions that she now regrets her decision to permit the Ritchies to remake her cult classic.

There's more than just ego and reputation at stake here, says Wertmuller. She has plans to make a sequel to her version -- plans that may be scuttled because of the ruinous box-office performance of this new version, which failed to clear $400,000 in its first weekend.

"I am very, very worried, because that's a problem for me," Wertmuller tells The Post. "I have written a very funny story for the sequel, and I am very worried that maybe this is a disaster for me."

Though Wertmuller hasn't seen the Ritchie-Madonna version or even read the American reviews, she was amused to hear from The Post that the lead character played by Madonna -- named Raffaella Pavone Lanzetti in the Wertmuller version -- is named Amber Leighton in the remake. And Amber Leighton just happens to be the name of Ritchie's mother. The character is humiliated and physically abused onscreen.

"Why? Why? Why does he do that?" asks Wertmuller, who reveals that her deal with Ritchie calls for her to receive the Italian ticket sales from the movie, though that isn't looking terribly promising at the moment.

"I don't understand why the picture is so awful," she said. "Why did Madonna and her husband let it out? It's very crazy. They saw the picture. So why open like that? I don't understand. They lost money. For Madonna, it's the name and the face. This is terrible for her."