TWO WOMEN. (1960) BASED ON THE NOVEL BY ALBERTO MORAVIO. DIRECTED BY VITTORIO DE SICA. PRODUCED BY CARLO PONTI.
STARRING SOPHIA LOREN, ELEONORA BROWN AND JEAN-PAUL BELMONDO.
A SPECIAL DAY. (1977) DIRECTED BY ETTORE SCOLA. PRODUCED BY CARLO PONTI. STARRING SOPHIA LOREN, MARCELLO MASTROIANNI AND JOHN VERNON.
These two films are just spectacularly good, and their star Sophia Loren was one of the sexiest and most beautiful actresses of the twentieth century. As it says in the documentary which accompanies these two films, out now on DVD and Blu-Ray from CULTFILMS (of which more later), she had it all. Beauty, sex appeal and, perhaps more importantly, incredible acting talent, as is clearly evidenced in her performance in both these award-winning movies. Although the beauty and the sex appeal sure don't hurt...!
She won twenty-two international awards, including the Best Actress Academy Award, for the film TWO WOMEN. Although she was only twenty-five herself at the time, she plays the mother of a twelve-year-old girl and the main impression we get of her as a mother is that she would fight like the proverbial lioness to protect her daughter.
Ms. Loren plays Cesira, a widowed Italian shopkeeper who leaves Rome for the relative safety of the countryside when the Allies are bombing the bejeesus of the city towards the end of World War Two.
They are taken in by family members but, if they think that they're immune from the horrors of the war by virtue of the fact that they're hiding out in rural Italy, they've got a lot to learn.
The gang-rape scene (oooooh, NOW you're all sitting up and taking notice, ye pervy lot...!) is immensely powerful. Ms. Loren gives a powerhouse of a performance in it and it's no wonder she won the Oscar.
This is a fictional story but it's very much based on things that actually happened to people during the war, if you get me. Sophia Loren also says in her documentary that she based her own performance on things she remembered about her own mother during this turbulent time, which is kind of sad and very sweet.
This is a fictional story but it's very much based on things that actually happened to people during the war, if you get me. Sophia Loren also says in her documentary that she based her own performance on things she remembered about her own mother during this turbulent time, which is kind of sad and very sweet.
In the rest of the film, though, she's every bit as impressive as she plays a sexy, gutsy ballsy woman and devoted mother who lives and laughs and loves with every fibre of her being, but who ultimately can't fight against all the brickbats life in war-torn Italy throws at her. There are some things even the bravest and feistiest of women are powerless to prevent...
I think I like A SPECIAL DAY even more. It's set in Italy in the year before the Second World War started, in fact on the actual day that Hitler visited his ally Mussolini in Rome to the accompaniment of more pomp and ceremony than you could shake a stick at.
We hear the proceedings on the radio as the action unfolds in the movie, and the patriotic singing and endless rhetoric would send shivers down your spine, it's so fanatically over-the-top and scarily real.
Sophia Loren plays Antonietta, a downtrodden housewife and mother of six children. in this film. Married to a committed Fascist and presumably knowing little more than the Fascist way of life and thinking herself, she lives in a household (and world in general) where Fascism (um, stop saying 'Fascism' in there, as Chief Wiggum from THE SIMPSONS might say...!) rules and people like Hitler and Mussolini were gods.
There are pictures of Mussolini (Il Duce or Dux, as they called him) all over the apartment and to say a word against him is to place oneself in a very precarious position indeed. Much as when you slagged off Hitler or Stalin, see? You know how very delicate and sensitive the poor little itty-bitty dictatorial ego can be...
Anyway, on the day that Antonietta's selfish, unfaithful husband and six ungrateful kids who don't know they're born head off to follow the great parade, the lonely, overworked woman finds herself left behind as usual and up to her eyeballs in dirty dishes and unmade beds. Sigh, A woman's work is never done.
A mishap involving Rosmunda, the family bird, brings Antonietta into contact with Gabriele, a handsome, gentle cultured man who lives across from her in the huge apartment complex. They are drawn to each other and Antonietta even confides in him about her miserable marriage and virtually culture-starved life.
Gabriele gives her a book to read, THE FOUR MUSKETEERS, something which you can pretty much guarantee her spouse has never done for her, and shows altogether more interest in her than her brutish husband does, a man who doesn't respect her or even see her as a real person any more.
Gabriele is not a Fascist (there's that word again...!) either, something which Antonietta has difficulty with at first because she's been brainwashed into thinking that Fascism is right and everything else is wrong.
Gabriele is not a Fascist (there's that word again...!) either, something which Antonietta has difficulty with at first because she's been brainwashed into thinking that Fascism is right and everything else is wrong.
Antonietta, clearly the kind of women who needs to be loved physically as well as emotionally, feels a deep sexual attraction to this man who is so different from her husband, but there's at least one pretty good reason why this might not be such a good idea...
Ms. Loren is plainly dressed in this film and made up to look like a tired, careworn hausfrau, or whatever the Italian equivalent is, haha, but there's no disguising those marvellous features. Those cheekbones, those wide eyes and the wide luscious mouth that was surely made for kissing have graced the covers of probably every major magazine in the world over the years.
Antonietta may wear a long, shapeless housedress, battered old slippers and laddered stockings but the generous hips and bosom and the long, lissom legs of their owner are still very much in evidence.
Sophia Loren was truly one of the great beauties of the twentieth century. Only Brigitte Bardot and Raquel Welch could ever hold a candle to her, in this humble reviewer's opinion. I remember seeing her in EL CID with Charlton Heston when I was a kid and thinking that she was lovely, utterly and completely lovely.
As I said earlier, both movies are out now from CULTFILMS, a brand new independent label (merging NOUVEAUX PICTURES and ARGENT FILMS) which plans to create luxury releases of quality foreign and arthouse films, with more Sophia Loren goodies in the pipeline which I'm really looking forward to. I'll keep ye posted if I get any more news, that's how sweet a dame I am...!
The two films come complete with special features, one of which is an excellent one-hour documentary on Ms. Loren's career. It features contributions from the lady herself and her sister as well as folks like Woody Allen, Giorgio Armani and directors who've worked with her and found her to be as committed, hardworking and talented an actress as you could ever meet.
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY OF SANDRA HARRIS.
Sandra Harris is a Dublin-based novelist, film blogger and movie reviewer. She has studied Creative Writing and Film-Making. She has published a number of e-books on the following topics: horror film reviews, multi-genre film reviews, womens' fiction, erotic fiction, erotic horror fiction and erotic poetry. Several new books are currently in the pipeline. You can browse or buy any of Sandra's books by following the link below straight to her Amazon Author Page:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B015GDE5RO
You can contact Sandra at:
http://sandrafirstruleoffilmclubharris.wordpress.com
in Italian a housewife would be una casalinga.
ReplyDeleteNice reviews, by the way