319: Two Women

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[00:00:31] Daily 29. International Film. Let's get to two women from 1960. This is an Italian film. It's directed by Vittorio De Sica, stars the great Sophia Lorin, Jean-Paul Belmondo,

[00:00:49] Raff, Belani, Eleanor Brown, and a few others. And the synopsis is, and there's a typo here,

[00:00:57] so I'm going to try and correct it. In Italy, after World War II, a widow and her lonely daughter seek distance between them and the horrors of war.

[00:01:08] So this one I came across sort of out of the blue on Letterbox.

[00:01:12] I was trying to find some Italian movies to watch and also some films of Sophia Lauren,

[00:01:17] who I haven't seen many of, but I've always really admired.

[00:01:20] And this seemed to be one of the favorites of hers.

[00:01:23] So I said, hey, let's toss it on.

[00:01:25] And I just watched it for the first time last night and didn't know much about it.

[00:01:30] And was thinking, oh, just watch a few minutes of it.

[00:01:33] And I ended up watching the whole thing and decided to review it for the show.

[00:01:39] So as the synopsis suggests, it is about this mother and daughter who are basically still living in a wartime

[00:01:48] country because World War II has, I think, just ended or is wrapping up something along those lines, but there's still bombings happening,

[00:01:55] there's still German soldiers in Italy, and it's still a very dangerous time, and they're basically trying to make their way across

[00:02:02] the country to seek refuge. And it's pretty narrative-less in a way, but they're still quite a drive to the movie for whatever

[00:02:11] reason. And I thought the movie was quite good. It's not amazing, I don't think. But Sophia LeRin,

[00:02:19] of course, is really one of, if not the most famous Italian actress ever. And she, you know, of course, she's considered

[00:02:27] to be this great beauty, but she is still on top of that a great actress. Like she's not just a

[00:02:35] pretty face. And that's something that I knew going in because I'd seen a few films of hers, but

[00:02:39] she really is great in this. And I think this is one of the films that really launched her into

[00:02:44] stardom at the beginning of her career.

[00:02:47] So she is fantastic and her daughter is quite good as well.

[00:02:51] And what I really liked about the movie, whether it's the direction or writing, I don't know,

[00:02:56] and I guess it makes sense considering it was only about 15 years after World War II

[00:03:00] ended when it was made, but it really does feel like they are living in a actual

[00:03:05] Period of war like within a film it felt very authentic as much as you can

[00:03:10] Because it really gave that sense of you're never safe

[00:03:14] You know you could be having a nice meal with people you just met or at your house or in the countryside

[00:03:19] And then suddenly bombs are falling or soldiers show up randomly who you don't know and could be dangerous.

[00:03:26] You meet people and then have to say goodbye to them moments later or you are stuck with people for the long term because you're just trying to survive with people who are in the same position as you so the whole movie did have that very unpredictable feel.

[00:03:46] very unpredictable feel. And it also, I thought was a good representation of a mother being so heart sick that she can't keep her daughter safe no matter how good of a mother she is.

[00:03:51] And that goes into the, I won't go into too much detail, but there's a pretty horrible

[00:03:56] assault of the characters towards the end of the movie, which sort of came out of nowhere,

[00:04:01] but that again makes sense for the context of the story and the sort of lawlessness of wartime and especially in that period of time.

[00:04:09] So I thought that was very emotionally grabbing where she's trying her best to keep this teenage daughter safe from every possible danger and she just can't no matter what she does.

[00:04:20] So I thought that was very good in their overall relationship was very strong.

[00:04:24] So I thought that was very good in their overall relationship was very strong

[00:04:34] Sophia Lauren like she yes, she is incredibly beautiful and she has that charisma and that presence and really

[00:04:40] It's probably no surprise to anyone who has seen Sophia Lauren movies, but she's one of those

[00:04:47] Actors who when she's on screen you're not looking at anything else. Like whenever there was a conversation between

[00:04:50] characters or they're at a table and there was a lot of people on screen, she was the one I was looking at the entire time. And

[00:04:54] she has great acting ability, very good range. She has good

[00:04:59] humor, good dramatic senses like she is an amazing actor. So I

[00:05:03] think she deserves every bit

[00:05:05] of recognition that she's gotten over the years. So the movie, again I don't

[00:05:11] think it's a masterpiece and maybe it'll grow on me over time but I did find it

[00:05:16] to be pretty engaging for the most part. Not too long, it's only about an hour

[00:05:20] and a half so it really gets a lot of commentary and story into a short

[00:05:26] runtime, which is nice. And you don't get that very often these days. And definitely

[00:05:32] still holds up in terms of normal people being thrust into something crazy like a war and

[00:05:37] having no ability to control any of it, just having to make do with what they can and what

[00:05:44] they have available to them

[00:05:45] and hoping that they can get out of there safely

[00:05:48] and keep their family safe.

[00:05:51] So definitely worth watching a good classic film,

[00:05:54] a good Italian film and a good Sofia Lauren film for sure.

[00:05:57] And I'll definitely be checking some more films out

[00:05:59] of hers around that time.

[00:06:02] So yeah, definitely give it a look because it's definitely a bit of

[00:06:06] an underrated gem to me. So that one is a three and a half out of five.