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Belissima!
If you asked the average moviegoer to name a famous Italian actor or actress, chances are they’d name Sophia Loren first. It’s not only for her considerable beauty that she is famous. Loren has been synonymous with great Italian cinema for half a century, and a trio of new releases from Kino Lorber reminds us once again why she’s been recognized as Italy’s most awarded actress. During a terrific run of starring roles in the 1960s, Loren displayed an acting range that few other actresses then or now can match. She could play sexy and innocent, but you always get the idea that her characters are smart, strong and resourceful. Loren fought for the role that would win her an Oscar in “Two Women,” as a widowed shopkeeper trying to protect her daughter during World War II. That film was not the first collaboration between Loren and the director Vittorio de Sica, but its success would lead to more awards and praise for their later films, “Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow,” “Marriage Italian Style,” and “Sunflower,” all of which are new on Blu-ray individually, or available bundled as a standard DVD box set. In all three, Loren is paired with frequent co-star Marcello Mastroianni. If Sophia Loren is Signora Italia, then surely Mastroianni’s name is also synonymous with that country. “Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow” is actually a trio of vignettes starring Loren and Mastroianni, two comedic tales bookending a middle segment that is more social observation than comedy. The movie opens with a story about Adelina and her husband Carmine. Adelina sells black market cigarettes on the streets of Naples. When she’s fined for doing so, Carmine explains that they cannot pay the fine. The alternative is jail -- but if you’re pregnant or have recently given birth, there’s a temporary reprieve. Rather than head to the clink, Adelina heads to the bedroom, and she and Carmine’s family swells to seven children. Eventually, the piper must be paid, but in true small-town Italian fashion, the community rallies together to save the couple. The middle segment, “Anna,” is the shortest of the three. Here, Loren is a wealthy trophy wife off on an affair. She takes every opportunity to slam her husband’s shallow materialism to her lover (Mastroianni), but when the roadster they’re driving gets into a fender bender, she shows her true colors. In the final segment of the film, Loren plays Mara, a high-class prostitute with an exclusive client list. She befriends a young seminarian, and ironically helps place the wavering young man back on the right spiritual path. Mastroianni is one of Loren’s well-connected clients; he’s been waiting all week to get a look at what’s under her slinky dress. The movie concludes with a sultry strip tease that’s interrupted by a higher calling. Like the other two segments, it’s marvelous, a keen observation and celebration of life. “Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow” won an Academy Award as Best Foreign Film of 1964. Immediately following that success, Loren and Mastroianni teamed up again with Vittorio de Sica and producer Carlo Ponti for “Marriage Italian Style.” Loren was Oscar-nominated for Best Actress as Filumena, a young prostitute that falls for the cad Domenico (Mastroianni). Domenico leads Filumena on for years, but when he finally decides to settle down, it’s with a young cashier. Enraged, Filumena traps Domenico into marriage by pretending to be on her death bed, in a scene that elicits plenty of laughs. When her scheme is thwarted by Domenico’s lawyer, she reveals that one of her sons belongs to Domenico, which sends him into a frenzy trying to figure out which one. Though dotted with comedic moments, I can’t help but feel the movie plays different today than it did in mid-1960s Italy. Domenico epitomizes the macho ideal, using women only when he needs, uncaring about anyone but himself. Is he a caricature, or did Italian audiences revel at seeing one of their own on screen get a comeuppance from a strong-willed woman like Filumena? There’s an undercurrent of sadness throughout “Marriage Italian Style” that I think is now evident in our more enlightened culture, some 40-plus years following the film’s original release. Filumena is treated with indifference at best by Domenico, yet she loves him and no one else. Eventually, her persistence pays off, but I wondered why? And at what emotional cost to herself? Loren doggedly pursues another man in “Sunflower” (1970), but this time it’s for different reasons. Loren plays Giovanna, whose husband, Antonio, has gone missing on the WWII battlefields of Russia, and she vows to his mother, and herself, to find him and bring him back. Elements of the story are told through flashback; we learn that Antonio, nearly frozen to death on the Russian tundra, was saved by a young woman, and eventually marries her (having apparently lost all memory of his life in Italy). When Giovanna learns about her husband’s new life, she’s heartbroken and returns to Italy in tears. The two attempt to come to some understanding of one another, but there can be no true reunion. Despite a few creaky plot elements, and somewhat poorly staged battlefield sequences that go on a little too long, Loren’s performance carries the film. Like “Marriage Italian Style,” she’s required to mature both physically and mentally throughout the picture. It would be easy to say that “Sunflower” is the least of these three releases, but I liked its soapy melodrama. I would note that the film is in the worst shape of the three films; despite a high-definition presentation, it appears little restoration work has been performed on the film itself. The second half of the picture is marred by occasional specks and blotches on the left side of the screen. It’s worth noting that all three of these films were directed by Vittorio de Sica, whose name will forever be associated with the birth of Italian neorealism through deeply emotional films like “Shoeshine,” “The Bicycle Thief,” and “Umberto D.” Though he’s working with a bigger budget and even bigger stars here, I somehow felt the stamp of de Sica on these films. Even though de Sica didn’t always treat his actors with affection in those early films (as revealed on a documentary included with “Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow”), it’s clear that he holds the characters in high esteem. With the exception of Anna in “Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow,” Loren plays a character of the people -- the same working class that was represented in those earlier neorealist masterpieces. Her success in these roles is a testament to her abilities. THE SOPHIA LOREN AWARD COLLECTION ON BLU-RAY All three of these films are making their high definition debut on Blu-ray this month. “Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow” is the best movie, and also best-looking of the lot. It comes with a bonus disc featuring a documentary about the life and career of director Vittorio de Sica. Each release includes trailers and still photo galleries.5/19/2011
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