Story of a Love Affair

Fincine

Drama Romance
98 min     6.7     1950     Italy

Overview

Paola (Lucia Bose) is the beautiful and jealously-guarded younger wife of a shady factory owner, Enrico Fontana (Massimo Girotti). In order to investigate her romantic history he hires a private detective, which ironically brings Paola back into contact with former lover Guido, with whom she resurrects a lost passion. Dogged by the suspicions of their respective mates, they are drawn closer to each other in the face of adversity, and begin to plot Enrico's demise. But when the challenge of being together falls away, will the passion start to wane? A masterpiece of intensity and finely-wrought emotion.

Reviews

CinemaSerf wrote:
Lucia Bosè is the charming, attractive "Paola", married to the wealthy "Enrico" (Ferdinando Sarmi) and living an unchallenging life. Already, she is going through the motions after just one year of marriage. He is the jealous type, so jealous in fact that when he finds a couple of old photos, he hires a private investigator to look into his wife's past. Not only does he discover the existence of her previous beau "Guido" (the hunky Massimo Girotti) but that very investigation re-introduces them - and they promptly pick up pretty much where they left off. Quickly, their desire to be together takes over and it isn't long before they alight on a plan to be rid of her intrusive, and slightly dodgy, husband. What flows though, can also ebb - and as their plotting proceeds, their passion diminishes and the two start to become trapped in a curious web of their own making - unable to go backwards or forward! Add to this mix, a lovely, bubbling, sub plot about a letter and two of her college friends who were involved in a tragedy that the police are still trying to get to the bottom of, and we have a entertainingly complex bit of brigue. On the down side, this is a very dialogue-heavy movie. Antonioni was still learning his craft when he shot this, and perhaps he needed someone to rein in the verbiage a little and allow the cleverly crafted photography, the settings and the superior acting from an on-form Bosè to do more of the heavy lifting. That said, though, you can't keep a good story down and this does pack quite a lot into slightly over and hour and an half. There are just desserts for almost everyone, and though there is an element of romance, it is one of passion and scheming rather than cheese. Certainly worth a watch.

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