Italian rarity: Adua & her friends - hungry for love

Another Italian rarity, one I had not heard of until recently. How could a film featuring Simone Signoret (just after her ROOM AT THE TOP success and Academy Award) and Marcello Mastroianni (just after LA DOLCE VITA) be so unknown?, and also with French actress Emmanuelle Riva (just after HIROSHIMA MON AMOUR) who died last week aged 89. It was released in the UK at the time, titled HUNGRY FOR LOVE, which must have lured in the "dirty mac brigade".

ADUA AND HER FRIENDS (ADUA ET LA CAMPAGNE) When a brothel closes because of new laws, four of the prostitutes decide to go into business running a restaurant. They discover they cannot escape their past.

This story of four prostitutes forced to fend for themselves when a new law closes the bordellos of Rome has the required gritty social realism, but there are scenes of happiness and humor too. They pool their savings to open a trattoria, but find they cannot get a license. A prominent fixer with connections obtains the license for them, on condition that they conduct their old business upstairs and pay him an exorbitant monthly fee. The women are not anxious to turn tricks for a living any longer and find joy in running the restaurant. The women long to settle down -- one (Riva) has a child, another meets a man who loves and wants to marry her. Only one  (Sandra Milo) is tempted to return to her old life. Signoret, the major character here and as wonderful as ever as the worldly-wise Adua - but she too is a fool for a no-good man. Enter Mastroianni as a glib car salesman, hustler and womanizer. While the trattoria is a success, it does not bring in the kind of money demanded by their "patron," which leads to conflict. In this genre, happy endings are rare.

The girls end up exposing their pimp who wants them to resume their old business, using the restaurant as a cover, and they are all exposed in the papers. Society does not give girls like them a second chance, The last scene,  with the girls back on the street in the rain, is suitably right and downbeat. Signoret as Adua though is so enterprising and attractive it is hard to believe her wet, bedragged prosititute would be overlooked for a younger girl.

Nicely directed by Antonio Pietrangeli, I have seen several of his lately, who died early at age 49. This one won Best Italian Film of the Year at Venice in 1961. (See I KNEW HER WELL. below).

1960 was certainly a year for prostitution in the cinema: NEVER ON SUNDAY with happy hooker Melina, BUTTERFIELD 8 and GO NAKED IN THE WORLD with Liz and Gina both taking a tumble at the end (at least Liz got that Oscar), THE WORLD OF SUZIE WONG, GIRL OF THE NIGHT, and Shirley Jones winning an Oscar in ELMER GANTRY - now there's ADUA AND HER FRIENDS!
It was of course that strange era of strip clubs and clip joints, as exemplified by EXPRESSO  BONGO, TOO HOT TO HANDLE, PASSPORT TO SHAME, THE WORLD TEN TIMES OVER, BITTER HARVEST, THE BEAUTY JUNGLE etc, and glamour girls like Diana Dors and Belinda Lee (SHE WALKS BY NIGHT, 1959) before the new permissiveness of the dawning Swinging Sixties. Bardot in Paris was mining a similar seam with steamy items like LOVE IS MY PROFESSION and LA VERITE.

RIP, continued .... first of the new year

John Hurt (1940-2017), aged 77. Sir John has departed after a long battle with cancer, but was working as busy as ever (he is in the current JACKIE). I remember his start in 1962 in THE WILD AND THE WILLING and he became one of England's major actors, as in A MAN FOR ALL SEASONS, SINFUL DAVY, and came into his own in the 1970s with his immortal Quentin Crisp in THE NAKED CIVIL SERVANT and his demonic Caligula in I CLAUDIUS, and 10 RILLINGTON PLACE.

Then came THE ELEPHANT MAN where he is unbelievably touching, plus MIDNIGHT EXPRESS, 1984, THE FIELD, harbouring the creature in ALIEN and so many more. I saw him around town a few times, and at the BFI promoting 44 INCH CHEST in 2010, where he is a terrifying Peanut. The legendary actor with that distinctive voice clocked up an amazing 204 credits including that dreadful 1982 film PARTNERS, see Hurt label. He is terrific too in LOVE AND DEATH ON LONG ISLAND. He also reprised Quentin Crisp in AN ENGLISHMAN IN NEW YORK in 2009. 

Mary Tyler Moore (1936-23017), aged 80. Mary who starred in THE MARY TYLER MOORE SHOW as Mary Richards, changed the roles of women on American TV, being independent and career-focused, after her stint as Dick Van Dyke's wife. I have fond memories of her show, and we love her as Miss Dorothy in THOROUGHLY MODERN MILLIE, She also did a film with Elvis, among others, and was Oscar-nominated for her ice-queen wife in Redford's ORDINDARY PEOPLE in 1980. Her MTM Enterprises production company was a major player too, with those spinoffs from her show: RHODA, PHYLLIS, LOU GRANT among other sitcoms and drama series such as HILL STREET BLUES.

"In the Ritz elevator you just go up and down"

Emmanuelle Riva (1927-2017) age 89. One of France's leading actresses, she was Oscar-nominated for her brilliant portrayal in AMOUR in 2012. She came to prominence in Resnais's HIROSHIMA MON AMOUR in 1959, other leading roles included Melville's LEON MORIN PRIEST with Belmondo in '61, KAPO, THERESE, ADUA AND HER FRIENDS (see next review, above) and more. 

Lord Snowdon (1930-2017), aged 86. Several notices mentioned that the least interesting thing about the former Anthony Armstrong-Jones was that he married into the British Royal Family. That wedding to Princess Margaret in 1960 was a major event - I recall the newsreels. He was one of the bright new photographers of the late 50s and early 60s, joining "The Sunday Times" in 1962 just as they launched that new colour supplement era. Jones was as distinctive a photographer as David Bailey and the others, covering the spectrum of celebrities and exposes of disabled and homeless people. He was also an inventor and passionate supporter of disabled people, making several documentaries. He and the Princess were, along with The Burtons, the celebrity couple of the era, and he continued being on cordial terms with The Royals after his divorce, and his colourful private life continued unabated.

Gorden Kaye (1941-2017), aged 75. Comic actor Gorden was of course Rene in the long-running BBC series 'ALLO 'ALLO, which poked fun at all those wartime dramas, as it mined comedy and made fun of the Germans, the French, the British etc. He also played the role on stage and survived a serious accident when a billboard hoarding crashed through his car windscreen in 1990.

Larry Steinbachek (1960-2016), aged 56. One of the original members and keyboard player of 80s electro band Bronski Beat. "Hit that perfect beat, boy".

Fran Jeffries (1937-2016), aged 79. Singer and dancer Fran (who had married to Dick Haymes and Richard Quine) brightened up some movies, including her terrific number in THE PINK PANTHER in 1963.

Amour, again

Another recent classic its been a pleasure to re-watch is Michael Haneke's 2012 prize-winner AMOUR, also of course a rather painful watch as it deals with a subject we would rather not think about: how people age and fade away ... we see or saw it happen to our parents ... this is a meditation on age and what it does to us as we spend time with that ageing couple in their well-appointed Paris apartment and how they suddenly have to deal with infirmity and its indignities ... this is what I wrote back in 2012:

AMOUR, the second Michael Haneke film in a row to win the Palme d'Or at Cannes is an instant art-house classic, a chamber-piece about love but also mostly about impending death ... a devastating, but humane memento mori, for those - like me - who have been witness to the decline and deaths of our parents .... I fear London is becoming provincial in regard to European films. The buzz about AMOUR started back in May when it won at Cannes (see French label) - but we have had to wait till November for it to open here. 

In a pair of heartbreaking performances Jean-Louis Trintignant and Emmanuelle Riva play Georges and Anne, retired married music teachers enjoying a comfortable old age, (in their 80s so things cannot continue indefinitely). They are happy in their Paris apartment with their books and music and occasional concerts, and are devoted to each other after a long marriage. The films opens with an unsettling flash-forward which renders all that follows a foregone conclusion, as fire-men break into the locked apartment: one morning at breakfast Anne suffers a small stroke. We are shown her deterioration in all its horror as she gradually loses control ...... Georges tends to her with devotion as she makes him promise she will not be put into hospital ...... then there is his final act of devotion, and the aftermath.

Haneke here gives us a love story, compassionate and intelligent, there is also a ghost story element. The two stars are superlative, as is Isabelle Huppert as their daughter, who leads her own life and tries to tell her father what to do, but in vain..I only know Riva (now 88) best from Melville's LEON MORIN PRETE (Riva label), while Trintignant is one of France's leading men ever since Vadim's AND GOD CREATED WOMAN, and an attractive presence in films like LE JEU DE LA VERITE and ATLANTIS CITY UNDER THE DESERT, as well as those hits we still like, like Lelouch's UN HOMME ET UNE FEMME, Bertolucci's THE CONFORMIST, Costa-Garvas' Z, Rohmer's MY NIGHT WITH MAUD, Chabrol's LES BICHES , and I have recently acquired several of his with Romy Schneider (at least 3) to see and review soon. This is my first Haneke film, but I am now curious to see the others like THE WHITE RIBBON and HIDDEN. It would be perfect to see Trintignant and Riva (now in their 80s) nominated for awards .... if only for their courage here in showing what age does to  us. AMOUR isn't for everyone, but for those who have first-hand experience of parental decline, it will be a profound and moving experience, not depressing but cathartic.

AMOUR remains a tender, scrupulous, rigorous, demanding, two-hour examination of a romance well beyond boundaries, as it shows human existence in its most intimate and most elegiac state.

Life during wartime ...

LEON MORIN, PRETRE My current obsession is Jean-Paul Belmondo (now 80 and being feted at Cannes this year) as I had realised I had seen so little of his work, though I loved THAT MAN FROM RIO when I saw it aged 18, and finally got to re-see it this year and its just as marvellous as I remembered. My current favourite cult movie! (as per Belmondo label). LEON MORIN PRIEST from 1961 is a more obscure item, directed by Jean-Pierre Melville but more like an austere Bresson film rather than a tale of wartime resistance or gangsters (as in his LE FLIC, LE CIRCLE ROUGE or ARMY OF SHADOWS). This is set in wartime France about a lonely widow and the priest she obsesses about, but it is mainly a static chamber piece where they mainly sit around talking about religion most of the time, so it defies easy categorisation - there is no suspense regarding the resistance [which hardly matters to the story] and the performances are low-key. Emmanuelle Riva is brilliant of course but its an odd role for Belmondo - we never get to really know what his priest feels (is she just a convert to Catholicism for him, or does he have deeper feelings for her?); the ending is oddly inconclusive. Life during wartime is obviously no joke, but it seems very glum here. Probably a difficult film to get into today when religion does not feature in people's lives in the same way.