Two Women (1960)

Original Title
La ciociara

Genre

Director

Country

Cast
Sophia Loren, Jean-Paul Belmondo, Eleonora Brown, Carlo Ninchi, Raf Vallone, Emma Baron, Andrea Checchi, Pupella Maggio, Bruna Cealti, Antonella Della Porta, Franco Balducci, Luciano Pigozzi, Antonia Antinoli, Ettore Mattia, Renato Salvatori, Mario Frera, Luciana Cortellesi, Curt Lowens, Tony Calio, Remo Galavotti

Plot
In 1943, Cesira (Sophia Loren), a widowed shopkeeper, and Rosetta (Eleonora Brown), her devoutly religious 12-year-old daughter, flee in Ciociaria, a rural and mountainous province where Cesira was born to escape the Allied bombing in Rome.
During their stay in the village, they meet a young communist intellectual, Michele (Jean-Paul Belmondo), who falls in love with her. Rosetta sees Michele as a father figure and develops a strong bond with him. However, Michele is taken prisoner by a company of German soldiers.
When the war ended and the worst seemed to be over, the drama occurs. 

Opinion
I liked the book. I loved the film. As in other novels written by Alberto Moravia, Two Women is not only the portrait of a woman, but the spokesman of the author's ideas. Vittorio De Sica made an amazing film from a great book. Originally Sophia Loren had been casted as Rosetta, and Anna Magnani as Cesira; after Anna Magnani refused to play Loren's mother, De Sica decided to assign Cesira's role to Loren and Rosetta's to Brown.
Sophia Loren is breathtaking, her best performance ever. I'm glad she play the mother instead. The Academy Award for Best Actress was totally deserved.
Eleonora Brown's performance is good as well, considering the filming crew, due to her young age, told her it would have been a violent beatings scene.


Quotes
I'd like to see you living like I did, sleeping in a shed! And we ate once a day, that's all. So, I went with the first one that said "I will bring you to Rome". I married Rome, not him.

Rating
8.0/10

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