KnotMissPriceless Why so much hype?

Jeanskynebu the audience applauded

Zandra The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

Cody One of the best movies of the year! Incredible from the beginning to the end.

gerettas That anyone could categorize this film as a "...somewhat mediocre and meandering melodramatic film by Zurlini" is sad.I suppose, one must be sympathetic a bit to Italian culture at the time of the film to understand the simple truths of a beautiful woman who is unable due to circumstance, lack of education, and her own character, to hold onto the very few and dubious chances life presents to improve her situation.With only her beauty as both spoiler and advantage a beautiful but simple woman is on the tide of personal ruin in every choice she makes. We hope and are torn for her as we watch each scene knowing the razors edge she is living on while those around her continue to misunderstand and take advantage of her plight. This is a fantastic film (albeit 'little') that it's Nomination for the 1961 Cannes Golden Palm proves. If you can find it in Italian with sub-titles listen carefully to the actors even if you don't understand Italian. The simplicity of their performances is decades before it's time. For me it remains an unforgettable masterpiece.note: I would have rated it a "10" but some of the 'jump cuts' in the were one too many for my now '21-century' tastes.

MartinHafer "Girl With a Suitcase" begins with a young lady (Claudia Cardinale) being abandoned by a man. He claims he has an appointment and will return but doesn't. The lady is stranded and calls the man's home. They have no idea who she's calling for, as he'd given her a false name--but the phone number and address were correct. Apparently this bum had used the woman and when he finds out about this, he convinces his 16 year-old brother to tell her that they have no idea who this man is who abandoned her and that she should leave. However, something strange happens--the young man becomes infatuated with her. While he doesn't tell her the truth, he does agree to help her and they form a friendship. If I were 16 and such a woman came into my life, I could certainly understand the guy--Ms. Cardinale was radiant in the film and I am pretty sure almost all the men in the theater seeing this were also infatuated with her! Much of the film is very, very slow--and this is NOT meant as a criticism. It's just leisurely paced and lovely to watch--thanks to excellent acting and especially to the director's touch. This could have all seemed rather silly or salacious, but thanks to deft handling it's rather endearing and sweet to watch as it unfolds. Unfortunately, however, I would say that the last quarter of the film is quite different--and not quite as good. Still, overall, it's a very nice film and I can honestly say I can't think of another film like it! Some might be a bit put off by the age difference between the characters, but fortunately it did avoid being too creepy (see the film and you'll probably know what I mean).

tedg I watched this together with Eastwood's "Million Dollar Baby." I knew I would be challenged by that film (you can read my comment), and I wanted something that I knew would be a safe island after the offenses therein.I chose this. Its between "Million" and "Nights of Cabiria" and more perfect than both in my view. The spine of this film is a story of a prostitute/dancer, an adventuress with few skills for the job. We see some encounters that provide insights, not into her character so much, but what limits her, and that matters because we discover many of those same limits in us.Its a good film, largely forgotten today because its merely competent and not showy or overtly experimental as so many from that block were. But if you want an antidote to those bad films of good men, come here.It has the economy of Eastwood, in fact this very tradition is where he learned his directorial craft. But its economy directed toward conveying the environment, the context in which our two characters find themselves. It's geared to the context not the actors, who after all can only tell you what is in themselves, not is what is in their world.It has the depressing rootlessness of those early Fellini films, but it emerges from the real world we see instead of being an overt essay on what we know is Fellini's perspective that starts from the very beginning. This emerges.Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.

cranesareflying Zurlini introduces a familiar theme, a futile relationship with an older woman and a younger man, perfected in his later film `Violent Summer,' but here Aida, Claudia Cardinale, plays a nighclub singer who is jilted in the opening moments of the film and spends the rest of the film searching for a way out of the stereotypical relationship of a beautiful woman using, and being used by men, a dependent and unhealthy relationship. When Marcello, a cad who lives in a lavish estate, tells his 16 year old younger Lorenzo, Jacques Perrin, to get rid of the girl, the younger brother's interest turns from bewilderment to unbridled obsession, as the high-strung, free-spirited girl surprisingly is flattered by his attention and by her belief that he has money, contrasting the obvious class distinction between the two, he lives in a statue-filled estate with his family, she lives alone out of a suitcase in a hotel room. The adults in the film are overly stern and heartless, represented by the familiar Zurlini statues which can be seen throughout his entire body of work; this lifelessness is contrasted against the passion of youth. The relationship comes to a screeching halt with the intervention of the family priest who questions Aida's motives with such a young and impressionable boy, urging her to move on. This is a brilliant scene where they speak in what appears to be a museum construction area, broken statues lie about with other scattered debris as the priest tries to reconstruct the spiritual direction of the young lovers, urging them to go their separate ways. This leads Aida into the arms of another conniving man who attempts to seduce her with plenty of money and alcohol, but Lorenzo arrives, refuses to butt out, gets his butt kicked by the older man, which leads to this extraordinarily long, beautifully evolving scene on the beach where the two lovers are caught up in the mysteries of their own futility, a kind of existential despair, surrounded by the wonderment of nature. This film constantly shifts the focus on who is the victim and who is to blame, in the end there are no answers, just a continuous search.