Several years ago I acquired a print of this film on 35MM nitrate stock. Recently I was able to have a telecine made of it on a Rank Cintel wetgate system. Finally I was able to view this piece of Italian cinema history. Not speaking Italian, I have not yet been able to get the details of the story other than it is a tragic story of love that was not meant to be. It is set in the 1300's amid a rich tapestry of castles and costumes. Fortunately the print is in near mint condition so that once I can get it subtitled, it will be released for the world to see. One more classic film rescued from the dust of time.
2 Reviews
A woman wronged
ItalianGerry27 December 2004
Warning: Spoilers
Poor Pia, a woman from Siena of the Middle Ages, is a long-suffering wife wrongly accused by a Iago-like friend of her husband's that she has been unfaithful to him. The villain craves the woman for himself, of course, and had been rejected in a courtship before Pia's marriage.
Locked up in a castle in the Maremma district of Tuscany, things get worse for her until, in resisting the advances of her chaser, she is knocked out of the castle window and later dies, but not before her husband realizes the truth of it all and rushes to her to beg forgiveness.
Much of the action is commented upon by what could be called a Greek chorus of local peasant women and retainers. Germana Paolieri as Pia pulls out all the stops and is quite moving in what is essentially a sentimental weepie. The photography by Arturo Gallea is a plus, with both exteriors and interiors of the period nicely rendered. Director Esodo Pradelli does a decent job with the performers.
Reference to the sad story of Pia is made by Dante in his Purgatorio. There she is to spend time among those who died by violence without last rites. In Canto V she speaks to pilgrim Dante:
"...oh speak my name again with living breath to living memory. Pia am I. Siena gave me birth; Maremma, death."
(John Ciardi translation)
Locked up in a castle in the Maremma district of Tuscany, things get worse for her until, in resisting the advances of her chaser, she is knocked out of the castle window and later dies, but not before her husband realizes the truth of it all and rushes to her to beg forgiveness.
Much of the action is commented upon by what could be called a Greek chorus of local peasant women and retainers. Germana Paolieri as Pia pulls out all the stops and is quite moving in what is essentially a sentimental weepie. The photography by Arturo Gallea is a plus, with both exteriors and interiors of the period nicely rendered. Director Esodo Pradelli does a decent job with the performers.
Reference to the sad story of Pia is made by Dante in his Purgatorio. There she is to spend time among those who died by violence without last rites. In Canto V she speaks to pilgrim Dante:
"...oh speak my name again with living breath to living memory. Pia am I. Siena gave me birth; Maremma, death."
(John Ciardi translation)
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