The Lady Without Camelias (1953) La signora senza camelie (original title)

Director:

Michelangelo Antonioni

Writers:

Michelangelo Antonioni (story)
Michelangelo Antonioni (screenplay) ...
(more)

Release Date:

1981 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

A new starlet is discovered and has ups and downs in Italian films. |

Plot Keywords:

Film Making | Movie Star | Agent | Showbiz | Love

Cast

Lucia Bosé	...	Clara Manni
Gino Cervi	...	Ercole
Andrea Checchi	...	Gianni Franchi
Ivan Desny	...	Nardo Rusconi
Monica Clay	...	Simonetta
Alain Cuny	...	Lodi
Anna Carena	...	Clara's mother
Enrico Glori	...	Director
Laura Tiberti
Oscar Andriani
Gisella Sofio
Elio Steiner
Luisa Rivelli
Nino Dal Fabbro
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Emma Druetti	...	(uncredited)
Rita Giannuzzi	...	(uncredited)
Rita Mara	...	(uncredited)
Lyla Rocco	...	(uncredited)
Nuri Neva Sangro	...	(uncredited)
Xenia Valderi	...	Anna Conti (uncredited)

Directed by
Michelangelo Antonioni

Writing credits
Michelangelo Antonioni		(story)
Michelangelo Antonioni		(screenplay) and
Suso Cecchi D'Amico		(screenplay) and
Francesco Maselli		(screenplay) and
Pier Maria Pasinetti		(screenplay) (as P.M. Pasinetti)

Produced by
Domenico Forges Davanzati	....	producer

Original Music by
Giovanni Fusco

Cinematography by
Enzo Serafin

Film Editing by
Eraldo Da Roma

Production Design by
Gianni Polidori

Set Decoration by
Gianni Polidori

Makeup Department
Gabriella Borzelli	....	hair stylist
Giovanni Donelli	....	makeup artist (as Gianni Donelli)

Production Management
Carmine Bologna	....	production manager: E.N.I.C.
Gino Doniselli	....	production manager
Claudio Forges Davanzati	....	production manager
Vittorio Glori	....	assistant production manager
Pietro Notarianni	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Francesco Maselli	....	assistant director

Sound Department
Kurt Doubrowsky	....	sound

Camera and Electrical Department
G.B. Poletto	....	still photographer
Aldo Scavarda	....	camera operator
Sandro Serafin	....	assistant camera

Music Department
Armando Renzi	....	musician: piano

Other crew
Antonio Palumbo	....	production secretary

Production Companies

• Produzioni Domenico Forges Davanzati (as Produzioni D. Forges Davanzati)
• Ente Nazionale Industrie Cinematografiche (ENIC)

Distributors

• Artfree (2009) (Greece) (theatrical)
• Ente Nazionale Industrie Cinematografiche (ENIC) (1953) (Italy) (theatrical)
• Italtoons Corporation (1981) (USA) (subtitled)
• Movietime (2000) (worldwide) (all media) (sales)
• Ripley's Home Video (2003) (Italy) (DVD)

Also Known As:

"La signora senza camelie" - Italy (original title)

Runtime:

105 min

Country:

Italy | France

Language:

Italian

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Argentina:13 | Singapore:PG | Finland:S

Filming Locations:

Rome, Lazio, Italy

Company:

Produzioni Domenico Forges Davanzati

Quotes:

Ercole:The latest thing is sex, religion and politics.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Love in the City (1953)

Ignorance of desire

If this was a Hollywood film, starring a Rita Hayworth, it would be one of the famous ones. I don't like to use this line of thought but I find it apt here. The story is classic tragedy and the payoff in the end, the parting shot especially, overpowers like Sunset Blvd. It's only a footnote in the scheme of things then because we find it in the filmography of this particular director, a titan of cinema equaled only by a select few.

In an early scene here we get a marvellous sketch of how movies create their icons. The producer and director fuss over the young movie starlet in a rehearsal, telling her what to wear, how to move and kiss, how to exude sex appeal. The girl allows herself to be swept up in this, ostensibly because the promise of being a face in the crowd is alluring.

A few instances after rehearsing a scene where she makes out in a bed, we see her getting kissed by the man who pressingly courts her. Antonioni gives us a masterstroke here, framing the couple against a blank canvas, projected upon it we see the shadows of movie lights and a grip setting them up. Like the rehearsal scene that preceedes it, this too is a fabrication, orchestrated for a camera and audience.

A lot of the rest is melodrama, competent if sometimes iffy. It may seem outrageous by our standards that a girl will concede to marriage the way Carla does here, but perhaps it reflects the times. The marriage is overbearingly hopeless though, a picture of sadness.

When the film assumes power again for me, is when we see this young girl, shaped as a person by the movies, be broken by them. The scene builds up to a harrowing climax, with faceless crowds of extras waiting their roll call in a Cinecitta backlot, garish movie sets of sword-and-sandal flicks, the hubbub of movie people. Carla loses herself in this furore, once again allowing herself to be swept up.

The overwhelming sadness of the finale is not simply that she acquiesces to too much because, though weak-willed, she's not a ditz. She's quietly spirited but unsure, a fragile, delicate thing thrown in with the lions, having been torn by two men who used her for their desires. It's that Antonioni leaves her there, to a cruel, loveless fate, and she deserves better.