A Place for Lovers (1968) Amanti (original title)

Director:

Vittorio De Sica

Writers (WGA):

Brunello Rondi (story)
Julian Zimet (screenplay) (originally as Julian Halevy) ...
(more)

Release Date:

22 August 1969 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Plot:

Julia, a divorced American fashion designer, is dying of a tragic, incurable disease. With only ten days to live...

Plot Keywords:

Villa | Disease | Italian | Lover | Days To Live

Cast

Faye Dunaway	...	Julia
Marcello Mastroianni	...	Valerio
Enrico Simonetti	...	Party Host
Caroline Mortimer	...	Maggie
Karin Eugh	...	Griselda
Esmeralda Ruspoli	...	Attorney's Wife
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
David Archell	...	(uncredited)
Martha Buckman	...	(uncredited)
Yvonne Gilbert	...	Marie (uncredited)
Mirella Pamphili	...	Party Guest (uncredited)

Directed by
Vittorio De Sica

Writing credits (WGA)
Brunello Rondi		(story)
Julian Zimet		(screenplay) originally as Julian Halevy &
Peter Baldwin		(screenplay) and
Ennio De Concini		(screenplay) and
Tonino Guerra		(screenplay) &
Cesare Zavattini		(screenplay)

Produced by
Arthur Cohn	....	producer
Carlo Ponti	....	producer

Original Music by
Manuel De Sica

Cinematography by
Pasqualino De Santis		(as Pasquale De Santis)

Film Editing by
Adriana Novelli

Art Direction by
Piero Poletto

Costume Design by
Enrico Sabbatini

Makeup Department
Giuseppe Banchelli	....	make-up: Mr. Mastroianni
Lina Cassini	....	hair stylist
Mario Van Riel	....	make-up: Miss Dunaway

Production Management
Jone Tuzi	....	production supervisor

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Luisa Alessandri	....	second assistant director
Peter Baldwin	....	first assistant director

Sound Department
Renato Cadueri	....	sound
Carlo Palmieri	....	sound

Camera and Electrical Department
Roberto Forges Davanzati	....	assistant camera (uncredited)

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Theadora Van Runkle	....	costume designer: Miss Dunaway (as Theodora Van Runkle)

Music Department
Zeno Vukelich	....	musical director

Other crew
Margaret Roy Anderson	....	dialogue coach
Elvira D'Amico	....	script girl
Alberto Guzzardella	....	inventor: plastic bags of water

Production Companies

• Compagnia Cinematografica Champion (as C.C. Champion)
• Les Films Concordia

Distributors

• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) (1969) (USA) (theatrical)
• Aquarius TV (2004) (Greece) (DVD)
• Aquarius TV (2004) (Greece) (TV)
• Atlantic Film (2009) (Finland) (DVD)
• Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) (1972) (USA) (TV) (original airing)

Other Companies

• Forquet's House  costumes executed by
• International Recording  recording

Also Known As:

"Amanti" - Italy (original title)

Runtime:

88 min

Country:

Italy | France

Language:

English | Italian

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Argentina:13 | Finland:K-12 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Cinecittà Studios, Cinecittà, Rome, Lazio, Italy

Company:

Compagnia Cinematografica Champion

Trivia:

One of the films included in "The Fifty Worst Films of All Time (and how they got that way)" by Harry Medved and Randy Lowell.

Quotes:

Julia:I see you like experiments. How would you like to experiment by staying with me for two days?

Movie Connections:

Edited into Marcello, una vita dolce (2006)

Soundtrack:

A Place For Lovers

Commenting On A Place For Lovers...

... is a rather odd and thankless task. I never dreamt of thinking about the likes of Vittorio De Sica, Faye Dunaway and Marcello Mastroianni without using the highest of praise, but this uninteresting, plodding 1969 film provided me with a chance to do so.

This film is proof that the unthinkable, what we judge to be impossible and beyond imagination, can happen.

Dunaway is Julia, a peculiar, to say the least, american woman who makes a living out of designing gowns, who has an affair with Valerio, a married italian engineer working on the development of the airbag.

They're rich, they're glamorous, they're beautiful, they're in love... nothing could part them. Except Julia is suffering from a terminal illness, and is bound to die in a matter of days.

Sticking to the basic rules of screenwriting as I know them, this movie is irritatingly plodding. We only discover that Julia is dying towards the end, and we never know whose is the main dilemma - Julia's or Valerio's. Should they stick together and face bravely Julia's last days on Earth? is the main query, I guess. The only problem is that this query, this dilemma, is presented to the audience in the last twenty minutes of film, and resolved - better yet, unresolved - in the last five. The other 70 minutes or so of film are spent as they stay together and play amusing little games with each other. A time in which the five writers of the film could easily delve into their main characters psyches - if anything else - is wasted. Julia's just plain weird and depressed, and Valerio seems terribly cold and unfeeling.

It also clearly aspires to be profound. It aims at being something lyric, but, trapped inside it's own pretentious attitude, it becomes a schmaltzy tearjerker.

The acting is not bad at all, though. But the script provides Dunaway and Mastroianni with little chance to showcase their many talents. Also, the set designs are gorgeous, as mentioned by the first reviewer, and the soundtrack is lovely. The title song, written by Manuel De Sica - hail, nepotism! - is sung by none other than Ella Fitzgerald.

Well, all in all, this movie is a bizarre one, but it is worth viewing nevertheless, mainly as existing proof that nothing - I mean, nothing - is impossible. :)