I stand to be corrected but I think it probably true to say that neither Monica Vitti nor Michelangelo Antonioni were ever quite as effective separately as they were together.
Here she is directed by someone named Jean Valere in what is essentially a vehicle for this mercurial, enigmatic and utterly enchanting artiste. Unfortunately the film itself is absurd, trivial, shallow and a complete waste of her talents. The same comment might easily apply to her co-star Maurice Ronet. He prophesied that he would never again be given a role to match that of Alain Leroy in Louis Malle's underrated masterpiece 'Le Feu Follet' of 1963 and he was, alas, absolutely right! As a rat Robert Hossein plays the kind of role he can do in his sleep. Signorina Vitti proved to be as equally adept at Comedy as she was at Tragedy but she is fighting a losing battle here. Thanks to Valere's insipid direction, the long-awaited scene where she exacts revenge on the man who has wronged her is, like the film itself, a damp squib.
After a gap of sixteen years she and Antonioni made 'The Mystery of Oberwald' based on Cocteau's 'Eagle has Two heads' and showed that the old magic was still there.
02/02/22. Farewell Monica Vitti. May flights of angels sing thee to thy rest.
