The Escape

11 novembre > SALA 3 ore 21

Italy – 1964 – 35mm – b/n – 95’

CREDITS

Direction: Paolo Spinola

Screenplay: Sergio Amidei, with the collaboration of professor Piero Bellanova, from a story by Paolo Spinola, Carla Conti

Cinematography: Marcello Gatti

Editing: Nino Baragli

Set design: Nedo Azzini

Music: Piero Piccioni

Cast: Giovanna Ralli, Anouk Aimée, Paul Guers, Jone Salinas Musu, Caroll Walker, Ignazio Dolce, Maurizio Arena, Guido Alberti, Enrico Maria Salerno

Producers: Vittorio Musy Glori, Alberto Casati, Mario Mariani

Production: Cine 3

SYNOPSIS

Piera leads an apparently fully satisfying life, but in reality she is plagued by deep dissatisfaction and great anxieties, which stem from a childhood spent in the shadow of her separated parents. Now, with an husband who does not give her the attention she needs and a son who makes her feel useless, things are not going any better and so Piera turns to a psychotherapist, but without any particular benefit. The turning point only comes when she meets Luisa, a refined and clever interior designer whom she befriends in the hope of finally being understood. But even this experience brings new disappointments, while her home situation falls more and more apart.

CRITICAL NOTE

“Before Les Biches was released here in Italy, even before Le salamandre or The Others, female homosexuality was openly dealt with for the first time in Italian cinema right in this dazzling debut film by Paolo Spinola. At the time it was worshipped by critics, who saw it as one of the best debut films of the decade, today it is forgotten by everyone, along with its director. (…) Giovanna Ralli is sensational in the role of an unsatisfied wife and daughter oppressed by the vitality of her mother, who hangs out with lovers much younger than her (Maurizio Arena). She goes to a therapist played by Enrico Maria Salerno, who is as usual flawless, and could find comfort in her special friendship with Anouk Aimée’s character, who is different from other women because she is attracted to them…” (Pierpaolo De Sanctis, Nocturno.it)

AWARDS

1966 Silver Ribbons: Giovanna Ralli  Best Actress