Clara Colosimo Movies

Grossly mistaken identity provides the impetus in this Italian farce. Loris is an anti-social fellow with a high sex drive. During a party he is pointed towards an "easy mark." Unfortunately he approaches the wrong woman. When he discovers his mistakes, he nervously apologizes for the attempted liberties. A run-away chain-saw becomes involved and the frightened woman ends up filing a police report. Her report leads police boss Frustalupi that he has finally found the crazed sex killer the "Mozart of vice" whom Frustalupi has hunted for the last 12 years. Situations go from bad to worse as the police begin surveillance upon Loris whose every action becomes misconstrued by them. Things get even stickier when they put policewoman Jessica on the case as undercover bait. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

In the original story of Camille by Alexandre Dumas, Jr. La Dame aux Camelias, a beautiful Parisian courtesan, Marguerite Gautier, (called "Camille" because of her love for camelias) is supported by a series of aristocratic lovers, but does not fall in love until she meets Armand Duval. Armand's father lets it be known that Camille would ruin Armand because of her "low" past, and she leaves to save his reputation, saying she does not love him anymore. She soon contracts tuberculosis, and Armand hears that she is dying. He rushes to her side, finds out she has loved him all along, and she dies knowing he has always loved her. The True Story of Camille uses the ploy of Alexandre Dumas, Jr. doing his version of "Camille" at the turn of the 20th century, as a means of introducing a flashback to the "real" story behind the "real" Camille, Alphonsine Plessis. In the film, Alphonsine (Isabelle Huppert) - a country girl - was sold by her father to a wealthy neighbor, which starts her off on a round of living in expansive palaces and keeping company with wealthy aristocrats and eventually, Alexandre Dumas, Jr. himself. But that trajectory did not happen all at once. Alphonsine first survives, barely, as a seamstress in Paris. Then she becomes a prostitute, after which a Count Peregaunts (Bruno Ganz) marries her, then more or less disappears, leaving her to become a high-class courtesan. As she makes her way from one handsome, aristocratic client to the next, a noble protector, Count Stechelberg (Fernando Rey) keeps her out of harm's way. By the time she and Dumas meet, she has become infected with tuberculosis - and she has created the inspiration for Dumas' story of Camille. Her father comes along at this point, however, ready to trounce Dumas for romanticizing his daughter's wretched life - the same father that sold her off in the first place. If the viewer can remember that the characters of Marguerite Gautier (Carla Fracci) and Armand Duval from Dumas' story of Camille have been given their "real" personas as Alphonsine Plessis and Dumas in this film, then the story within a story make more sense. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

Director Federico Fellini's Orchestra Rehearsal (Prova d'Orchestra) was originally made for Italian TV, then given a limited theatrical release in the US. Using a symphony orchestra as a metaphor for Mankind, Fellini explores the various joys, sorrows, frustrations and triumphs of the musicians. The orchestrations heard throughout are handled by Nino Rota. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

An old townhouse has a room to let, and a young man moves into it. It was previously occupied by an actor, and it contains most of his belongings and memorabilia. Naturally, the new tenant is curious and explores all these things, including the man's movie stills. Among the possessions is a gun, and the boy finds that the actor killed himself with it. At some point in his review of the actor's life, he notices a beautiful woman in a building across the way from his room. Becoming obsessed with her, he stops going to work and seeing his girlfriend. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

Bernardo Bertolucci's 255-minute 1900 was a gargantuan undertaking, requiring the resources of three European countries and a trio of American movie studios. Set in the Italian town of Parma, the film's continuity backtracks from Liberation Day in 1945 to the occasion of composer/patriot Giuseppe Verdi's death in 1901. We follow the lives of two men born on that day in 1901, who grow up to be Alfredo Berlinghieti (Robert De Niro) and Olmo Dalco (Gérard Depardieu). Wealthy Alfredo sinks into dissipation, while poverty-stricken Olmo becomes a firebrand labor leader and communist. After WWI, Alfredo is allowed to peacefully retain his land holdings by playing nice with the burgeoning fascists; Olmo, on the other hand, engages in a long-standing battle against the minions of Mussolini. The two protagonists are reunited when Alfredo returns to Parma to preside over Olmo's trial for "political crimes." Co-star Burt Lancaster is cast as Alfredo's wealthy grandfather, who hates to see the old values buried beneath the social travails of the 20th century. Many American prints of 1900 were shortened to 243 minutes, rendering the story hard to follow at times. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

This mildly amusing satire of Italian marital customs concerns a meek bank teller (Dustin Hoffman) who has an affair with pretty Carla Gravina, then learns that he is unable to get a divorce from his tiresome wife (Stefania Sandrelli). Hoffman learned his lines in Italian before making Alfredo, Alfredo, only to discover that it was being filmed in English and redubbed. Although it has its moments, the film has aged badly, particularly with regard to its views of women, who are portrayed as either sex kittens or shrews. ~ Robert Firsching, Rovi

The Mexican Revolution binds together the lives of a group of men. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi