Virna Lisi Movies

Gérard Depardieu stars as the great French author Honoré de Balzac in this historical biography produced for French television. Balzac's childhood is marked by a difficult relationship with his mother, Charlotte-Laure (Jeanne Moreau), whose strident criticism and inability to show affection are not abated when he reaches adulthood. Balzac begins to gain the confidence he needs through his relationship with a wealthy society matron, Madame de Berney (Virna Lisi), but in time he abandons her when he falls in love with Countess Eva Hanska (Fanny Ardent), who already has a husband. When Madame de Berney dies, Balzac is filled with remorse, and his sorrow inspires him to create some of his greatest work; his writing finally gains the acceptance of the mass audience, and Balzac achieves the fame and wealth he's always wanted. However, Balzac's spending soon begins to outstrip his income, and his new celebrity begins to wane when critics respond coolly to his work. Balzac received its American premiere on the Bravo cable television network. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

In this romantic story, a couple (Michel Serrault and Virna Lisi) who have been married for over forty years are forced to separate, one to each of their two children's families, when they can no longer pay the rent on their longtime apartment. Absence, in this case, refreshes their memory of the love they have shared, and they take to meeting one another furtively in hotel rooms for sex and affection. One summer, as each of their daughters families takes them on separate vacations, they have had enough, and elope, finding contentment as lighthouse keepers off the coast of Sicily. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

This unusual biographical drama explores a period in the life of Nobel Prize-winning Italian nuclear physicist Enrico Fermi, (1901-1954) who contributed to the U.S.'s Manhattan Project (which developed the nuclear bomb) after developing the first working nuclear reactor at the University of Chicago in 1942. As a celebrated professor at Rome University in the 1930's Ferm (Ennio Fantastichini) attracted many brilliant students. One of them was the highly gifted and very unstable young mathematitian Ettore Maiorana (Andrea Prodan). Ettore, estranged from his abusive family, was more or less adopted by Fermi and his wife, until Fermi unwittingly betrayed him by admitting to Ettore's mother that he was staying with him. At that point, Ettore, whose mathematical skills far exceeded Fermi's and which had contributed to his development of nuclear physics, began his swift descent into some sort of paranoid state. He began camping out in his family's abandoned estate and eventually disappeared from sight. To this day, no one knows whether he killed himself, was murdered, or successfully changed identities. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

In a revealing documentary about one slice of film history, directors Francesco Bortolini and Claudio Masenza interview eight Italian actresses who attained fame in the U.S. through films they made in Hollywood. Most of the eight agree that performers are treated better in Hollywood than in Italy, and that U.S. efficiency and organization impressed them -- but that in Italy, they had more challenging roles than was allowed in the U.S. Virna Lisi was made over to look like another Marilyn Monroe, Gina Lollobrigida was employed like the others for her sex appeal -- and left after a few films --, and Claudia Cardinale, for inscrutable reasons, was meant to be another Doris Day. Unfortunately, even though great stars are included among the eight, the most obvious and inexplicable omission is Sophia Loren, well-known to American audiences. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

In this romance, the magic of gay Paris is not lost on a young couple who fall in love there. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this convoluted spy thriller, a Russian ambassador places his life on the line when he steals classified documents and defects to the U.S. The papers he carries could rock the free world. Unfortunately, the C.I.A. must first prove that they are real. The film is also known as The Serpent. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Bluebeard is the retelling of the now familiar story of a wealthy aristocrat who marries and murders and marries again. Baron Von Sepper (Richard Burton), the BlueBeard of the story, meets and marries Anne (Joey Heatherton) who becomes suspicious of Von Sepper when she finds evidence of his murders shortly after their wedding. Van Sepper then, in graphic detail, tells Anne the stories of his former wives' lives and deaths. The movie, directed with ham-handed archness by Edward Dmytryk, attempts to tell the story as a black comedy. Despite an array of beautiful women, including (Virna Lisi), (Nathalie Delon) and (Raquel Welch), nothing can distract from the abysmal performances of Burton and Heatherton. The film has some nice costumes and is beautifully photographed by cinematographer Gabor Pogany, but all the humor is unintentional and the actors, particularly Richard Burton all seem to wish they were elsewhere. ~ Linda Rasmussen, All Movie Guide

Helmut Berger is Alain, a real sicko, who may be so because his mother was a prostitute. He can only make love with a "decent" woman when she is drugged senseless, though he can manage one-time encounters with prostitutes and also gladly suffers the abuse of his boyfriends. He seems to have deliberately driven his first wife to suicide, and now he has married Nathalie (Virna Lisi). A police inspector (Charles Aznavour) has gotten wind of these doings, and attempts to intervene before a second tragedy can occur, but his superiors will not allow him to. This is a French language film, with no dubbing or subtitles. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Laurent (William Holden) is willing to give his terminally ill son Pascal (Brook Fuller) anything to make his last days comfortable. The unfortunate boy is stricken with leukemia after being showered with radioactive poison when an airplane exploded. Laurent takes Pascal back to Paris where he and his girlfriend Catherine (Virna Lisi) and his war buddy Verdun (Andre Bourvil) try to cater to his every wish. He buys a farm tractor and with the help of the faithful Verdun steals some wolves from the Paris zoo. Father and son spend as much time as they are allowed in this sentimental family story. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

A British engineer tries to convince the Mafia to allow an oil refinery on some prime waterfront real estate in Sicily. Proby (Peter McEnery) talks to the mob bosses about the project, but disagreements in the Mafia soon surface. One faction wants the refinery, the other a beachfront resort. Comedy ensues when Proby falls for the beautiful daughter of a mafioso, leading to a family argument. Rosa (Virna Lisi) is engaged to a mobster and causes a stir when she professes her love for the persistent Proby. The mob fights over which direction to choose for the property, as Proby and Rosa fall in love in this romantic comedy adventure. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

Apparently in the Italy of the 1920s, the only way to keep your home out of the maws of the tax collector was to steal and cheat from everyone in sight -- and the dupes you'd swindle wouldn't know the difference since all their attentions would be focused upon cheating you. That little bit of homespun philosophy is the only conclusion to be drawn from Arabella, a broad sex-farce enlivened with British comic Terry-Thomas appearing in a quartet of roles, and the sexy Virna Lisi as the title character, who is compelled into chicanery in order to prevent her mother's home from being taken away by the tax man. To raise funds, Arabella rooks money from Terry-Thomas, in various fake beard incarnations as a general, a duke, a hotel manger, and an insurance agent. But while she is busy conning the four Thomases, she steps on the toes of an equally tricky burglar (James Fox) and two young lovers -- Giancarlo Giannini and Melina Vukotic. Arabella ultimately becomes attracted to the burglar. Now she must hold her base animal urges in abeyance and concentrate on squeezing more cash out of the Terry-Thomases. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide