Enrico Medioli Movies

Raised in a Catholic orphanage in provincial France, young Coco Chanel never imagined that her life would one day become an epic story worthy of a Lifetime original movie, full of passionate romance, and trailblazing pioneering in the world of fashion. The movie opens on 1950's Paris, as a 70 year old Coco (Shirley MacClaine), now a household name, is embarking on the second wave of her career with her first new collection in over a decade. Soon, a series of flashbacks illustrate how she got to be where she is today, both personally and professionally. Young Coco (played by Barbora Babulova) is seen working tirelessly as a seamstress, showing a unique talent for making garments more flattering and convenient despite her lowly position. Pursued by a rich man named Étienne, she soon leaves the thankless job for the comfort of life as a kept woman, but class differences eventually tear them apart. The relationship gives Coco the chance to perfect her skill as a hatmaker, however, and she leaves Etienne to open her own shop. A new romance with an Englishman named Arthur (known affectionately as "Boy") soon blossoms, and proves to be the greatest happiness and greatest tragedy of her life - but will the effects of this epic tale of love, war, and betrayal eventually prevent the burgeoning fashion maverick from fulfilling her true potential? ~ Cammila Albertson, All Movie Guide

Though some viewers might be put off by its length, graphic violence, and absence of likable characters, Sergio Leone's final film is also a cinematic masterpiece. Spanning four decades, the film tells the story of David "Noodles" Aaronson (Robert De Niro) and his Jewish pals, chronicling their childhoods on New York's Lower East Side in the 1920s, through their gangster careers in the 1930s, and culminating in Noodles' 1968 return to New York from self-imposed exile, at which time he learns the truth about the fate of his friends and again confronts the nightmare of his past. The acting, the re-creation of the time period, the cinematography, and the music are all superb. However, even more important is Leone's ability to make the film work on so many different levels: it's both a criticism of gangster-film mythology and a continuation of the director's exploration of the issues of time and history. Strange as it may seem, the violence and gore in the first half of the film turn into a sad elegy about wasted lives and lost love. The film's strengths emerge only in its full 229-minute version -- the 139-minute and other edited versions don't make nearly the same impact. ~ Yuri German, All Movie Guide

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, All Movie Guide

An introverted American professor (Burt Lancaster) has retired to an Italian house, but finds his life interrupted when a decadent family moves upstairs. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide

This gloomy Italian melodrama is set in the resort town of Rimini, the same small town as Fellini's picture I Vitelloni. The notables of the town spend their time speculating in real estate and doing a little gambling. Their interest is piqued by Daniel (Alain Delon), the magnetic new instructor at the town's high school. He has a high-strung, suicidal wife whose demands he treats with weary tolerance, as he does most things in his life. He is much drawn to a well-worn young woman, and events take a tragic turn when he takes up with her. This film marks a unique acting departure for Alain Delon and is considered one of his best screen performances. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

In this drama, a Neapolitan lad travels to Milan to attend his father's funeral. His father was a gigolo, and the young man decides to continue the family profession and begins looking for rich women to prey upon. He is successful, but then he finds himself caught in a bidding war between a wealthy steel heiress and an rich old homosexual. Though the homosexual wins, the gigolo decides to make it with the heiress. Time passes and he ends up falling for a beautiful woman. Unfortunately, he discovers that she is his half sister. He then remembers a bit of advice from one of his father's friends who said "It's better for a young man to attach himself to a rich homosexual." The young gigolo heeds that advice. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Arguably Luchino Visconti's best film and certainly the most personal of his historical epics, The Leopard chronicles the fortunes of Prince Fabrizio Salina and his family during the unification of Italy in the 1860s. Based on the acclaimed novel by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa, published posthumously in 1958 and subsequently translated into all European languages, the picture opens as Salina (Burt Lancaster) learns that Garibaldi's troops have embarked in Sicily. While the Prince sees the event as an obvious threat to his current social status, his opportunistic nephew Tancredi (Alain Delon) becomes an officer in Garibaldi's army and returns home a war hero. Tancredi starts courting the beautiful Angelica (Claudia Cardinale), a daughter of the town's newly appointed Mayor, Don Calogero Sedara (Paolo Stoppa). Though the Prince despises Don Calogero as an upstart who made a fortune on land speculation during the recent social upheaval, he reluctantly agrees to his nephew's marriage, understanding how much this alliance would mean for the impecunious Tancredi. Painfully realizing the aristocracy's obsolescence in the wake of the new class of bourgeoisie, the Prince later declines an offer from a governmental emissary to become a senator in the new Parliament in Turin. The closing section, an almost hour-long ball, is often cited as one of the most spectacular sequences in film history. Burt Lancaster is magnificent in the first of his patriarchal roles, and the rest of the cast, especially Delon and Cardinale, become almost perfect incarnations of the novel's characters. Filmed in glorious Techniscope and rich in period detail, the film is a remarkable cinematic achievement in all departments. The version that won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival ran 205 minutes. Inexplicably, the picture was subsequently distributed by 20th Century Fox in a poorly dubbed, 165-min. English-language version, using inferior color process. The restored Italian-language version, supervised by cinematographer Giuseppe Rotunno, appeared in 1990, though the longest print still ran only 187 minutes. ~ Yuri German, All Movie Guide

The title character, played by Claudia Cardinale, is a young woman who heads out alone to the big city after being dumped by her lover. She is befriended and protected by her ex-suitor's younger brother Jacques Perrin, who eventually becomes her new romance, despite the difference in ages (Perrin is 16, while Cardinale is...somewhat older). When Cardinale begins a new relationship with a musician, she tries to let Perrin down easily, but the young man is too headstrong for that. When they finally do part, Perrin gives Cardinale a large sum of money as a farewell gift. Despite the fact that Claudia Cardinale subsists off the kindness of strangers in this film, Girl With a Suitcase (originally La Fille de La Valise in France and La Ragazza Con la Valigia in Italy) treats her character with warmth and sympathy. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide