Lea Massari Movies

Virginia (Lea Massati) is shocked to learn her 25-year marriage to Maurizio (Erland Josephson) is plagued by his philandering betrayal in this distaff tear-jerking drama. She finds solace in her two daughters and Silvano (Jean-Luc Consuelo), her longtime admirer, a cellist in the local symphony. Virginia also tries to help a troubled runaway teen, with little success, and tries to move forward with her once-idyllic life that has been shattered by her husband's infidelity. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

Giuseppe Bertolucci (younger brother of Bernardo Bertolucci) has created a movie unusual for its all-female cast of well-known Italian actresses and for a script that gives them latitude to develop their individual characters. The story is about Laura (Lina Sastri) a young terrorist who commits a rash act of cold-blooded murder which introduces the other women in this story. Laura is in Venice when she kills a judge and a gang member who was vacillating in his commitment. The dead terrorist's mother (Rosanna Podesta) and sister (Giulia Boschi) attend his funeral in Avellino, an area devastated after a severe earthquake -- a particularly dramatic backdrop for a funeral. Back home, Laura's former nanny (Alida Valli) still lives with the family and is as astute as ever -- she figures out what Laura has done and leaves for good. Laura's mother (Lea Massari) is not as perceptive about her own daughter and can hardly believe Laura has done anything wrong, even after the police come to take her away. The effect this has on the devoted mother is totally devastating. Meanwhile, Laura is brought before a judge (Mariangela Melato) for questioning, made all the more difficult because of her critical emotional state and the judge's own personal problems. The wisdom of Laura's confession and the many "secrets" she reveals is another matter entirely. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

This self-conscious film with acting that is not quite up to par, is about an insurance investigator who meets an attractive woman in a hotel on his way to check out the causes of a fire that destroyed a movie set. The woman is still on his mind when he reaches the set, where contacts with the irritating, emotionally impaired movie crew leave him in a confused state himself -- all the more confused when he learns that his mystery woman had been working on this set as an actress when she suddenly left. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Based on an autobiographical novel by Carlo Levi, Cristo si e fermato a Eboli stars Gian-Maria Volonte as Levi, a prominent anti-fascist author and artist who, during Mussolini's regime was exiled to Eboli, a tiny village in Southern Italy. The government believed Levi's controversial views would fall on deaf ears, but as he spent time in the small pastoral community, the simple wisdom of the peasants came to have a profound impact on Levi, and his beliefs would also impact the people of Eboli. Francesco Rosi's film is usually screened in a version running 150 minutes, though a longer 210 minute cut is also available. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Anna (Aurore Clement) is a film director whose job takes her all over western Europe. In each place she either already has some intimate connection, or readily makes one. People seem drawn to her, but inevitably insist on sharing their inmost secrets and discontents with her, despite her obvious and profound lack of interest in these revelations. This does not deter Anna from continuing to meet people, and she genuinely connects with them occasionally, as when she sees her mother briefly in Brussels. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

In the story of Reperages, Victor (Jean-Louis Trintignant) is a film director who has arranged to shoot a version of Anton Chekhov's play The Three Sisters. Casting her in the lead will enable his troubled wife, who has separated from him, to earn some money and receive some much-needed emotional support. Julie (Delphine Seyrig), his wife, has a drug problem, but Cecilia (Lea Massari), her co-star, happily approaches her with just the right kind of off-camera friendship to keep her going. A young actor ironically dies while shooting his audition piece: a death scene. This strange event has a beneficial and sobering effect on everyone. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Aristides Ungria (Jason Miller) was a political prisoner being held by a Latin American dictatorship, but he has escaped. A trained dog has been sent to hunt and kill him. While he is trudging through the jungles, he is at a relative disadvantage to the dog. Later, the dog suffers a disadvantage, as it attempts to find its prey in man's jungle: a city. As the hunt continues, the hunter and hunted develop a grudging respect for one another. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Violette (Isabelle Adjani) is fascinated with the shabby background and low-down ways of her boyfriend Francois (Jacques Dutronc), and despite her middle-class family's objections, she marries him. Unable to keep a job, and without any real skills, he has a hard time supporting them, especially after the birth of their baby. He turns to shoplifting, and she briefly leaves him when she discovers this. Sometime after they get back together, with money still in short supply, she takes a turn at shoplifting too, and gets a kick out of it. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

This crime thriller is about a psychotic who makes obscene phone calls to beautiful women and then murders them. ~ Steve Huey, All Movie Guide

In this French tragicomedy, once Pierre sees Auriele, he cannot rest until he finds her. Pierre is just minding his own business, when this woman walks by. He does not know who she is, where she lives, what she does or anything. Pierre, a music critic and TV commentator, uses his resources to try to find her. His life is pretty meaningless otherwise; even now he contemplates suicide. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Story of a Love Story may well be the least-known of John Frankenheimer's films. Filmed in France, the story concerns highly imaginative author Alan Bates. Though happily married, Bates enters into an affair with Dominique Sanda. Somehow, the whole experience seems unreal. Could Sanda be merely a character in one of Bates' novels, conjured up out of boredom? We won't reveal the answer here; let us just offer our congratulations to Frankenheimer for so stylishly breaking away from his standard "message" mode (as exemplified in The Manchurian Candidate and Seven Days in May). Story of a Love Story was originally released as Impossible Object. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In Allonsanfan, the director/brother team of Paolo Taviani and Vittorio Taviani weave a witty and occasionally melancholic tale of 19th century radicalism in Italy. Marcello Mastroianni stars as Fulvio, a middle-aged man swept up in a extremist political movement. The more he protests that he wants no part of politics, the deeper he becomes enmeshed in the Cause. This film might make an intriguing companion piece to the earlier Mastroianni film The Organizer (63), in which he portrays one of the very radical types that his character in Allonsanfan so zealously repudiates. The title refers to the phonetic spelling of "Alons enfants," the first two words of the French "Marseillaise". ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide