Monica Vitti Movies

Accattone , Pier Paolo Pasolini's first feature, is also his first semidocumentary study of "the little homelands": the small, often squalid cultural pockets in the remotest provinces of Italy. Using nonprofessional actors for his leading characters, Pasolini concentrates on Franco Citti, a rural pimp who falls in love with virtuous Franca Pasut. Having previously led an aimless existence, Citti takes a job-and, it is implied, a bath--in hopes of impressing his new girl. It isn't long, however, before Citti gives up both job and Pasut, degenerating into a life of violent crime. As was the case with most of his subsequent films, Pasolini both directed and wrote Accattone, adapting the screenplay from his own novel ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The four "truths" are in this instance, four different romantic or dramatic vignettes in a slightly uneven compilation film. All four segments are loosely related to fables by the 17th-century French poet Jean de la Fontaine. In the first fable "Death and the Woodcutter" directed by Luis Berlanga, a well-adjusted, normal organ grinder runs up against the obstacles of torpidity and bureaucracy combined, driving him to the brink of despair. In the second story "The Crow and the Fox" directed by Hervé Bromberger, an insecure husband keeps his beautiful wife locked up, though an amorous neighbor is determined to outsmart him and get to her. In the third fable "The Tortoise and the Hare" directed by Allesandro Blasetti, a wife is unwilling to share her husband with a mistress. In the last fable "Two Pigeons" by René Clair, a fashion model (Leslie Caron) and a lowly worker (Charles Aznavour) are thrown together by unexpected circumstances. The American release of this film cut the first segment, reducing the fable parodies to three. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Nutty, Naughty Chateau is summed up in the encyclopedic book The United Artists Story as "Sex comedy drama." No more, no less. Actually, there is more: The film was originally titled Chateau en Suede, and it was directed by Roger Vadim. Based on a Francoise Sagan play, the film involves a group of eccentric jet-setters who gambole around a huge French chateau dressed in 1750s costumes. A young man on the run takes refuge in this curious household, and is gradually sucked into the soft-core sensual practices of its offbeat denizens. With Vadim as director, and a cast chock-full of such notables as Monica Vitti and Curt Jurgens, Nutty, Naughty Chateau deserves more attention than a three-word synopsis would suggest. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Flying Saucer is an irreverent satire of the worldwide fascination in space travel in the early 1960s. Alberto Sordi plays four roles in this slight tale of an invasion from Mars. The Martians decide to kidnap several "typical" Earthlings to help them understand our curious planet. The subjects are maddening enough to send the Martians hurtling off the planet as fast as their fat little pods will carry them. Flying Saucer gets off to a good start with a phony newsreel, wherein several interviewees offer the most fatuous opinions ever put on film; the rest of the film isn't able to match this opening, but there are isolated belly laughs along the way. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this comedy anthology, the sex-capades of several Italian couples are chronicled. In "The Scandal," a dull and insensitive husband is unaware that his lonely wife has been flirting with a young buck at a vacation resort. When the husband finally finds out, he gets jealous and the marriage is renewed. In "Sin in the Afternoon," a movie producer is frustrated because his wife refuses to touch him, and so he winds up picking up a comely woman off the street and taking her to a motel. "The Victim" chronicles the relationship between an insanely jealousy woman and her beleaguered husband, whom she drives away. She, seeking revenge, begins an affair with his best friend. In the final episode, "Modern People," a deeply indebted cheese maker is given the option of paying the debt in cash or allowing the debtor an evening of lovemaking with his gorgeous wife. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

This melodramatic Italian and French anthology is comprised of four unrelated short films directed by four different directors. The first vignette, "Queen Sabina" (or "The Hitchhiker") chronicles the sexual misadventures of a teenage girl on the road home. "Queen Armenia" (aka "The Room with a Juke Box") centers on a self-serving opportunistic gypsy babysitter who uses her employer's kids for her own gain. The third episode, "Queen Elena" (aka "The Digestive Tablet") centers on a husband who learns a lesson about the perils of infidelity after he succumbs to the wiles of the seductive wife next door. The last vignette, "Queen Marta" (aka "Giovanni") centers on a wealthy woman who, when drunk, uses her butler as an outlet for her lust. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

This romantic and sometimes ribald historical farce finds nobleman Guerrando (Tony Curtis) knighted in the days before the Crusades. He inherits a castle, tax-collecting rights, first choice of all the fair young maidens of the region, and a draft notice from the King. Boccadoro (Monica Vitti) is the liberal-minded forest woman who catches the eye of the young nobleman. Courtship, love and marriage follows, but the wedding night is interrupted by a call to arms. Guerrando and Boccadoro are unable to consummate the marriage, and a chastity belt is used to insure her virginal status. The young bride follows her husband's troop at a distance hoping to get her hand on the coveted key to the lock. Comedy ensues as the key changes hands several times before Guerrando ultimately regains possession and is able to unlock the passions of his love-starved wife. This overlong film can best described as a punchline in search of a joke. One gets the feeling that the producers had wanted to title the film A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Crusades. As it stood, On My Way to the Crusades, I Met a Girl Who... was too unwieldy for most theater marquees, necessitating the film's title-change to The Chastity Belt. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

This romantic situation comedy finds Giovanni (Alberto Sordi) extremely jealous when his wife Raffaella (Monica Vitti) admits her infatuation over their handsome neighbor Valerio (Silvano Tranquilli). Giovanni spies on his wife and recruits their 10-year-old son in an effort to stop his wife's good-neighbor policy. Giovanni's once liberal and progressive outlook changes drastically with his wife's candid revelation. The two eventually consider a temporary separation after a series of incidents which seem to prove their incompatibility. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

This highly symbolic and enigmatic political drama by Hungarian director Miklos Jancso was produced by a consortium from Italy, France and West Germany. This film is considered to be an homage to Antonioni as it uses his favorite leading actress (Monica Vitti) and his cameraman Carlo di Palma. This film was made during a time when Jancso was not allowed to make films in his native Hungary. In the middle of the crowd, while covering an Italian political protest by leftists, The Journalist (Monica Vitti), a pacifist, finds herself surrounded by a quite different group of people who jostle her, remove her recording equipment from her and set her car on fire. She complains to the police about this. However, when the police bring one of the young men before her for her to identify him, she says he is not one of her attackers. This leads to her having a romantic relationship with the young man. The group, and the young man, are young Italian neo-fascists, and the young man has been given the job of assassinating a leftist. He is too gentle to do this, and his group kills him right before The Journalist's eyes. She goes to the police again, but they begin to believe that she is insane, even when she is forced to kill her boyfriend's assailants right there in the police station. She is formally declared mad, and is taken off. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

During World War II, American USO tours gave new life to Italy's native music-hall performers, as it gave them a livelier venue for entertaining both the local population and the incoming soldiers. This Italian film, starring Alberto Sordi and Monica Vitti, tells the story of two such performers, their ambitions and their struggles. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide