Artemisia Gentileschi (1593-1653) was one of the first well-known female painters. The movie tells the story of her youth, when she was guided and protected by her father, the painter Orazio Gentileschi. Her professional curiosity about the male anatomy, forbidden for her eyes, led her to the knowledge of sexual pleasure. But she was also well known because in 1612 she had to appear in a courtroom because her teacher, Agostino Tassi, was suspected of raping her. She tried to protect him, but was put in the thumb screws…
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Tag Archives: Italy
La finestra di fronte / Facing Windows (2003) Ferzan Ozpetek, Giovanna Mezzogiorno, Massimo Girotti, Raoul Bova, Drama, Romance
Giovanna is a bookkeeper in a company which packs chickens. She is married to a man who has a precarious job. First she starts being curious about a young man who lives in the block opposite hers, and then she falls in love with him. The relationship between the two becomes much stronger when she starts to find out more about him from an old man who bursts into their lives. The old man, obsessed with the memories of some things that happened n the long past autumn of 1943, has lost his memory and finds refuge in Giovanna.
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Helen of Troy (1956) Robert Wise, Stanley Baker, Rossana Podestà, Brigitte Bardot, Adventure, Drama, History
Prince Paris of Troy, shipwrecked on a mission to the king of Sparta, meets and falls for Queen Helen before he knows who she is. Rudely received by the royal Greeks, he must flee…but fate and their mutual passions lead him to take Helen along. This gives the Greeks just the excuse they need for much-desired war.
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Un uomo da bruciare / A Man for Burning (1962) Valentino Orsini, Paolo Taviani, Gian Maria Volontè, Didi Perego, Turi Ferro, Drama
Political activist Salvatore returns to his native Sicily and stirs up trouble among the peasants, urging them to confront the Mafia and demand the right to plough their own fields. The peasants refuse to help him, and Salvatore is marked by the Mafia as a troublemaker…
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Il generale della Rovere / General Della Rovere (1959) Roberto Rossellini, Vittorio De Sica, Hannes Messemer, Sandra Milo, Drama, War
Genoa, 1943. Grimaldi is a swindler, pretending to be a colonel in the Italian army to get money from the family of people put into jail by the Nazis. Once caught, the Gestapo makes a deal with him : he will stay alive if he impersonates the General Della Rovere, a leader of the Resistance who has just been shot by the Nazis, to be put into a political jail where he is supposed to identify another Resistance leader.
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La race des seigneurs / Creezy (1974) Pierre Granier-Deferre, Alain Delon, Sydne Rome, Jeanne Moreau, Drama
Julien Dandieu, leader of the socialist political party PRU is asked to be part of the new conservative government as minister of foreign affairs. However his reputation is somewhat tarnished by his adulterous relationship with Creezy, a fashion model seen on every magazine cover. Ready to sacrifice his family for his career, he is eventually faced with the ultimate choice: his career ambitions or a lifetime with his beautiful girlfriend, who has recently mysteriously disappeared.
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I Love You (1986) Marco Ferreri, Christopher Lambert, Eddy Mitchell, Flora Barillaro, Drama, Fantasy, Romance
In another indictment of the flaws of our so-called civilization, this satire from the late director Marco Ferreri features Christopher Lambert as Michel, a miserable man who has failed at love and finds solace in a mechanical key holder.
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La mort d’un tueur / Death of a Killer (1964) Robert Hossein, Marie-France Pisier, Simón Andreu, Drama
When Massa (Robert Hossein) is released from prison, he’s sure that Luciano (Simon Andreu), an old freind, is responsible for his incarceration. Massa proceeds to keep watch on Luciano, who has been living with Massa’s beloved sister Maria (Marie-France Pisier). Feeling doubly betrayed because of his unhealthy adoration for Maria, Massa is determined to get back at Luciano and ends up in a deadly game of roulette.
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Il Messia / The Messiah (1975) Roberto Rossellini, Pier Maria Rossi, Mita Ungaro, Carlos de Carvalho, Biography, History
Rossellini’s final film relates the story of Christ in the director’s unsentimental, realistic style.
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La città si difende / Four Ways Out (1951) Pietro Germi, Gina Lollobrigida, Renato Baldini, Cosetta Greco, Crime, Drama
As a soccer match is in progress, a group of four criminals robs the stadium office. Before they can make their getaway, a chase begins, and they must split up before they can divide the money. The police have little to go on, since it appears that none of the robbers were experienced criminals. Meanwhile, the thieves have to arrange for dividing the money while trying to avoid being captured.
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The Lonely Woman / No encontré rosas para mi madre (1973) Francisco Rovira Beleta, Gina Lollobrigida, Danielle Darrieux, Concha Velasco, Drama
A young male model-cum-hustler juggling “relationships” with three women while looking for the big score, a rich girl who will keep him afloat for life. But no relationship is developed, no background examined, no motivation explained. He just bounces from woman to woman like a pinball and ends up marrying an emotionally stunted girl who plays with dolls.
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Marguerite de la nuit / Marguerite of the Night (1955) Claude Autant-Lara, Michèle Morgan, Yves Montand, Jean Debucourt, Drama, Fantasy
An updating of the Faust legend, with a dash of Fritz Lang’s “Der Müde Tod”, to a 1950’s Paris recreated in vividly abstract expressionistic sets.
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Fotografando Patrizia / The Dark Side of Love (1984) Salvatore Samperi, Monica Guerritore, Lorenzo Lena, Gianfranco Manfredi, Drama, Erotic
The sexual relationship between a successful woman and her brother, an introvert, hypochondriacal youth, who is also a pornophile.
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War and Peace (1956) King Vidor, Audrey Hepburn, Henry Fonda, Mel Ferrer, Drama, Romance, War
By 1812, Napoleon’s forces controlled much of Europe. Russia, one of the few countries still unconquered, prepares to face Napoleon’s troops together with Austria. Among the Russian soldiers are Count Nicholas Rostov and Prince Andrei Bolkonsky. Count Pierre Bezukhov, a friend of Andrei’s and self-styled intellectual who is not interested in fighting. Pierre’s life changes when his father dies, leaving him a vast inheritance. He is attracted to Natasha Rostov, Nicholas’s sister, but she is too young, so he gives in to baser desires and marries the shallow, manipulative Princess Helene. The marriage ends when Pierre discovers his wife’s true nature. Andrei is captured and later released by the French, and returns home only to watch his wife die in childbirth. Months later, Pierre and Andrei meet again. Andrei sees Natasha and falls in love, but his father will only permit the marriage if they postpone it for one year until Natasha turns 17.
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Il diavolo a sette facce / The Devil with Seven Faces (1971) Osvaldo Civirani, Carroll Baker, George Hilton, Stephen Boyd, Mystery, Thriller
Carroll Baker plays a dual role as translator Julie Harrison and her twin sister Mary. The serpentine plot begins as Julie tells her lawyer Dave Barton (Stephen Boyd) that Mary’s life is being threatened in London while Julie herself is being stalked by a mysterious stranger in Amsterdam.
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