10/10
I'm not sure how much I'm being influenced by my affinity for Isao Takahata's "Hotaru no Haka"--another great movie about non-soldiers hurt in their own country--but "Two Women" really sticks in my mind as a terrific example of normal characters dealing with extraordinary circumstances.
(Possible Spoilers) Some have commented that the rape at the end seemed forced and that there wasn't enough time afterwards to deal with their emotions (after all, rape is a horrific, scarring event and there are entire movies devoted the the aftermath of rape), and at first I agreed. However, this isn't a movie about rape or even about war, exactly. What you have is the relationship between a mother and a daughter, and how the war almost broke them apart. Sophia Loren's character is a fairly strong-willed widow who doesn't shy away from sex but doesn't seem to enjoy it, either. She has a different opinion on how her daughter should act, and she tries to shelter her daughter from sex and men. It's a classic case of "Do as I say, not as I do," taken to an emotional peak not with the rape, but with the very last scene, when the two women fight about the silk stockings a young man gave the daughter after the dance.
This is an incredible movie that should be available in a higher quality DVD than the Madacy version. Anyway, see it and "Hotaru no Haka" back-to-back to see how WWII affected everyday people from "enemy" countries.
I'm not sure how much I'm being influenced by my affinity for Isao Takahata's "Hotaru no Haka"--another great movie about non-soldiers hurt in their own country--but "Two Women" really sticks in my mind as a terrific example of normal characters dealing with extraordinary circumstances.
(Possible Spoilers) Some have commented that the rape at the end seemed forced and that there wasn't enough time afterwards to deal with their emotions (after all, rape is a horrific, scarring event and there are entire movies devoted the the aftermath of rape), and at first I agreed. However, this isn't a movie about rape or even about war, exactly. What you have is the relationship between a mother and a daughter, and how the war almost broke them apart. Sophia Loren's character is a fairly strong-willed widow who doesn't shy away from sex but doesn't seem to enjoy it, either. She has a different opinion on how her daughter should act, and she tries to shelter her daughter from sex and men. It's a classic case of "Do as I say, not as I do," taken to an emotional peak not with the rape, but with the very last scene, when the two women fight about the silk stockings a young man gave the daughter after the dance.
This is an incredible movie that should be available in a higher quality DVD than the Madacy version. Anyway, see it and "Hotaru no Haka" back-to-back to see how WWII affected everyday people from "enemy" countries.