I will only say for now, this is one SERIOUSLY GREAT MOVIE. Dino Risi must have been going through a good period in his life because never before or since have movies under his care (as Director) come out this well.
The story of a middle aged playboy and his short-lived, would be, apprentice, a shy student ... Vittorio Gassman, Jean-Louis Trintignant, are brilliant and 17 year old Catherine Spaak turns in a mind-blowing performance, surely the best "teenage" performance, ever, (think the Breakfast Club X 100) setting a very high, difficult bar for herself in the process.
As the previous reviewer said, 10 out of 10; now if we can only get a real re-release, not a damn bootleg.
** You know you're watching a ground-breaking movie when a guy, the playboy protaganist, "exhuberant" throughout, suddenly gives the game away. It happens in a scene at a beach shower, where he is singing zestfully - "a man in love with life," and then suddenly stops altogether, the game up and shrugs his shoulder. I don't know such a thing had ever been tried before in all of Cinema. The stunning effect when Vittorio Gassman, as the playboy, drops the mask that all wear (in Italy, literally one's "second face") is overwhelming, like a pistol shot on a deserted street.
Groundbreaking in every way and not a little frightening, like a summer day suddenly ruined by an angry quarrel! (pick a metaphor). SEE IT!
The story of a middle aged playboy and his short-lived, would be, apprentice, a shy student ... Vittorio Gassman, Jean-Louis Trintignant, are brilliant and 17 year old Catherine Spaak turns in a mind-blowing performance, surely the best "teenage" performance, ever, (think the Breakfast Club X 100) setting a very high, difficult bar for herself in the process.
As the previous reviewer said, 10 out of 10; now if we can only get a real re-release, not a damn bootleg.
** You know you're watching a ground-breaking movie when a guy, the playboy protaganist, "exhuberant" throughout, suddenly gives the game away. It happens in a scene at a beach shower, where he is singing zestfully - "a man in love with life," and then suddenly stops altogether, the game up and shrugs his shoulder. I don't know such a thing had ever been tried before in all of Cinema. The stunning effect when Vittorio Gassman, as the playboy, drops the mask that all wear (in Italy, literally one's "second face") is overwhelming, like a pistol shot on a deserted street.
Groundbreaking in every way and not a little frightening, like a summer day suddenly ruined by an angry quarrel! (pick a metaphor). SEE IT!