Sophia Loren deserved her Cannes Best Actress and Oscar awards for her performance. Belmondo also was interesting. But De Sica has directed better films (Bicycle Thieves, The Voyage, etc.) Renato Salvatori has a brief role towards the end of the film--but he always is interesting to watch. If the film belongs to Loren, so does it to the writer Alberto Moravia and screenplay writer Cesare Zavattini.