Verano violento

After being quite impressed by the near-masterpiece comedy Zurlini made in 1954 "The Girls of San Frediano," I was very much disappointed by "Violent Summer," an overly melodramatic soap-opera made 5 years later. Too bad Zurlini couldn't restrain himself from the melodramatic overstatements that ruin the film because the cinematography couldn't be better and the young Trintignant's performance is pretty amazing.

I just came back from the cinema after having seen the film. And all that comes to mind is -and forgive me for the level of my English- a simple ahhh! This was one of the best performances I have seen in terms of couple chemistry and the protagonist Eleonora Rossi Drago was just splendid! Pure unspoiled femininity coming out of every little move, gesture, look! The b/w photography, the directing and most of all Trintignan and Rossi Drago transform this erotic drama into a symphony of desire! And I can ask,rather bitterly, after all: where are women protagonists nowadays? And what has been done to the pure magic they radiated?

(1959) Violent Summer/ Estate violenta (In Italian with English subtitles) WAR DRAMA

Co-written and directed by Valerio Zurlini that refers to "Violent Summer" as a metaphor of WWII that serves as a backdrop here. The opening has Carlo Caremoli (Jean Louis Trintignant) returning back to the small town of Riccione where he is visiting his peers of Daniele (Giampiero Littera), Giulio (Bruno Carotenuto), Serena (Cathia Caro), Giorgio (Raf Mattioli) and the one who has a crush on Carlo is Rossana (Jacqueline Sassard) as they all do things together such as boating and hanging out at the beach. One day as soon as a war plane flies overhead, a young girl, we find out her name is Colomba becomes scared running up to Carlo's arms. Her mother, Roberta Parmesan (Eleonora Rossi Drago) then tries to reassure her daughter, and Carlo then offers to carry them to their home. And it was at this point he becomes infatuated with her as soon as he learns she is a widow. Roberta is slightly older than him, but he still insists on seeing her much often. And then her sister-in law, Maddalena (Federica Ranchi) and brother in law, Martino show up and are offered to stay with her and her mother. And it was the result that it was under war territory, and because Maddalena is about the same age as Carlo's peers, she decided to introduce her to them.

This love story set in a seaside town during Mussolini's Italy's last gasp has a lot of atmosphere and beautiful b/w cinematography, but the smoldering love story between the young J-L Trintignant and the initially reluctant older (30!) widow (the hauntingly beautiful Eleanora Rossi Drago--and why isn't she famous?)is convincing and memorable. See it if you can!

Valerio Zurlini (1926 - 1982) was essentialy forgotten when in the 2000's his films were again brought under the attention of the public by way of DVD releases and retrospectives. Although Zurlini may not be an Fellini or Visconti, his films are still worth seeinig.

"Violent summer" is situated in the summer of 1943. The war is going badly for Fascist Italy but, unlike the population in Germany in "Nachts, wenn der Teufel kam" (1957, Robert Siodmak), Carlo (Jean Louis Trintignant) and his friends are still living the "dolce vita". They are in the Northern of Italy while the allied forces are invading the South. They are, so to speak, dancing on the edge of the volcano.

The violence in "Violent summer" is restricted to the last 10 minutes of the film. The rest of the time the film is rather slow, with beautiful cinematography.

"Violent summer" has two themes. In the first place it is about a rich boy (Carlo) who is using the influence of his dad to avoid military conscription. In this way it is similar to "The cranes are flying" (1957, Mikhail Kalatozov). In "The cranes ..." the boy is presented as a disgrace and compared to the real heroes in this patriotic war. In "Violent summer" the behavior of Carlo is partly overshadowed by the second theme of impossible love. Carlo gets a relationship with war widow Roberta (Eleonora Rossi Drago). This relationship is condemned by friends and relatives on both sides. On the side of Carlo there is a jalous girl friend. The family of Roberta is of the opinion she should honor the memory of her deceased husband. In fact they try to make this 30 year old woman a prisoner of this memory.

In the ambiguous end it is unclear which theme is dominant.