This is the third film to make use of material from Alberto Moravia's 'Racconti Romani' and marks the final collaboration of writer Pasolini and director Bolognini, surely two of the strangest bedfellows(in a strictly metaphorical sense of course!) in the history of film.
From the opening with its stunning panning shot under tenement balconies we are in Pasolini country which offers a stark reminder that during Italy's 'Boom', for most of the population La Vita was far from Dolce!
One thing about Bolognini's films is certain. However seedy, shabby or unpleasant the surroundings one is guaranteed to have a cast of beautiful people and this is certainly no exception. Here we have the handsome Davide of Jean Sorel who feels that as a new father it is about time he found some gainful employment. He lands a job of sorts which soon goes pear-shaped but picks up an unexpected bonus.........!
Sorel is so good looking as to be almost unbearable but is redeemed by being a very good actor. His beauty is complemented by that of Jeanne Valerie, Isabelle Corey and the wondrous Lea Massari who had impressed that year in 'L' Avventura'. Her character is Freja, a name she happens to share with the Norse Goddess of Love. I would have to say that seeing her behind the wheel of a truck is the stuff of fantasy. There are indeed some very sensuous scenes in this which were initially cut but happily restored!
Bolognini's excellent compositional and visual sense is again in evidence and there is another fabulous score by Piero Piccioni. This comes from a particularly rich period in this director's output which culminated in the commercial failure of 'La Corruzione' in 1963. Thereafter his films were variable, never less that interesting but sometimes lapsing into stylish exercises. Pasolini of course went his own way and much preferred his Romans to be less glamorous.
