La mandragola

This brilliant satire of Nicolo Machiavelli is beautifully realised here by Alberto Lattuarda and a tremendous cast. Producer Alfredo Blini's wife, the stunning Rosanna Schiaffino, plays Lucrezia who is pursuaded to take an infusion of Mandrake so as to cure her supposed barrenness when in fact it is her older husband who is sterile. This enables the lusty Calimaco of Philippe Leroy, posing as a doctor, to sleep with her disguised as a beggar...... Romola Valli is the dupe of a husband and Nilla Pizzi the scheming mother. Toto turns up as a priest and is on screen for just long enough! Ligurio, played by Jean-Claude Brialy, speaks for conmen throughout history when he observes: "People want to be deceived. The good Lord made this world for those like us". Splendid production values and superb camerawork by Tonino delli Colli. I generally find Lattuarda's films to be workmanlike but here he has surpassed himself. Bawdy and irreverent fun.