Two Women

A unique film about the ravages of World War II, told specifically from the point of view of an Italian woman and her young daughter.

The woman is Sophia Loren, and she won the first ever Oscar given for a foreign language performance in this film. She plays Cesira, a spitfire who is blithely indifferent to Italy's role in the war until the horrors of it hit home in deeply personal ways when she and her daughter leave bomb-addled Rome to trek across the Italian countryside to wait out the fighting. Most WWII films are told from the point of view of the men in combat or the women who wait at home patiently for them, letting their commitment to the cause be their solace. Few films are told from the point of view of women on the wrong side of the conflict (as we've been taught) who don't much care who wins or loses as long as their lives are left untouched. One would be justified in thinking that Loren's character is either selfish or naive, or both, but one would have to be inhuman not to feel compassion for what happens to her and her daughter.

Loren was known as nothing but a sex kitten at the time of this film's release, and director Vittorio De Sica uses this to his advantage. Her Cesira is a woman who's used to being alluring to men and isn't above wielding her sexuality when it might work to her advantage. But Loren goes far beyond sex kitten in this film, to something nuanced and ultimately heartbreaking.

Grade: A

I acquired this movie quite a few years a go and only just had my first viewing and was frankly astonished at Sophia's performance. It is a multi-layered rich performance: her anger at men, her absolute devotion to her daughter, the sadness and acceptance at being a widow of a passionless marriage to a much older man, her confusion at awakening feelings of sensuality, her politicization. The last 30 minutes of this movie are heartbreaking, her horror, helplessness and numbness at what has happened to her daughter are some of the most powerful moments I have seen on film. A well deserved Oscar and Sophia, you are right up there with the gifted actors of the past century! 10 out of 10.

Very bad print (even on DVD), but very good movie. A war film that focuses more on the people who suffer, instead of telling the story of those fighting the battle. It's also a movie about love, relationship, bonding between a woman and her daughter. Sophia Loren's performance is stellar. Belmondo is also very good. Young Eleonora Brown's performance gets better during the film. The last 30 minutes of the movie are poignant. It's heartbreaking to listen to Cesira apologize to Rosetta. Watch it.

Seen at home, in Toronto, on February 19th, 2006.

81/100 (***)

Sophia loren, undoubtedly and unarguably has delivered the greatest performance in the history of movie. Her performance as the widowed mother of a teen age girl in this movie that depicted the horrors of the second great war was absolutely heart-felt and perfect. Rarely can one actor or actress possibly rise to such occasion to deliver a performance of such magnitude. It demands pure talent. Full credit to the directing great Mr. De sica for his creation. Should be watched in its original version to get the best of it.

Sophia Loren, aside from being one of the most sumptuously sexy women I have ever seen, proves herself here to be a tremendous actress. She has a melodramatic Italian flair that impassions her lovably aggressive character, a widowed shopkeeper in Rome during the Allied bombing in WWII, who flees with her beloved daughter to her impoverish mountainous native region. Throughout the story, she proves to be a strong woman, seasoned by pain and not having lost the fire and fight in her.

Like many European films of its time, Two Women is all about the characters and the current on which they flow through the film, a realistic capsule of a time and place. Vittorio De Sica, who made the beautifully small-scale film The Bicycle Thief, which is about a relationship between father and son, forms a companion piece with Two Women, which is about a relationship between mother and daughter. He addresses strikingly the unbearable love between a parent and their child.

Truly one of the greatest Italian films, this is an absorbing, emotional, modest journey with wonderful music; coarse, down-to-earth cinematography from the wonderful old days of gritty film prints and old school hands-on editing; incredible acting not only from Loren but from the young actress playing her daughter, who drastically transforms; and also from Jean- Paul Belmondo, who convincingly plays completely against type; and a beautifully emotional final shot. For those who feel detached from older foreign films, especially neo-realist, I have yet to see an Italian neo-realist film any more alive than this one!