The Anonymous Venetian

in my case, not exactly a movie. only slice of my childhood. mixture of magic and delicate colors. music as shadow. Venise as large tomb - nest. it is something special with this film. with its touching beauty. with its image of letter from a lost time. with two actors who are jewelers of common strange roles. a love story, broken love story, in a place as map of soul. the escape - a musical score. words, past - Venice as huge labyrinth of memories - and the harsh circle of fall. all as pieces from an old toy of dreams dust. I do not know if it is a good film. it seems be like many others of its period. but, different. for the crumbs of sufferance as fruit of deep joy. for the search of sense who define each character. for soft victory. and, for ash of feelings - part of new kind of beginning.

"Anonimo veneziano" is one of the most beautiful movies I have ever seen. Musante and Bolkan are terrific in their roles. It deserves more than one look at it.

beautiful movie, amazing how the ugly present( filmed in the fall -a decaying, dying Venice) contrasts with a bright, happy, past( filmed in the summer). Musante and Bolkan are great, running the whole gamut of emotions from whispers to screams, from laughter to tears, from sarcasm and blunt wickedness to compassion and love. one more thing. the music. morbidly beautiful.

don't see the English version, try to find the Italian one( both actors sound a lot more convincing in Italian-could be the accent). hopefully this can be digitally remastered, as the sound and the color really spoil the picture.

If you liked this one, try also Bobby Deerfield, somewhat similar.

Only two actors ,and it is much to their credit to sustain our interest throughout ;Florinda Bolkan was a beauty legend of the Italian cinema and American Tony Musante often worked in both country (notably in the excellent Dario Argento 's thriller "l'ucello dalle piume di cristallo"1967) .

It could be a mushy melodrama, it's a delicate treatment of the last day of a couple :they were married ,but even after divorce ,something remains who strangely looks like love ; not dwelling on the sordid side of live, the truth about the ex-husband is only revealed at the 50 th minute ( the pills and the injection disconcert the viewer though ).

It's a wandering through Venizia , Enrico taking his ex-wife to places when they were deeply in love ;and however ,he was not a faithful husband ,it's really a warts-and-all depiction(Enrico throws away the bouquet) inside a romantic journey through the past.

The parallel between dying Enrico and the town itself sinking and turning into silt has always been used , but here it's done in a tasteful way ;for a man without a future, who is afraid of dying in his sleep , clinging to memories is the only thing left to him ; the future is only this child , he won't see growing up, but who maybe will play his records (hence the gift ).

The music bears more than a distant resemblance to Francis Lai's score for "love story";as both movies were made at about the same time, it's probably a coincidence .

for me, one of the special films. maybe, the most special. maybe, because its trace across memory is a ball of emotions, states, revelations, soft and bitter poetry, because it is a love story who, for long time, could represent , for me, the love story of my parents, for Venice who has a veil of surrealism , for the great music, off course. a film like a refuge. because , viewing it, you has the impression to escape by the time. it is not easy, or fair , to explain. but after you see it, it exists the feel to be part of an experience. sad, strange, dark, profound bitter. but an experience who defines you. so, a special film. for dialogues, for refined poetry of images, for the silence moments. and for something who, after decades, remains a precious secret.