Oscar-winning Italian film from Vittorio De Sica, wildly overrated in its day, now a faded piece of fluff. Three portraits of Italian womanhood, each featuring Sophia Loren in the lead: Adelina is a saleswoman on the black market who dodges the police through pregnancy (they can't lock her up if she's with child), resulting in seven bambinos and bambinas; Anna is the wealthy wife of an industrialist at an impasse with her frustrated lover; Mara is a prostitute who becomes involved in the troubles of her neighbors, which frustrates her horny client waiting in the bedroom. Marcello Mastroianni plays the men in Loren's lives, however the expected sparks between the two charismatic stars fail to arrive (this seems a perfunctory screen-combination). Giuseppe Rotunno's cinematography is especially pretty in the third chapter (by far the best of the lot), and Armando Trovajoli has composed a nice background score; otherwise, a surprisingly unfunny tease, with more shouting than lovemaking. ** from ****
Review of Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow
