There are so many moments lingering underneath this pretentious "art" film that is more puzzling as each scene goes by. There are so many messages pro-film making and anti-film making, and whether this was meant to be Mankiewicz;'s valentine to the growing influence of European films as his masterpiece "All About Eve" was to the theatre. The story of Spanish movie star Ava Gardner, discovered by American filmmaker Humphrey Bogart, begins in the present and sinks back to the past. Like Bogart's 1944 war film "A Passage to Marsaille", the film has flashbacks within flashbacks. The story covers her discovery by Bogart, her ascent to stardom, and ultimately, descent into degradation after making a shocking discover about the count (Rossano Brazzi) she has discovered isn't quite the prince charming she envisioned him to be.
Gardner, one of the screen's most breathtaking beauties, is a delight to look at, and it seems her own disgust with the Hollywood publicity machine has influenced her almost blank performance. The narration by the three different men in Gardner's life is the bulk of the Oscar Nominated Screenplay. Highlights of the story are the trial of Gardner's father for the murder of her mother (who is revealed not to be the saint most Spanish mothers are elevated to), and Edmund O'Brien's description of the vacuum-like international society set which is as empty as the cocoon he uses to describe some of the members to be in. That sequence offers an opportunity to laugh at the rich. The costumes, art direction and photography are sumptuous, but the film, like most of the characters, is an example of the walking dead. Still, there are some wonderful observations about humanity (or the lack of it) and the people who live a shell of a life that is even missing the sounds of the ocean in the midst of its blankness.
Gardner, one of the screen's most breathtaking beauties, is a delight to look at, and it seems her own disgust with the Hollywood publicity machine has influenced her almost blank performance. The narration by the three different men in Gardner's life is the bulk of the Oscar Nominated Screenplay. Highlights of the story are the trial of Gardner's father for the murder of her mother (who is revealed not to be the saint most Spanish mothers are elevated to), and Edmund O'Brien's description of the vacuum-like international society set which is as empty as the cocoon he uses to describe some of the members to be in. That sequence offers an opportunity to laugh at the rich. The costumes, art direction and photography are sumptuous, but the film, like most of the characters, is an example of the walking dead. Still, there are some wonderful observations about humanity (or the lack of it) and the people who live a shell of a life that is even missing the sounds of the ocean in the midst of its blankness.