The irresistible Gina Lollobrigida gives one of her best characterizations in the film adapted from the Moravia novel. The Wayward Wife is the story of a love that foundered on the rocks, a marriage made for want of better, desires and lies, with a woman at its centre whose dreams are of no real interest to anyone. Jean Cocteau praised this Modernist gem that cleverly blends temporal planes thus: “The film as a whole is part Maupassant and even part Marcel Proust; but the filmmaker’s skill and the economic use of dialogue and gestures save the operation. Every second exhibits a power without recourse to tricks or expediencies, a mastery before which we should all bow down.”
Supporting film: The Garden (6)
Hungarian animation, colour, 1993, dir: István Orosz, Language: Hungarian, Subtitles: English, 6’
Distributor: Nemzeti Filmintézet - Filmarchívum
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