Im Zeichen der Venus

An annoying, boring film, male behavior that is now inadmissible, disgusting, it doesn't attract female disputes over stupid males, nor did the beautiful Sophia Loren make me fall in love with the film, boring, I almost didn't win...

Engaging movie with a great cast of characters. Kept me guessing about whether Cesira would find love or not.

Sophia Loren is the "Venus" of the title. Well that is how I would interpret the english title. She is not alone though and in the introduction to her character, we also learn about her cousin. Who seems to be the opposite of her. While Lorens character has to fight people off her, who are trying to woo her, her cousin has no one even noticing her.

Which clearly is a shame I would say, because she is also very pretty. Not in the sense Sophia Loren is depicted, but every one of us is different anyway. The cousins problem is not just the lack of opportunity, but her gullible and innocent way of looking at things. She believes in the best in humanity, which makes her quite vulnerable. Lorens character is also vulnerable - in the sense that she is reduced to her looks.

A very insightful character study, with a lot of little bits and pieces that build up to the inevitable conclusion of the movie. Very well acted and well written, even if today some side stories probably would have been cut out (like two male side kicks with their own set of problems and issues almost entirely unrelated to the two main female characters). Some people are fools some aren't ... some are way too good for this world and the people who live in it.

Dino Risi has directed many Italian classics, but here he is young, but in no way does he seem inexperienced. Taking over the helm from Luigi Comencini, he brings on board a 'power trio' like Loren-De Sica- Sordi. The original script was partially written by Franca Valeri Who remains the true protagonist of this Italian caper set in the early fifties,in Rome.

Italian Cinema is full of minor films that rattle along with energy and wit, and this is one of them. Here Alberto Sordi Is repetitive alongside DeFilippo, and although the cast is choc full of great actors like Tina Pica, the script is repetitive and convaluted, stumbling on the déja-vu, especially with Sordi and DeSica as con-artists of sorts.

Franca Valeri injects a mixture of quaintness and dreamy self-delusion as Cesira (a character she had already invented for her popular TV sketches) but she brilliantly never lets self-pity crush her energy. Her pretty cousin (Loren) attracts men like flies, but Cesira Is convinced that she too will pull it off.

This is not the case and she will always be proved wrong. Manipulated or ignored by all men, she is the only one who winds up alone in the end. Or will she have another chance, as her sooth-sayer acquaintance guarantees? Resilient she is!

Not, maybe, a great film; but certainly an early showcase for a number of standout Italian actors.

All the characters were interesting and fantastic. This is Sofia Loren at her best as usual, she is Venus. Her cousin is the opposite. What an entertaining Italian gem of a film