La proie du désir

Released in the United States in the early 50's under the title of WOMAN, this obscure early Rossellini film was made at the end of the war and completed by Marcello Pagliero. It is a sensational little tragedy about a prostitute who returns from the city to her home town where she is variously loved, spurned, and lusted over. The grim, fatalistic atmosphere bears a good deal of resemblance to the much better known contemporary masterpiece OSSESSIONE, by Luchino Visconti. In fact Massimo Girotti appears in both films. Elli Parvo is quite riveting in the main role.

Everybody knows that Rossellini was to become one of the greatest Italian directors of all time but his collaborator Marcello Pagliero -who was responsible for the major part of "Desiderio" -had a much less glorious career .After co-writing the screenplay of " Roma Citta Apertà" (and also playing a role in it) he continued in career in France where he released several interesting movies including his best "Un Homme Marche Dans La Ville",but none of his works enjoyed critical or commercial acclaim.

"Desiderio" is melodrama ,only melodrama,nothing but melodrama .Two sisters,one has left the quiet country for the broader horizons of the evil town where she has become a semi-whore ;the other has stayed in his peaceful village and has just married a handsome man (Massimo Girotti,the star of Visconti's "ossessione" ).The young prostitute falls for an honest man,but she is too ashamed to confess she's a woman of easy virtue and she returns to her native home.

Bad idea:all the males around (including the new brother-in-law) desire her and we learn that even before she went to town,men looked at her and wanted to sleep with her.She was pursued by fate ,so to speak.The black sheep of the village ,even disowned by her own father. Not really a bad girl,a victim more like.

The shooting began in the fascist years (1943) and was completed after the war.