À corps perdus

A groundbreaking and agonizing Italian modern cinema movie, which apparently caused some controversy due to its violent rape scene. Not a huge fan of Penelope Cruz, but I was pleasantly surprised to see how well she fit in with the character. As a director, Castellitto has done an exceptional job in managing to turn a somewhat unrealistic scenario into a truly down-to-earth passionate story. I am sure that his wife and co-director Mazzantini shares much of that credit. I thought the the last scene could have been developed better as it seemed to indicate a typical old-school Italian ending. It was interesting to note the dazed look on the faces of many people in the audience once the movie was over.