Estate violenta

Valerio Zurlini was first known for his melodramas ("la ragazza con la valigla" and "cronaca familiare" but his towering achievement was his final effort "il deserto dei Tartari" a brilliant adaptation of Dino Buzatti's masterpiece (hence not a melodrama).

"Estate Violenta" is a moderately successful film:the umpteenth story of a young and attractive widow and a younger (not so younger by the way,Trintignant was actually about five years younger than Rossi-Drago)lad ,during the Fascist years .The boy has a lot of fun with his mates :thanks to his father who provides him protection he has avoided the draft.He spends his time ,with a spoiled youth sunbathing and partying but history is about to catch him up.Rossi-Drago portrays a woman who stifles in her bourgeois atmosphere.

Excellent performances by the two leads.Gorgeous brunette Jacqueline Sassard is also featured as Trintignant's girlfriend (she would team up again with Trintignant in Chabrol's "les biches"(1967); nothing was heard from her since).Best scene:bombing of the railway station,Zurlini works wonders when he describes people's panic.

This love story set in a seaside town during Mussolini's Italy's last gasp has a lot of atmosphere and beautiful b/w cinematography, but the smoldering love story between the young J-L Trintignant and the initially reluctant older (30!) widow (the hauntingly beautiful Eleanora Rossi Drago--and why isn't she famous?)is convincing and memorable. See it if you can!

I just came back from the cinema after having seen the film. And all that comes to mind is -and forgive me for the level of my English- a simple ahhh! This was one of the best performances I have seen in terms of couple chemistry and the protagonist Eleonora Rossi Drago was just splendid! Pure unspoiled femininity coming out of every little move, gesture, look! The b/w photography, the directing and most of all Trintignan and Rossi Drago transform this erotic drama into a symphony of desire! And I can ask,rather bitterly, after all: where are women protagonists nowadays? And what has been done to the pure magic they radiated?

Zurlini's Violent Summer is unlike anything else I have seen, even though I have seen nearly all of his films. The photography and the casting is near perfection with a script that is tight and unpredictable. I guess there are other stories involving frowned upon love between an older woman and a young man but they are nothing like this. The devil is in the detail in the way the film gives a sense of reality and of immense sensual beauty.

A great film from a great talent.

I believe that there are movies, and movies... "Violent summer", in my modest opinion, it is one of those movies "outstanding." It is able to remain in the memory after 42 years, with some unforgettable Eleonora Rossi Drago and Jean Louis Trintignant. The music " live-motive" it created next to the rest of the sound band and the "light and shade" of the picture an overwhelming and captivating atmosphere. The protagonistic couple's election is decisive. The mature woman and the youth are achieved faultlessly. During years I was in love with that woman (I was 16 years old when I saw it). I believe that it is unjust to disqualify certain movies. There will always be who find defects of some type. And in any thing. Maximum when it is intangible things. But the feelings, the summer, the war like detonating., and the passion becomes tangible in this film. And that is undeniable. God willing it is re-published in the future for delight of us and of the new generations. Because the good cinema is much more than the critics of the specialist.