Gli indifferenti

Impeccably styled and shot, Francesco Maselli's hyper-elegant 1920s drama rivals Bertolucci's 'The Conformist' and Godard's 'Contempt' as the best-ever film of an Alberto Moravia novel. All the acting is first-rate: Paulette Goddard as a faded grande dame, Claudia Cardinale and Tomas Milian as her wayward offspring, Shelley Winters as her scheming 'best friend' and Rod Steiger as the coarse and ruthless businessman who holds them all in his power. The evocation of the period is almost eerie in its perfection. Did Marcel Escoffier and Luigi Scaccianoce really DESIGN those luscious costumes and sets, or did they wander into a haunted house where ghosts live that way?

Amazingly enough - with all the talent on show - the undisputed star of this film has to be Paulette Goddard. A legendary Hollywood beauty, she never had much reputation as an actress. She was more famous for her string of husbands - Charlie Chaplin, Burgess Meredith, Erich Maria Remarque - and her immortal maxim "Never sleep with a man unless he gives you diamonds!" (Guess what? She had a whole suitcase full.) Seeing her as a washed-up femme fatale in this film, you realise that she COULD act after all - or was it just the most brilliant bit of typecasting in screen history?

"GIl indifferenti" ("Time of Indifference") is an Italian film with a cast mostly made up of American actors. Tomas Milian is an unknown Cuban-American actor, but the studio must have shelled out some money to secure the talents of Oscar-winner Shelley Winters, soon to be Oscar-winner Rod Steiger, and Paulette Goddard. The only non-American is the lovely Claudia Cardinale.

This film is NOT for everyone. In fact, I think MOST viewers would end up turning off the movie after a while since it is so very stark and slow. Additionally, the story just isn't pleasant in any way.

When the story begins, court officials arrive to catalog the furniture in the Contessa's mansion. But the Contessa (Paulette Goddard) claims to have no idea why they are there and she tries to throw them out. However, she's broke and soon she'll lose everything unless something miraculous occurs. The closest thing to this 'miracle' is Leo (Steiger), a rich but evil man. He claims to be in love with the Contessa, though on the side he is having a sexual relationship with her daughter, Carla. You assume he only pretends to be in love with the Contessa because he likes the notion of marrying a woman with a title. The son, Michele (Milian), he realizes what is happening and vacillates between anger and ambivalence. Lisa (Winters) is a family friend who just seems to be there. All of them, in various ways, are living in a voluntary hell and the question is, by the end of the movie will they have left or resigned themselves to their fates?

This movie is the epitome of the notion of a slow, artsy film. While it is well made, it's so slow and unpleasant I really wonder why they made it in the first place...as I really cannot imagine anyone really enjoying this character study. Well acted...and unpleasant.

There certainly must be a way to present Moravia's tale in cinematic form in a manner that suggests the art animating the story, but that will have to wait for some future occasion. It would help to have a director who had some subtlety or artistic talent - there's no evidence of any art (or much craft) in Francesco Maselli product here. A parade of dated stylistic effects, the whole thing suffers further from the lack of any nuanced acting. Steiger is unbelievable as an Italian, Cardinale merely pouts, Paulette Goddard seems to be imitating the aged Gloria Swanson in some other movie...and less about Shelley Winters' pathetic attempt to portray a complex Italian sophisticate later. Moravia's glimpse of the arid emotional state of Italian society after the War presumably requires nuanced writing and acting to bring off. Watching this film, which contains nothing like that, one can only wonder: could the original story really be this bad? The answer is, No, it's this film.

I got this rare Italian/American movie from a friend and I wasn't expecting much but really it was a good movie. Its the story of a family who is in financial troubles and the man they think that is going to help them, well isn't!! He wants the property and the house for himself. The mother and daughter are both sleeping with him and the son wants to kill him and that all adds together to make a great story! The Only cast member which I am going to make mention of is Shelley Winters, though not a good role for her she really shows her acting ability in this movie and I love it. So over all I think this movie is worth watching if you can find it, but be warned the soundtrack is not in sync with the film so when they speak on screen it's already a second past and it is a little distracting.

High Melodrama, expertly done, terrific acting all around, with Claudia at height of her career, in top form both dramatically and physically