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In the first half of Girl with a Suitcase, 16-year-old Lorenzo (Jacques Perrin) looks after the showgirl, Aida (Claudia Cardinale), whom his older brother, Marcello (Corrado Pani), promised to help before cruelly and casually ditching her during a road trip. Unaware that Lorenzo is Marcello’s little brother, Aida accepts his kindness at face value, knowing that doing so may cause him to become emotionally attached to her, but, exhausted and embittered, she can’t resist the reprieve of a young man actually treating her with warmth and tenderness.

Throughout Girl with a Suitcase, the filmmakers use an array of wide shots to elucidate the feelings of alienation and isolation that grip the characters by surrounding them with negative space, and in settings ranging from the immense rooms in Lorenzo’s parents’ mansion to sparsely populated seaside locales. Via meticulous compositions and Perrin and Cardinale’s empathetic performances, the film...

Is Joseph Losey’s elusive, maudit masterpiece really a masterpiece? Stanley Baker’s foolish lout of a writer ruins his life pursuing the wanton Jeanne Moreau, and it’s hard to tell if she’s punishing him or he’s punishing himself. Losey’s directing skills are in top form on location in Venice and Rome for this absorbing art film. Pi’s overdue and very welcome disc sorts out the multiple release versions for the first time, and in so doing finally makes the show critically accessible. Co-starring (swoon) Virna Lisi and James Villiers.

Eve

Region B Blu-ray

Powerhouse Indicator

1962 / B&w / 1:85 widescreen / 126 109, 108 min. / Eva, The Devil’s Woman / Street Date October 19, 2020 / available from Powerhouse Films UK / £15.99

Starring: Jeanne Moreau, Stanley Baker, Virna Lisi, James Villiers, Riccardo Garrone, Lisa Gastoni, Checco Rissone, Enzo Fiermonte, Nona Medici, Roberto Paoletti, Alexis Revidis, Evi Rigano.

Cinematography: Gianni Di Venanzo, Henri Decaë

Film...