Os Amantes de Florença

Portrait of a working class community in Florence in the 1920s as the Fascists tighten their grip on society. It's set in a narrow street populated by market traders, cobblers, gossips, unfaithful wives, gangsters, with an old matriarch overseeing things from her window and the local Fascist on patrol down below. Mainly it follows the fortunes of three marriagable young women and their lovers, with, at the centre of the film, a brutal night of assassinations which changes the community forever.

It's quite dialogue-heavy - there's barely a moment without subtitles on the screen - and there's little humour, but it's well made and is suffused with a non-judgemental humanism that prevents things getting too morose. Mastroianni stands out among the cast, which includes an Olympic gold medalist discus thrower as a blacksmith. Particularly interesting to see a non-touristic side of Florence, when the place had a real lived-in feel.