Pleine de vie

This movie is a sleeper. Coming at a time when "homey" [not in the modern gangbanger sense of the term] was in vogue. A pregnant woman wants an addition to her house for the new baby and gets her father-in-law, the great opera singer, Salvatore Baccaloni, a carpenter with old fashioned Italian family values, to do the work, over her husband's (Richard Conte)reservations. Holliday was at her peak after her brush with the McCarthy witch hunters and gives a great performance in this display of cross-cultural and cross-ethnic clashes of values. A fun, entertaining movie. See it. Enjoy. Feel good for a change.

I have seen this film only a few times. The first time I turned it on after it had begun. The second time and all the times after, I looked for it. 1950's to the max. The conflict of the old and new ways, father and son. It is all here and told in a clear sweet story.

Those expecting a screwball comedy will be disappointed, as this is a tender, touching slice-of-life comedy. The incomparable Baccaloni is afforded some screwball moments having sympathy pains along with Judy's pregnancy, and he is marvelous. It works all-the-better, I think, that Judy contrasts him by playing this one straight-up. This is one of the few movies I've ever seen that depicts the fact that when a woman ishaving her first child, we are far from experts at why we feel the way we feel or how it needs to be handled. Richard Conte is winningly tender as the insecure husband with money worries but unconditional love. And the supporting cast is marvelous. I love this movie.

Full of Life is a very amusing domestic comedy about pregnant wife Emily Rocco (Judy Holliday) and her husband Nick (Richard Conte) who ask Nick's old Italian father, a carpenter (Salvatore Baccaloni) for help after discovering a hole in the kitchen floor. It's a nice movie, but I was more expecting belly laughs, which is not the purpose of this movie.

I discovered "Full of Life" when I was in High School in the early 1980's. I had never even heard of the film (a comment shared by several contributors to this site) when it came on late night television. It's funny to think a teenager could have been so moved by a film about experiences he has not yet had; but, I was. And as I have returned to this film throughout the years I find it becomes all the more perceptive and, yes, beautiful. "Full of Life" is about life, about the human comedy and it contains three extraordinary performances: one from the ever-amazing Judy Holliday, one from the underrated Richard Conte and one from opera star Salvatore Baccaloni, magnificent as the father-in-law. The screenplay earned a nomination from the Screen Writers Guild, but that is the only contemporary recognition it received. However, it remains--to those willing to discover it's sublime charm--a quietly moving, tender film for thoughtful viewers.