Volupté

I liked this film, which struck me as "Camille" in a modern setting with beautiful scenery and wardrobe in color and expressive music in the soundtrack.

The main similarity with "Camille" is the theme of "Redemption and Forgiveness" or the lack thereof with tragic results. Like Armand Duval in "Camille," the young man (portrayed by Anthony Franciosa) idealizes the exquisite young woman with whom he has fallen in love. To him, she is beautiful and innocent, and he wants a future with her. Then his father (Ernest Borgnine) reveals the ugly truth, that Giulietta is a high-priced call girl and that he and his middle-aged friends have been her clients.

The young man is confused, but he wants to forgive Giulietta for her past and help her make a new start by marrying her. They go away on holiday, but former clients (who are self righteous and who have an unforgiving attitude) come out of the woodwork and refuse to let Giulietta forget her past. As in Camille, the end is tragic, leaving the male characters to consider the parts (good or bad) they played in Giulietta's life.

Sick at home, I chose to watch this despite having no idea what this movie was about. Never heard of it before either.

First off, Bourgnine really got into the role of a domineering Greek immigrant architect. He spends quite a bit of time yelling at everyone. His scenes with Franciosa are very good and provided me with a reason to watch the whole thing. Lollobrigida is good but the scenes between her and Franciosa are gooey.

The plot is interesting as Lollobrigida's character is revealed to be a high-class hooker leading to Franciosa's character's very confused response and his confkict with his father who happens to be one of her clients. It could have been interesting but the movie opts for cheap moralizing at the end. I have seen the same ending in "bad girl tries to make good" movies from the 1930s.

The title is also a cheap attempt to get the male audience to think they might glimpse Lolabrigida nude at some point. Never comes close although there's a wild dissolve / montage that has an erupting champagne bottle superimposed over Lollobrigida face as she's clearly on her back. Hmmm.

You can skip it if it ever shows up again.

When you haven't seen a Gina Lollobrigida film in ten years her beauty really hits you in the face. She's also decked in glamorous, slinky gowns that show off her beautiful figure. Borgnine drives a gorgeous 1960 Chrysler New Yorker convertible in the film.

Those are the only good things I can say about this movie. It us absolutely pointless. It is also boring and annoying. Franciosa overacts, Borgnine just yells and Lollo acts like she's doing everyone a favor by just appearing in the film. Well, actually, she is.

You aren't given the time to care about the characters or get any insights into their motivations. Its just a lot of yelling.

It is hard to believe that this melodrama film was released three (3) years after the much more realistic and successful (1958) Cat On A hot Tin Roof. Over the top is an understatement. Gina Lollobrigida plays a hooker who falls in love with Anthony Franciosa who is an army veteran just returning to his hometown where his wealthy industrialist father Pete Stratton played by. Ernest Borgnine has laid out a lifelong plan for his war veteran son. Nick Stratton.

Nick obviously wants to find his own way in the world and his plan includes living life happily ever after with his hooker girlfriend,. Guilietta Cameron (Gina Lollobrigida). There's is a whirlwind romance filled with days living life to the fullest and evenings snuggled up in bed. Nick's fathers' attempts to break up his sons fruitless relationship with the hooker Guilietta cause turmoil not only between father and son but Pete Stratton's own relationship with his own wife and his only daughter also become strained.

The acting comes across more as a live stage performance with the cast giving their very best, but like many Broadway productions this MGM film production just didn't have much meat on the bone, as well as being dry and rather tasteless.

I give the film a bland 5 out of 10 IMDB rating.

The only thing I have against this film is that the character played by tony Franciosa is rather helpless for someone who has just spent several years in the army. I would have thought that he would have come out a better man, instead of this mousy character, but there you are.

I thought the scene at the top of the skyscraper being built, where Tony Franciosa walks along a girder as though it were a tightrope, to get some money from his father was an incredible piece of acting by Franciosa, Borgnine, and the actors playing the spidermen. To me that was the outstanding scene in the whole film.

The rest of the film is a watchable melodrama, although I don't think it will ever be regarded as one of the best films ever made.