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Le visage du plaisir

Original title: The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone
  • 1961
  • Approved
  • 1h 43m
IMDb RATING
6.4/10
3.2K
YOUR RATING
Vivien Leigh and Warren Beatty in Le visage du plaisir (1961)
Official Trailer
Play trailer3:19
1 Video
99+ Photos
DramaRomance

An aging actress travels to Rome with her husband; after he suddenly dies during the flight, she begins a passionate affair with a young gigolo.An aging actress travels to Rome with her husband; after he suddenly dies during the flight, she begins a passionate affair with a young gigolo.An aging actress travels to Rome with her husband; after he suddenly dies during the flight, she begins a passionate affair with a young gigolo.

  • Director
    • José Quintero
  • Writers
    • Tennessee Williams
    • Gavin Lambert
    • Jan Read
  • Stars
    • Vivien Leigh
    • Warren Beatty
    • Coral Browne
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    6.4/10
    3.2K
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • José Quintero
    • Writers
      • Tennessee Williams
      • Gavin Lambert
      • Jan Read
    • Stars
      • Vivien Leigh
      • Warren Beatty
      • Coral Browne
    • 69User reviews
    • 25Critic reviews
  • See production info at IMDbPro
    • Nominated for 1 Oscar
      • 2 nominations total

    Videos1

    The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone
    Trailer 3:19
    The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone

    Photos107

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    Top cast28

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    Vivien Leigh
    Vivien Leigh
    • Karen Stone
    Warren Beatty
    Warren Beatty
    • Paolo di Leo
    Coral Browne
    Coral Browne
    • Meg
    Jill St. John
    Jill St. John
    • Barbara Bingham
    Jeremy Spenser
    Jeremy Spenser
    • Young man
    Stella Bonheur
    Stella Bonheur
    • Mrs. Jamison-Walker
    Josephine Brown
    Josephine Brown
    • Lucia
    Peter Dyneley
    Peter Dyneley
    • Lloyd Greener
    Carl Jaffe
    Carl Jaffe
    • Baron Waldheim
    • (as Carl Jaffé)
    Harold Kasket
    • Tailor
    Viola Keats
    Viola Keats
    • Julia McIlheny
    Cleo Laine
    Cleo Laine
    • Singer
    Bessie Love
    Bessie Love
    • Bunny
    Elspeth March
    Elspeth March
    • Mrs. Barrow
    Henry McCarty
    • Campbell Kennedy
    • (as Henry McCarthy)
    Warren Mitchell
    Warren Mitchell
    • Giorgio
    John Phillips
    John Phillips
    • Tom Stone
    Paul Stassino
    Paul Stassino
    • Stefano - The Barber
    • Director
      • José Quintero
    • Writers
      • Tennessee Williams
      • Gavin Lambert
      • Jan Read
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews69

    6.43.1K
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    Featured reviews

    alicecbr

    Vivien Leigh Echoing Her Life At The Time

    Read together the biographies of Tennessee Williams and Vivien Leigh, and you'll know why the depressing aspects of this movie are so realistic!! Vivien was, at the time the movie was made, going through her painful divorce from Laurence Olivier. In the middle of making the film, she had dinner with her beloved Olivier and Joan Plowright, at which time he told her that he was marrying Joan. Vivien had electro-shock treatments right after wrapping this movie. That desolate, soul-searing sadness in her eyes isn't acting!

    Tennessee Williams features gigolos, procurers and prostitutes in many of his plays and this was no exception, although the 'action' is disguised by the high-faluting manners of the Countessa (the madam, who lives off the earnings of her 'boys'). You wonder how much Tennessee may have fashioned the play on Miss Leigh's life, as 'Mrs. Stone' is an actress past her prime, whose husband has just absented himself from her life (and his, as well). Williams exquisitely portrays the way we use one another for our own advantage, and Beatty (with a crummy Italian accent) does a great job of 'playing' the self-involved, narcissistic, money hungry Lothario. Once he hooks her, he delights in sadistically attacking her for her 'weakness' in loving him. Ever been there? At that time in his life, Beatty was playing a similar but more innocent role with almost every woman in Hollywood. He has matured well.

    The writing was excellent, the scenery in Rome magnificent, but you will be so depressed after seeing this excellent movie that I suggest you also check out 'Bulworth' as a double feature to follow with. Beatty on two sides of his career is worth comparing: drama and comedy, villain and hero. I believe you'll have to say that Warren Beatty is an actor as well as a movie star.

    Even though Vivien Leigh did not care for Beatty's arrogance while making this movie, she was able to turn the horror of her personal life into something constructive (as did Tennessee Williams), for which we the public should always be grateful. To make art from the ashes of a marriage----destroyed by death or divorce----- is something each of us would do well to learn.

    For those of you with indomitable spirits, another Tennessee Williams film to see for comparison purposes is "Summer and Smoke". The interplay between the romantic leads is more equal, but both portray the sadness from Tennessee's sister Rose's life. She was a beautiful Southern flower, intimidated by her overbearing mother and alcoholic father, who wound up having a lobotomy (as did another sad victim /child of our nation's leading family). Tennessee paid homage to her tragic life in many of his plays, and these are no exception. Intelligent, beautiful but completely impotent at withstanding the aggression of those around her, Mrs. Stone is a prime example of a 'Rose by another name'.
    7AlsExGal

    The road to perdition

    When her wealthy, older husband dies, an aging actress (Vivien Leigh) decides to retire and move to Rome. For some strange reason, she finds herself at a loss. She seems to have no interests - no hobbies. She becomes "fixated" on having sex with young men.

    She is introduced to a "candidate" (Warren Beatty) by a procurer, Lotte Lenya. But Mrs. Stone (Vivien Leigh) is somewhat reluctant to begin a "liasion".

    Eventually, she succumbes to his obvious charms. But their relationship is skin-deep - she provides the money, he provides the sex. Meanwhile, a filthy street urchin (Jeremy Spenser) has been following her. He is hoping to capture her attentions. "What do you want?", she cries out.

    Eventually, Mrs. Stone loses her "boy-toy" - he becomes attracted to a much younger woman. And Mrs. Stone falls into the arms of the filthy street urchin. The film, which has many fine and memorable moments, is dominated - and weakened - by the parched performamce of Vivien Leigh, who seems to be struggling for air.

    When she falls into the arms of Jeremy Spenser, you just know that the end is not far off. The film is basically a hard-hitting testimony to the inescapable fact that love for sale is not an beneficial enterprise for anyone - the buyer or the seller

    Lotte Lenya's formidable, terrifying performance captures the forbidding soul of this movie.
    7planktonrules

    Rather depressing...but well done.

    In general, it seems that most big name actresses are loathe to admit that time has caught up with them. Too often, as they get older, the become vain about their age and often portray women MUCH younger than they really are. However, in the case of "The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone", Vivian Leigh does something rather brave--she plays a woman who is about 50 (just like Leigh was at the time) and who can no longer play these young woman parts. And I can really respect her for playing a character who hits close to home, so to speak.

    When the film begins, Karen Stone (Leigh) is starring in a play. The problem is that her character is just too young for this aging actress to play. Not surprisingly, the audience members think the same and instead of continuing, she decides to quit and take her husband to Italy. He's been ill and this is the perfect excuse to allow her to gracefully pull out of the play. However, on the flight to Rome, he has a heart attack and the credits begin. Soon you learn that he died on the flight and Karen is in this strange city...alone and grieving for her husband.

    Because Mrs. Stone is so vulnerable, a horrid old lady has been grooming her--grooming her to be taken by a handsome young gigolo, Paulo (Warren Beatty). Slowly, Paolo insinuates herself into Karen's life and after a while, they become lovers. However, some possible problems occur--Paolo MAY be falling for her for real and Karen soon learns that Paolo has taken advantage of other women and is planning on doing this to her as well. Oddly, however, the relationship continues--even though his prey knows what she's getting into with him.

    As I watched this movie, I kept wondering why they cast the characters like they did. Although Beatty did a good job as an Italian, why not just get a handsome young Italian actor?! Also, while Leigh was very good, why have her play an American actress--why not change the story to make her a Brit? I just cannot understand the producer's thinking in both these cases.

    So is the movie any good? Well, yes. But you also have to have a very high tolerance for seeing a woman in pain and not mind how unrelentingly grim the story is. This isn't surprising, since it's a story from Tennessee Williams.
    7littlemartinarocena

    Love Among The Ruins

    "In a few years, a cut throat would be a blessing" that's what Karen Stone (Vivien Leigh) tells Paolo (Warren Beatty)letting us know that she sees her life in an inexorable descend into the unspeakable. Old age is the ultimate punishment for the vain and the selfish. Tennessee Williams dissects that theory with an expert hand. The depression that Vivien Leigh (magnificent, once you get over the wig) carries with her at all times is so pungent and vivid that when you see her smile you may emit a sigh of relief. She's looking for her angel of death and Warren Beatty really looks the part. So Italian in his childishness if not his accent that you understand why Mrs. Stone will let herself fall into his obvious trap, wouldn't you? The pessimism and the sense of tragedy - the most personal and embarrassing kind - leads us by the hand through this gorgeous, gelid journey through a life about to fade in a place, rightly know as the eternal city. Vivien Leigh is sublime looking into her terrifying future. Warren Beatty seems to fit perfectly the reason to go against everything you believe in. Lotte Lenya is great fun to watch and a wonderful villain if I ever saw one. Coral Browne looks enormous next to Vivien Leigh and as a close friend, she reminded me of Mame's closest friend, Vera Charles, the one who would tell you all the ugly truths. I must confess, I enjoyed it but I couldn't shake off the melancholia for days and days.
    6sol-

    From Rome with Love

    Introduced to a handsome young man during a stay in Italy, an insecure widowed US actress fights back her knowledge that the gentleman is just a gigolo in this Tennessee Williams adaptation starring Vivien Leigh in her penultimate big screen performance. Suffering from real life marital problems at the time, Leigh provides a performance with an air of vulnerability that rings true, but even better is Lotte Lenya of 'From Russia with Love' fame, cast here as the conniving 'countess' who introduces Leigh to her young suitor. Rambling on about the virtues of love and companionship, Lenya seems like a benevolent force at first, but as the film progresses and we see just how hell-bent she is on gaining financially from her matchmaking, she eventually seems almost as sinister as her better known Bond villainess. Promising as all this might sound though, the film is let down by never really igniting romantic sparks between Leigh and Warren Beatty as the young gigolo. Leigh never seems less than delusional to believe that he really loves her and Beatty only ever seems opportunistic. Beatty's awkward performance does not help matters though. He certainly looks the part, but with a faltering Italian accent, he never feels real whenever he opens his mouth. The main sell point of the film though is surely the dark and deliciously ambiguous ending. One exits the film really feeling like Leigh has suffered a personal blow and the uncertainty of her eventual fate is pitch perfect as she herself is unsure what the future holds for her by the end of the movie.

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    Storyline

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    Did you know

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    • Trivia
      This was Tennessee Williams' personal favorite film adaptation of any of his works. Indeed, he claimed in his autobiography that it was the only one that he liked much at all. As the film was a critical failure, Williams's enthusiasm surprised many, but it may be simply because of his fondness for director Jose Quintero (whose only work for the cinema it was) and certain of the actors or because it was not hobbled by censorship issues.
    • Goofs
      The handkerchief Karen Stone takes out is different from the one picked up by the young man outside.
    • Quotes

      Karen Stone: You see... I don't leave my diamonds in the soap dish... and when the time comes when nobody desires me... for myself... I'd rather not be... desired... at all.

    • Crazy credits
      The Warner Brothers shield logo which normally introduces a Warner Brothers film appears at the end of this film instead of at the beginning.
    • Connections
      Featured in Vivien Leigh: Scarlett and Beyond (1990)
    • Soundtracks
      Love Is a Bore
      (uncredited)

      Music by Richard Addinsell

      Lyrics by Paddy Roberts

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    FAQ21

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    • What is 'The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone' about?
    • Is 'The Roman Spring of Mrs Stone' based on a book?
    • Why did the Contessa ask Karen for $1,000?

    Details

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    • Release date
      • August 15, 1962 (France)
    • Country of origin
      • United Kingdom
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • Primavera romana
    • Filming locations
      • Rome, Lazio, Italy
    • Production company
      • Louis De Rochemont Associates
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

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    • Gross worldwide
      • $7,736
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Tech specs

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    • Runtime
      1 hour 43 minutes
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.85 : 1

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