Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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34 of 35 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A film that all women in a rut should see., 14 Jul 2004
By A Customer
I have now seen this film twice and have recently managed to find it on DVD. It is the most amazing film. Tender witty and compelling with a good mixture of comedy and saddness. It keeps the viewer spell bond from the beginning to the end. It is the story of a middle aged women who at the beginning of the film is on a family holiday with her husband two sons and other members of the family. Then after being left at a motorway cafe by mistake her adventures begin. The actors take you on this magical trip. It doesn't seem to matter that it is in Italian although it is subtitled. It is a must and I am very surprised that this film has never been on general release here.
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12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Charming and Delightful Escape to Venice, Italy, 13 Nov 2006
This delightful Italian comedy, shows how Rosalba, an Italian hosewife, taken for granted by her family, who has lived her whole life in Pescara, Italy ... takes a vacation from them all to visit Venice, Italy. There she begins a new life with a zany group of characters who become her friends. She finds pleasure in simple everday life activities. She takes joy in spontaneously responding to the new experiences this vacation has opened for her. She meets a waiter, who provides her with a room to stay in when her funds are low. She gets a job in a florist's shop, where the owner is an eccentric old gentleman who has the habit of discussing anarchy. She rekindles her musical talent after discovering an accordion ... Rosalba is accepted for who she is by her new cohorts. In this environment, Rosalba compares her old constrained stifling life with her recently discovered freedom. The question is, will Rosalba give up her freedom, now that she has experienced independence?
The film begins as a tour guide describes ancient Roman ruins and explains in lyrical verse how the Greeks and Italians intermarried and essentially began Western civilization, the group is provided a snack break. Rosalba is inadvertently left behind when she visits the ladies restroom where she accidentally drops her ring in the toilet. After fishing out the ring with a bit of difficulty, she steps out only to discover the tour bus driving off - without her. She telephones her husband Mimmo who berates her for getting lost. This reaction on his part, gives her the spontaneous impetus to take a vacation on her own from her former life. The viewer can sense the birth of this plan as Rosalba hitches a ride with two unusual characters ... The final destination of one of the drivers is Venice, on the spur of the moment, as Pescara, her home city is nearing, she decides to visit Venice, a place she has wanted to see but never been.
The crux of the comedy is built around how her macho husband, who owns a bathroom fixture business with his brother, attempts to track her down in Venice. Mimmo interviews a portly young man named Constantino for a job as a plumber, when he discovers his hobby is reading detective stories, he offers Constantino an opportunity to *become* a detective. Constantino's adventures in Venice are very funny. When he gets to Venice it is the busy tourist season and hotel rooms are scarce. A shady character offers him a hotel room which ends being a rinky dinky old houseboat ... To find Rosalba, he posts flyers with her photo in many strategic locations around Venice. After seeing one, Rosalba phones and meets with him but manages to escape ... Constantino follows her stealthfully to her apartment. Grazia, the masseuse, mistakes him for a client and he lies to gain access into the building. Grazia falls in love with him and Constantino reciprocates the feelings. There are immensely funny episodes and comedic events which play out as this couple works out their relationship. Rosalba does eventually return home to her family, filled with nostalgic memories about her independent vacation. Suddenly, The waiter with whom she shared many delightful moments in Venice visits her and declares his love ... Rosalba has a serious decison before her, to remain in her old life or take up the new independent one. The viewer will be pleased with her choice. Erika Borsos (pepper flower)
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Light and witty, but with a serious undertone, 31 Dec 2006
This is a wry, witty Italian comedy with a underlying radical message I don't think the Vatican would approve. Licia Malietta stars as Rosalba Barletta a woman not enamored with either her macho, inconsiderate husband Mimmo Barletta (Antonio Catania) or her life as a housewife. On a vacation she is accidentally left behind in Venice, and then on a whim decides to stay for awhile. She needs to breathe free from the domination of her husband who sees her only as an asset and doesn't love her. Indeed he has a mistress.
What she finds in Venice are new warm friends and a certain man, Fernando Girasoli (played with sly finesse by veteran Swiss-born actor Bruno Ganz), who speaks in poetic phrases but wants to hang himself. She also rediscovers a delight in life and the freedom to be herself and do what she wants to do, which includes playing the accordion and reading Mark Twain in bed. She finds a job in a flower shop, a small room, makes friends with the masseuse next door and feels alive for the first time in ages.
Her husband sends a plumber he is about to hire to play detective, find her and bring her back, resulting in some light comedic episodes enriched by off-beat characters.
Malietta is very winning in the part and certainly will serve as a heroine for frustrated housewives everywhere. Her desire is not for a fling or for physical thrills, rather her desire is to find herself as herself apart from her identification as wife and mother.
I have hinted above at her eventual choice, but you will have to see this warm-hearted romantic comedy for yourself to find out what she chooses and why.
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