A Place for Lovers
| A Place for Lovers | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Vittorio De Sica |
| Produced by |
Arthur Cohn Herschell Gordon Lewis Carlo Ponti |
| Written by |
Brunello Rondi Julian Zimet Peter Baldwin Ennio De Concini Tonino Guerra Cesare Zavattini |
| Starring |
Faye Dunaway Marcello Mastroianni |
| Music by |
Manuel De Sica Lee Konitz |
| Cinematography | Pasqualino De Santis |
| Edited by | Adriana Novelli |
Production company |
Compagnia Cinematografica Champion Les Films Concordia |
| Distributed by | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 88 minutes[1] |
| Country |
Italy France |
| Language | Italian, English |
A Place for Lovers (Italian: Amanti, French: Le Temps des amants) is a 1968 French-Italian romantic drama film directed by Vittorio De Sica and based on the play Gli Amanti by Brunello Rondi and Renaldo Cabieri. The film stars Faye Dunaway as a terminally ill American fashion designer in Venice, Italy who has a whirlwind affair with a race car driver (played by Marcello Mastroianni).[2] It was released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
Plot summary
The rich fashion designer Julia is tired of living because she knows she is suffering from a malignant cancer. When the woman leaves for her last holiday in Cortina d'Ampezzo, she meets the young and vital Valerio. The two fall in love instantly, but Julia does not reveal her secret to Valerio. When Valerio finds out that she is sick and dying, he decides to pretend to know nothing, continuing his love affair with Julia to the end.
Cast
- Faye Dunaway as Julia
- Marcello Mastroianni as Valerion
- Caroline Mortimer as Maggie
- Karin Engh as Griselda
- Yvonne Gilbert as Marie
- Mirella Pamphili as Party guest
- Esmeralda Ruspoli as Attorney's wife
- Enrico Simonetti as Party entertainer
- David Archell
- Martha Buckman
Soundtrack
Ella Fitzgerald provides two songs, the title song and Lonely is ("What lonely is, is me!"). Both songs can be heard on the Verve release Jukebox Ella: The Complete Verve Singles, Vol. 1.
Reception
The film opened to generally negative reviews. Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times called it the "most godawful piece of pseudo-romantic slop I've ever seen!", and Charles Champlin of the Los Angeles Times referred to it as "the worst movie I have seen all year and possibly since 1926."[3] Mark Deming wrote in the New York Times that Dunaway and Mastroianni were romantically involved during the filming of Amanti but that little of their personal chemistry can be seen in the movie.[2] A Place for Lovers is widely considered to be one of the worst films of all time, and was listed in the 1978 book The Fifty Worst Films of All Time.
References
- ↑ "A PLACE FOR LOVERS (X)". British Board of Film Classification. 27 February 1969. Retrieved 30 November 2014.
- 1 2 New York Times/AllMovie Guide overview
- ↑ Medved, Harry. "The Fifty Worst Films of All Time." Fawcett Columbine, 1978.