Two Women (1960) - Video On Demand

Two Women - Movie Review

Two Women (Original title La Ciociara, literally translated as The Woman from Ciociaria) is a 1960 Academy Award-winning Italian language film which tells the story of a woman trying to protect her teenaged daughter from the horrors of war. The film stars Sophia Loren, Jean-Paul Belmondo, Eleonora Brown, Carlo Ninchi and Andrea Checchi and was directed by Vittorio De Sica.

43 years after its release, "Two women (La ciociara)" is still the most hotly debated project in Vittorio De Sica's entire filmography. Adapted from the novel of the same name by Alberto Moravia (one of the most acclaimed of post-war Italy), the film gives a charged portrait of the Italy of the common people in the nine months of German occupation in 1943, when advancing liberal new values were set against a cultural landscape left broken and numbed by war, unprepared for such sudden changes to its social make-up.

Narrowing the focus from the wider picture, the story tells of the dramatic flight of Cesira (Sophia Loren), a peasant woman who moves to Rome after marrying but is forced to flee from the capital as the war advances. Fearful for the safety of her daughter, Rosetta, just thirteen years old, the woman decides to seek refuge in the homes of relatives who live in the Ciociaria mountains, where she receives a warm welcome. During their journey and in the village, the mother does everything to protect Rosetta.

Life is carefree far from the front, as they are virtually cut off from the conflict that is tearing the country apart. In this close-knit community, the lovely Cesira attracts the attention of Michele (Jean Paul Belmondo), a young intellectual who supports the partisan movement and who, falling in love with Cesira, tries to persuade her to embrace the idea of a new world illuminated by a greater sense of justice and a clash of generations develops, the outcome uncertain, and Cesira glimpses a future that she is unable to fully comprehend.

The enchantment of those days comes to an abrupt end when a company of German soldiers, fleeing from the allies, takes Michele prisoner with the intention of making him guide them through the paths that cross the mountains. He is never to be seen again.

The euphoria arising from the arrival of the allied forces urges those living in exile, including Cesira and Rosetta, to return to their own homes. But the liberation army brings unexpected tragedy. During the journey, the two women become victims of a traumatic event destined to ruin their their mother-daughter relationship and their very lives irreversibly.

Two Women - Cast & Crew

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