Marcello Mastroianni was the male face of Italian cinema in the early ‘60s. He had a debonair flair and a sophisticated Eurocool that projected across the screen. He became a cult sensation as the journalist that loses his way in Fellini’s La Dolce Vita in 1960.
While over the decades Mastroianni has been linked to Fellini, he worked with other Italian directors. During the same time he became an icon in La Dolce Vita, Mastroianni appeared in Adua and her Friends (Adua e le Compagne). However he wasn’t the major star of this drama. This was a woman’s movie led by Oscar winner Simone Signoret (Room at the Top).
The movie starts on a sad day when the Merlin Law shut down all the legal brothels in Italy. Many of the prostitutes took this government action as a way to go into business as independent streetwalkers. Signoret and three others want to change their career paths. They pull together their savings to get a country estate. Their dream is to turn it into a restaurant. The dream turns out to be rather hard since the local officials aren’t ready to license them. Their past has caught up with them. They end up making a deal with a connected scumball who can get them their paperwork. He has big plans for the establishment. He wants dining downstairs and hooker fun upstairs. Are the girls willing to resort to their old ways to make the new venture work?
Mastroianni plays a local hustler who hangs out with the ladies. He becomes attached to Adua (Signoret). But can he really marry her? Director Antonio Petrangeli came from the Italian neorealist movement. This film does keep things real with plenty of location work instead of studio magic. The film isn’t escapist fun. There’s plenty of struggle as the former prostitutes attempt to work in a vertical position. Each of the women is working through their own relationship issues, but it all comes back to their common future dreams. Viewers might have seen the film under it’s original American title: Love a la Carte. The version on the DVD is the complete 125 minute Italian cut and not the 106 minute edit that played American cinemas in the wake of La Dolce Vita.
The video is 1.66:1 anamorphic. There’s black bars on the right and left sides of the screen. The transfer brings out the richness of shooting Italy in black and white. The audio is the original Italian soundtrack mixed to Dolby Digital Mono 2.0. The levels are fine. The subtitles are in English.
Turning to extras, we begin with an Introduction by Maurizio Porro (6:56), subtitled in English. Porro points out how in the midst of the Italian cinema boom, Antonio Pietrangeli wasn’t considered a great director, but his reputation has grown over the years. He sets up the history of closing the brothels. He doesn’t spoil the film.
Short Film: Girandola 1910 (10:30) is Pietrangeli’s segment from Amori di Mezzo Secolo. A middle aged guy needs to get his energy back for his wife and mistress. It’s kinda like a segment of Love American Style.
Photo Gallery (1:44) is a montage of production and promotional stills.
Director Biography is a text essay that explains how he worked his way up through Italian cinema before getting to direct. He died in a car wreck at age 49.
Director Filmography lists Pietrangeli’s films. His career as a director only lasted 16 years.
Adua and Her Friends gives the right about of drama for four women going through a career transition. They quickly discover that going straight in the countryside isn’t any easier as their lives in the city brothel. There’s enough masculinity from Marcello Mastroianni to keep it from becoming all about the ladies. People who enjoy Italian cinema should enjoy this entry from the post-neorealism period.
Adua and Her Friends is definitely worth watching by fans of Mastroianni.
Raro Video presents Adua and Her Friends. Directed by: Antonio Pietrangeli. Starring: Marcello Mastroianni, Sandra Milo, Simone Signoret and Emmanuelle Riva. Written by: Antonio Pietrangeli, Ruggero Maccari, Tullio Pinelli and Ettore Scola. Running time: 125 minutes. Rating: Unrated. Released on DVD: May 31, 2011. Available at Amazon.com.
