Two Women

Pretty good, but overly dramatic, and the sexism the film criticizes is ironically overshadowed by its apparent racism towards the end.

The story unfolds rather haphazardly and the attack sequences feel really dated, but there's still a lot to like, even if a lot of it is melodrama. It showcases some beautiful Italian landscape along with a fantastic performance by Sophia Loren. She really shows her true talent as an actress here.

Rather good, if a bit languid at first. I think Loren gives a terrific performance (though I did watch her butchered English dub, unfortunately), but I think Eleonora Brown does a great job, too. Towards the end of the film when a certain traumatic event occurs (spoiled right here in this Criticker summary), things get pretty ball-punchingly depressing -- if the rest of the film was as good, this would've been a masterpiece like Umberto D.

Sophia Loren is absolutley spectacular.

100 is not enough Sophia Loren is really good. But what really surprised me was how good was Eleonora Brown (interpreting the daughter). Considering she was only 12 when the movie was made. She interprets her part majestically.

Libra

Absorbing, depressing film about life for Italians during the Second World War; but also about the destructive effects of institutionalised patriarchy on women's lives.

I was fairly bored until about half way through, but at that point it turned into a pretty good movie. Ends up being smack dab in the middle.

83.50

Very dated, averagish war drama. Pass it if you are after the cast's better work.

So-so drama of a woman and her 12 year-old daughter in wartime Italy. Sophia Loren and Jean-Paul Belmondo are good, if slightly on the hammy side. The narrative is a bit loose, but the anecdotes were interesting enough. I was actually quite into it until near the end, where this racism comes out of nowhere. One could argue that it's not racist (or at least not intentionally so) but I didn't care for it at all. Still, I guess it's worth a watch, but not on the godawful Madacy DVD.

Loren fits well to her role as a protective but confused mother who tries to survive WWII bombings with her pre-teen daughter. Needed more substance, but the depictions of people on the Italian countryside during wartime is maybe a merit that excuses a less developed story.

It's a fine, handsome production that feels like the model for much of what became middlebrow foreign art cinema in the next two decades.

It is not the most realistic of Italian neorealist films, but there's a lot to like about it. Moravia's portrayal of the Italian periphery during WWII is interesting. The focus is on the protagonists - internal refugees from the city - and the peasantry, struggling to survive between the rock and the hard place of the warring German and American armies, both callous if not evil. In some parts, especially toward the end, the drama is a bit too concentrated, but the excellent acting helps.

Loren is incredible. The first 80 minutes or so of this are fine but nothing special, but the last 20 minutes really pack a punch and make the whole thing worthwhile.