Cronaca di un amore
Encyclopedia
Cronaca di un amore is a 1950 Italian black-and-white drama film
and the first full length feature film directed by Michelangelo Antonioni
. It stars Lucia Bosé
, then 19-year old Miss Italy 1947 and a flame of Antonioni of that time. Despite some neorealist background, the film was not fully compliant with the contemporary Italian neorealist
style both in its story and image, featuring upper-class characters portrayed by professional actors. Ferdinando Sarmi was, however, a fashion designer rather than a professional actor. In Cronaca di un amore, the camera pans the same street corner in Ferrara, the director's native city, that appears in Antonioni's Par-delà les nuages 45 years later.
industrialist and jealous husband, becomes interested in his young and beautiful wife's shady past and hires a detective. At the same time his wife, Paola Molon (Lucia Bosè
), native of Ferrara
, meets her former lover Guido (Massimo Girotti
), who tries to sell cars to Enrico, and partly due to the ongoing investigation reunites with him again in an attempt to cover a mysterious death of Giovanna, former fiancee of Guido and school friend of Paola, fallen into an open lift shaft in Ferrara many years before. As a result, they fall in love again. Paola urges Guido to kill Enrico, and her lover, armed with a gun, waits for Enrico's car on a roadside. However, approaching the ambush, Enrico gets in a deadly car accident. After all, Guido leaves Paola again and departs from Milan.
Drama film
A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...
and the first full length feature film directed by Michelangelo Antonioni
Michelangelo Antonioni
Michelangelo Antonioni, Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI was an Italian modernist film director, screenwriter, editor and short story writer.- Personal life :...
. It stars Lucia Bosé
Lucia Bosé
Lucia Bosè, born Lucia Borloni , is an Italian actress, who was at the height of her fame during the period of Italian Neorealism, the 1940s and 1950s. She is the mother of famous Spanish singer Miguel Bosé.-Life and career:...
, then 19-year old Miss Italy 1947 and a flame of Antonioni of that time. Despite some neorealist background, the film was not fully compliant with the contemporary Italian neorealist
Italian neorealism
Italian neorealism is a style of film characterized by stories set amongst the poor and working class, filmed on location, frequently using nonprofessional actors...
style both in its story and image, featuring upper-class characters portrayed by professional actors. Ferdinando Sarmi was, however, a fashion designer rather than a professional actor. In Cronaca di un amore, the camera pans the same street corner in Ferrara, the director's native city, that appears in Antonioni's Par-delà les nuages 45 years later.
Synopsis
The core of the story is apparently offered by the protagonists' feelings of guilt and responsibility for two ambiguous deaths. Enrico Fontana (Ferdinando Sarmi), wealthy MilanMilan
Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...
industrialist and jealous husband, becomes interested in his young and beautiful wife's shady past and hires a detective. At the same time his wife, Paola Molon (Lucia Bosè
Lucia Bosé
Lucia Bosè, born Lucia Borloni , is an Italian actress, who was at the height of her fame during the period of Italian Neorealism, the 1940s and 1950s. She is the mother of famous Spanish singer Miguel Bosé.-Life and career:...
), native of Ferrara
Ferrara
Ferrara is a city and comune in Emilia-Romagna, northern Italy, capital city of the Province of Ferrara. It is situated 50 km north-northeast of Bologna, on the Po di Volano, a branch channel of the main stream of the Po River, located 5 km north...
, meets her former lover Guido (Massimo Girotti
Massimo Girotti
Massimo Girotti was an Italian film actor whose career spanned seven decades.Born in Mogliano, in the province of Macerata, Girotti developed his athletic physique by swimming and polo...
), who tries to sell cars to Enrico, and partly due to the ongoing investigation reunites with him again in an attempt to cover a mysterious death of Giovanna, former fiancee of Guido and school friend of Paola, fallen into an open lift shaft in Ferrara many years before. As a result, they fall in love again. Paola urges Guido to kill Enrico, and her lover, armed with a gun, waits for Enrico's car on a roadside. However, approaching the ambush, Enrico gets in a deadly car accident. After all, Guido leaves Paola again and departs from Milan.
Cast
- Lucia BosèLucia BoséLucia Bosè, born Lucia Borloni , is an Italian actress, who was at the height of her fame during the period of Italian Neorealism, the 1940s and 1950s. She is the mother of famous Spanish singer Miguel Bosé.-Life and career:...
as Paola Molon - Massimo GirottiMassimo GirottiMassimo Girotti was an Italian film actor whose career spanned seven decades.Born in Mogliano, in the province of Macerata, Girotti developed his athletic physique by swimming and polo...
as Guido - Ferdinando Sarmi as Enrico Fontana
- Gino Rossi as detective Carloni
- Marika Rowsky as Joy (model)
- Rosi Mirafiore as barmaid
- Rubi D'Alma as a friend of Paola
- Anita Farra
- Carlo Gazzabini
- Nardo Rimediotti
- Renato Burrini
- Vittorio Manfrino
- Vittoria Mondello as Matilde
- Franco FabriziFranco FabriziFranco Fabrizi was an Italian actor.Son of a barber and a cinema cashier, he was a soap opera photo actor, for example, the fotoromanzo Arizona Kid, in the newspaper Avventuroso Film...
as fashion show presentator - Gino CerviGino CerviGino Cervi was an Italian actor of international fame.Cervi was born in Bologna. His father was the theatre critic Antonio Cervi.In 1928, he married Nini Gordini and they had a son, Tonino Cervi...
External links
- Venturi, Lauro (1951). Notes on Five Italian Films. Hollywood Quarterly 5.4, pp. 389–400
- Johnston, Ian (2006). “We're not happy and we never will be”. Bright Lights Film Journal 53.
- Antonioni, Michelangelo (1996). The Architecture of Vision: Writings and Interviews on Cinema. Ed. by M. Cottino-Jones, C. Di Carlo, G. Tinazzi. N.Y.: Marsilio. ISBN 1568860161