The Greatest Love
1952
Directed by Roberto Rosellini
The version I watched played out like a bad (but hilarious) game of telephone. I have no idea why early fifties movies are so hard to find but for some reason I having to watch most of them on YouTube. Anyway, the version I got was, of course, in Italian with Spanish subtitles. I got Google to translate the subtitles to English. After going through three different languages, the words got a little, shall we say, jumbled. "World cheerful curve cuban one hour before" has to be one of the greatest lines in cinematic history.
All right, so here's what I think happened. Ingrid Bergman's son dies and then other shit happens. I think she becomes somewhat of a martyr or something? No one understands her? Some sort of allegory to Christ?
All right, so I really didn't get it. I gathered it was like Ikiru but worst. Bergman, though, is a great actress; I don't care what she is doing I just want to watch her do it. I just want to know what the title means. It sounds like a space shuttle. I am very confused.
RATING:**---
Interesting Facts:
No trivia on IMDb. Maybe no one understand it.
I think you missed out! I saw a dubbed English version. I wish I could have found the Italian with subtitles. Not my favorite movie, but there were some interesting discussions that I think are worth hearing, and I'm sure you didn't get them.
ReplyDeleteI too had great difficulty getting hold of this.. I accidently bought an Italian only DVD, before eventually trackig down a dodgt copy , imported fro the USA with subs..
ReplyDeleteI also think you do need to give it another try...
Although I will admit, as I try and remember it, I'm noy sure how much I'm confusuing it with bits fro 'My trip to Italy'...
Okay, I will give this one another shot! Thanks guys!
ReplyDeleteWatching this, it occurred to me that quite a few of the characters Ingrid Bergman plays in movies should probably be committed to asylums, so maybe it was about time.
ReplyDeleteI'm uncertain about this. The meaning of the film seems to be "Oh what a terrible world we live in, aren't people awful, if someone tried to be good then everyone would assume they must be mad", which seems like a bit of a clumsy philosophy to me. Or at least one normally associated with young people angry at a world they don't understand. Or were there other layers to this that I'm just not getting hold of properly?
Well I think it is clear from my review that I am not an authority on this one. But I loled at the Bergman line-you're absolutely right.
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