CinemAperitivo: La visita [The Visit], [OmeU], Italien 1963, R: Antonio Pietrangeli mit Sandra Milo, François Périer, Mario Adorf, 110 Min, Im Anschluss Aperitivo und Gespräch

by Antonio Pietrangeli - the director who loved women
An absolute masterpiece!
il regista che amava le donne - Un capolavoro assoluto!

Based on a short story by Carlo Cassola, the film follows the meeting between Pina, a 36-year-old clerk at the agrarian consortium in a town on the banks of the Po, and Adolfo, a 40-year-old clerk in a bookshop in Rome. It is their first date. The two, having met by correspondence thanks to an advertisement published by Pina in a magazine, are finally about to meet because Adolfo is determined to visit her in Ferrara.

Here, instead, we find the late Sandra Milo, who before being an exceptional muse, friend and lover of Federico Fellini between 8½ and Giulietta degli spiriti, was Pietrangeli's inspiration and enthralling stage agent. She debuted in his films in fact. Lo scapolo, in 1955, with an extraordinary Alberto Sordi. A partnership that continued in the 1960s with that gem Adua e le compagne, the forgotten (and crazy) fantasy-comedy Fantasmi a Roma and finally La visita where he gave his most measured, dramatic and colourful performance. A bitter comedy, with a bittersweet flavour, about the meeting of two solitudes: Pina (Milo) and Adolfo (François Perier). Two individuals characteristically at polar opposites. She is sunny, sweet, loving and hopeful, in touch with nature and animals.

He, on the other hand, is cynical, violent, intrusive, manipulative, calculating and passive-aggressive. Two opposites, Pina and Adolfo, who attract each other, scrutinise each other, get to know each other and finally reject each other in a (long) day of getting to know each other that sees the hopeful joys of first encounters - and thus the expectations and surprises - gradually give way to disillusionment, the coldness - if not even embarrassment - of a couple ill-assorted from the very first moment they experience together.

ITA

Qui invece troviamo la compianta Sandra Milo, che prima che musa eccezionale, amica e amante di Federico Fellini tra 8½ e Giulietta degli spiriti, di Pietrangeli fu ispirazione e agente scenico trascinante. Esordì in suo film infatti. Lo scapolo, del 1955, con un Alberto Sordi straordinario. Un sodalizio proseguito poi negli anni Sessanta con quella gemma di Adua e le compagne, la dimenticata (e folle) fanta-commedia Fantasmi a Roma e infine proprio La visita dove regala la sua performance più misurata, drammatica e vivace, colorata. Una commedia amara, al sapore agrodolce, sull’incontro di due solitudini: Pina (Milo) e Adolfo (François Perier). Due individui caratterialmente agli antipodi. Lei solare, dolce, amorevole e speranzosa, in contatto con la natura e gli animali.

Lui, invece, cinico, violento, intrusivo, manipolatorio, calcolatore e passivo-aggressivo. Due opposti, Pina e Adolfo, che si attraggono, si scrutano, si conoscono e infine si respingono in una (lunga) giornata di conoscenza che vede le gioie speranzose dei primi incontri – e quindi le attese e le sorprese – lasciare gradualmente posto alla disillusione, il freddo – se non perfino all’imbarazzo – di una coppia male assortita sin dal primo momento vissuto assieme.

(https://hotcorn.com)

Pina ist 36 Jahre alt. Sie lebt allein mit ihren Tieren in einem Haus in der Poebene. Aus dem fernen Rom reist ein Mann namens Adolfo an, den sie durch ein Inserat kennengelernt hat. Könnte er ein geeigneter Ehekandidat sein? Adolfo ist der prägnanteste von vielen unbeholfenen Männern in Werk von Pietrangeli. Pina hingegen ist eine große, reiche Frauenfigur: Sie ist verwurzelt in einer italienischen Landschaft, die mit vielen fein beobachteten Details lebendig wird. LA VISITA ist der am tiefsten empfundene Film von Pietrangeli, ein „woman’s picture“ von Weltrang.

Engl.

Pina is 36 years old. She lives alone with her animals in a house in the Po Valley. A man called Adolfo, whom she met through an advert, arrives from faraway Rome. Could he be a suitable marriage candidate? Adolfo is the most succinct of the many awkward men in Pietrangeli's work. Pina, on the other hand, is a great, rich female character: she is rooted in an Italian landscape that comes alive with many finely observed details. LA VISITA is Pietrangeli's most deeply felt film, a world-class "woman's picture".