© DR - Sophia Loren LA CIOCIARA de V.de Sica (1960)

Two Women (Italian: La ciociara, roughly translated as "[The Woman] from Ciociaria") is a 1960 Italian film directed by Vittorio De Sica. It tells the story of a woman trying to protect her young daughter from the horrors of war. The film stars Sophia Loren, Jean-Paul Belmondo, Eleonora Brown, Carlo Ninchi and Andrea Checchi. The film was adapted by De Sica and Cesare Zavattini from the novel of the same name written by Alberto Moravia.

Synopsis

The story centers on Cesira (Loren), a widowed Roman shopkeeper, and Rosetta (Brown), her devoutly religious twelve-year-old daughter, during World War II. To escape the Allied bombing of Rome, Cesira and her daughter flee southern Lazio for her native Ciociaria, a rural, mountainous province of central Italy.

After they arrive at Ciociaria, Cesira attracts the attention of a young local intellectual with communist sympathies named Michele (Jean-Paul Belmondo). However, Michele is eventually taken prisoner by a company of German soldiers, who hope to use him as a guide to the mountainous terrain. Later, Cesira and Rosetta learn that he has been shot and killed by the same soldiers who took him hostage.

After the Italian liberation, mother and daughter decide to go back to Rome. After experiencing mild harassment and propositioning throughout their journey, they fall subject to an unexpected tragedy. As they rest in a bombed-out church, they are captured and gang raped by Goumiers (Moroccan allied soldiers) serving in the Free French forces under Alphonse Juin. Rosetta is particularly traumatized and has conflicting feelings for her mother. Eventually the two succeed in re-establishing the bond that linked them.

Cast

Sophia Loren - Cesira
Jean-Paul Belmondo - Michele Di Libero, a young communist
Eleonora Brown - Rosetta
Carlo Ninchi - Filippo, Michele's father
Raf Vallone - Giovanni
Andrea Checchi - A fascist
Pupella Maggio - A peasant
Emma Baron - Maria
Bruna Cealti - A refugee
Antonella Della Porta - A crazy mother
Mario Frera
Franco Balducci - A German in the haystack
Luciana Cortellesi
Curt Lowens
Tony Calio
Remo Galavotti
[edit]Awards

The film won the Academy Award for Best Actress for Sophia Loren, due largely to heavy promotion by its North American distributor, Joseph E. Levine. This was the first time an acting Oscar had been given for a non-English-speaking performance. Loren also won the award for Best Actress at the 1961 Cannes Film Festival Loren won 22 international awards for Two Women.

Remakes
La Ciociara was remade for television in 1988. It was adapted by Diana Gould, Lidia Ravera, Dino Risi and Bernardino Zapponi. It was directed by Risi and starred Loren, Robert Loggia, Leonardo Ferrantini, Dario Ghirardi and Sydney Penny.

A little too elegant for the rôle...Perhaps a shooting picture ?