Human Voice (2014)

To me, this movie is perfection.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

Long time after the end of film, zou feel it as an experience. because it is more than an admirable film. but one touching in profound sense. the performance of Sophia Loren is magnificent. as lot of her career. Edoardo Ponti gives a lovelz gift to his mother and that is not a surprise . but the gift is normal. as recognition of an admirable work. for a spectacular short film using the presence, the voice, the skils of an unique actress and few details for atmosphere. Sophia Loren. and her Angela.

This was a real treat for me. I didn't previously realize, before watching Sophia Loren's interview about 'A Special Day' (both that interview and 'Human Voice' are extras on The Criterion Collection release for that film) that this was a beloved role and film that actresses, as they got older, wanted to perform. I also didn't know about this play, despite being a Jean Cocteau enthusiast. This is the first film I have seen directed by Ponti, the son of Loren and the famous producer, Carlo Ponti. His work here is top-notch, especially the cinematography, and I can't for the life of me believe that Loren is 79-80 years old when this was filmed. I don't know her secret Fountain of Youth, but I for one will definitely have what she's having, as we tend to say. I exquisitely hope this isn't the last we've seen of the legendary thespian, but it's definitely worthy of, as she said in the aforementioned interview, the third-best performance she feels she has ever made.

"La voce umana" or "The Human Voice" is a 25-minute Italian live action short film from last year. The director and writer is Swiss filmmaker Edoardo Ponti (husband to Sasha Alexander from NCIS) and he and Erri De Luca adapted a play by Jean Cocteau for this little movie. It is basically a one-woman show for Italian Academy Award winning actress Sophia Loren, in her 80s now. We follow her phone call to her significant other, in which he apparently is ending the relationship. We see and hear her suffer, we see and hear her be or pretend to be strong etc. I must say Loren was okay, but in terms of the story, I just wasn't impressed. Not even enough material for under 30 minutes in my opinion, which made this a fairly disappointing watch. if you still want to check it out, make sure you have subtitles unless you are fluent in Italian. But I don't recommend the watch.

This 30-minute film directed by Sophia Loren's son is an intimate look into an hour (and five years) of a woman's life. The film, from a Jean Cocteau story, was made with both Anna Magnani in 1948 and with Ingrid Bergman in 1966, so Loren has two tough acts to follow. She does so with an exquisite portrayal of a woman with barely- controlled despair as she talks on the phone with her lover who is marrying another woman the next day.The drama takes place in the woman's bedroom, where she talks with her lover in phone calls repeatedly interrupted or cut off and then begun again. The collapse of her world and the emptiness entering her life are sharply contrasted with the meal her maid is making in the next room, a traditional parmigiana that Loren and her lover had shared each week. Thrown out of the routine of her five-year love affair, Loren sinks into depression as the routine of the meal that will not be eaten continues in the background. It's a stunning little film, and at 79-years-old, Loren is totally convincing as a woman who is probably supposed to be much younger in the film. Just like other signature Loren film portrayals--notably in Marriage Italian Style and Two Women, it is very hard to take one's eyes off of her--not just because she was beautiful but because she is an actress who can say so much with inflection, a turn of her chin, the movement of her hand.