Lady Caliph (1970)

Touches You

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

It's hard to put my thoughts into words about this film. I write about movies a lot, but this one stumps me in a way because it is such a punch in the gut. There is a beautiful, romantic, tragic sadness about it, a melancholia falling somewhere in tone between the trenchant, pessimistic sexual/political works of Mauro Bolognini and Francesco Maselli, the sharp mix of realism and dark satire of Elio Petri and Dino Risi, and the magical realism of Fellini. Romy Schneider is perfect in the role of a larger-than-life woman - a living legend - a crusading widow of a slain labor leader with nothing left to lose. Ugo Tognazzi is the bullheaded owner of the factory where she works. There is a general strike not just at his factory but at all the affiliated factories in a consortium of bosses/businessmen who care only about the bottom line and nothing about the welfare or safety of their workers. The two characters, activist Schneider and boss (and former worker) Tognazzi begin the story hating each other, gradually form a grudging respect for each other and finally have a meeting of the minds that forms an alliance that will break the labor dispute impasse. But the other factory bosses are unhappy with Tognazzi's reforms, and soon an ominous shadow of doom forms around Tognazzi, isolating him and pointing to possible tragic climax. Ennio Morricone supplies one of his most beautiful scores. The composer was obviously moved by the film and performances, and it shows up in his simpatico, subtle underlining of the romantic, melancholic mood. Elegiac and memorable.

The precedent user was right:the score by Ennio Morricone -who remains one of the greatest of all- is tuneful ,splendid,perfect.It's when you deal with the movie that things go wrong..First of all,Romy Schneider -an actress I like very much though- is miscast as an Italian woman.In her diary published in the late eighties the actress wrote:"the filming had only begun when I had to strip naked for a love scene (...)I was interested in playing a very different character(...)Bevilacqua,the scriptwriter had not the slightest idea of what a movie was .We were completely lost,all of us ,even Ugo Tognazzi." The main problem,IMHO,is that the film would like to be realistic -a depiction of the factories strikes in Italy- and it has also intellectual pretensions.Sometimes it makes me think of Pasolini's "teorema"(1968),Romy Schneider's "Califfa" replacing the Terence Stamp's angel.The scenes between Tognazzi and Schneider seem unreal.It is a dated movie ,it captures the end of the sixties zeitgeist,all content and no form. But once again,the score is worth the price of admission.

Just wanted to say that this film has an amazing music soundtrack by Ennio Morricone. Some of the most beautiful music he has written (out of some 400 plus soundtracks) and the film is probably work seeking out for this reason alone!