A Difficult Life (Una vita difficile). 1961. Directed by Dino Risi.

(5/21/01)

This film, too, was shown without subtitles. I had no idea what it was all about, but it looked like a pretty interesting film. A lot went on in it. Alberto Sordi had a presence about him and it was a pleasure to see Lea Masari again. (I only know her from L'Avventura.)

One scene made an impression on me. Masari is Sordi's wife or ex-wife and she seems to have rejected him. She is out with some people and he follows her into an outdoor nightclub and makes a fool of himself. They leave and he follows them into the street. It is dawn and I think he attacks the car and it drives off leaving him alone on that deserted street with just the bouncer of the club looking at him. Something like that. I may have the details wrong, but it was an interesting scene.

At the end Sordi pushes a man who seems like a boss or a rich client into a swimming pool, thereby rejecting him and his money. That reminded me of Clark Gable pouring the water over Sydney Greenstreet's head in The Hucksters.