The Girlfriends (1955) User Reviews

That old ennui

[MOscarbradley · 8/10 · 6 August 2016]

Viewed today Michaelangelo Antonioni's "Le Amiche" feels like a dry-run for his great trilogy of alienation that began with "LAvventura". This movie isn't in the same class but it is still very fine. It's like Cukor's "The Women" minus the laughs as lonely, pragmatic Clelia, (an excellent Eleonora Rossi Drago), returns to her native Turin and falls in with a group of rich, bored and, in one case, suicidal women and equally bored and cynical men, the one exception being Carlo, (Ettore Manni), with whom she starts some kind of relationship.

If it's not quite as densely plotted as "L'Avventura" and if there are no set-pieces to equal those that were to come later in Antonioni's work it nevertheless displays a very cool intelligence that never panders to the clichés of this kind of female orientated picture; there are no hints of lesbianism and the friendships are fickle at best. Even as early as 1955 Antonioni was hooked on that old ennui. Not one of his masterpieces, perhaps, but an essential part of the Antonioni canon all the same.

One of my Italian favorites! The movie I heartily recommend!

[marcin_kukuczka · 8/10 · 15 August 2006]

Clelia (Eleonora Rossi Drago), an elegant lady from Rome, comes to her hometown Turin in order to check if the works would fit the dates in the house where she is going to establish her new fashion salon. When she stays at a hotel, a terrible event takes place in the opposite room 112...a young woman, Rosetta Savone (Madeleine Fischer), has attempted to commit suicide... Why? The answer lies in the complicated relations of a group of women whom Rosetta has known for long and whom Clelia joins as a friend. Although the action starts in "media res" and the events constitute about 7 days, the characters from this movie are unforgettable as well as its content filled with wonderful thoughts about significant aspects of life and happiness. Therefore, although Michelangelo Antonioni is famous worldwide not thanks to this movie, I consider LE AMICHE one of his very best cinema works. Let me discuss some of the film's strongest points in more details.

The film can boast a particularly rich character development. The girlfriends (title "amiche") are mostly women from leisure social classes who spend their lives on unimportant cases, particularly clothes, parties, and Sunday afternoon trips to the seaside. Momina De Stefani (Yvonne Furneaux) is the oldest of them but at the same time the most selfish. She treats life as a game to play limiting it to perfumes, beauty creams and clothes. It is her that bores Rosetta most by her cynical behavior. Mariella (Anna Maria Pancani), a woman that today men would describe "a dolly", represents this vanity most. She thinks the woman's dress is skin and is ready to do anything to look beautiful. In between comes Nene (Valentina Cortese) who is rather torn psychologically between her interests and the reality she lives in (marriage). Rosetta is tired of living with them and looks for a true and stable happiness with a man she cannot marry... Throughout the film, a viewer can feel what characters feel since great focus is put on emotions. However, it would be a limited view to say that only female characters are developed. There are also men who step in with their different world-views. The emphasis is put on Lorenzo (Gabrielle Ferzetti), Nene's husband, an artist painter whose career and family life are exposed to crisis. He cannot stand the vanity of the women but at the same time is torn between his desire for career and the marriage he lives in. Finally, Cesare (Franco Fabrizi), an architect, man from high society represents rather an arrogant person but in the end, someone who does not treat problems as seriously as Lorenzo. In this way, LE AMICHE is not only a story of women but, foremost, an interesting insight into male-female relations, their different world-views, different feelings. Consider Rosetta-Lorenzo conversation and the two different ways they see love...

Besides, Antonioni's movie is a treasure of psychological thoughts and treatment of significant issues of life. Here, a mention must be made of Nene-Lorenzo's marriage and the aspect of forgiveness. "A childless couple can stay together only for love" says Nene to Rosetta in their conversation that is a masterpiece of acting and script by Suso Cecchi d'Amico. Yet, forgiveness cures everything... Apart from that, the words that a salon's lady says to Clelia are also worth consideration: "Happiness means no reflecting upon if I am happy or not but simply living my life." I also loved the moment when Rosetta travels by train with Clelia and they talk about the need of friends, the gist of being happy and the best possible way to live life. How intellectually these problems are treated! Magnificent! And all this embedded in the interesting gentle tunes by Mario Fusco.

The cast give such fine performances that viewers have a chance to get to know the characters much better than in many other films. Yvonne Furneaux is exceptionally memorable as cynical and calm nerved Momina whose sole aim of life is the good appearance and who plays with others' feelings. Eleonora Rossi Drago is very sensible as Clelia expressing her elegance and positive character of a woman who finds happiness in her satisfying work. Madeleine Fischer is wonderful as Rosetta Savone, a desperate person who cannot live a happy life. Finally, Valentina Cortese is unforgettable as Nene, probably the fairest of them all ready to sacrifice everything and forgive everything.

LE AMICHE shows the life from its objective perspective and therefore it is a movie absolutely worth attention for anybody. LE AMICHE is filled with profound thoughts even if its content seems to be filled with vanity and therefore, it is Antonioni's psychological masterpiece. LE AMICHE is an empathy with those in despair and therefore, it is not dated though more than 50 years old. Finally, LE AMICHE is characterized by great performances and therefore, it is a pearl among Italian films. Pity that there are so few comments on the site. 8/10!

Relationship, Friendship and Love

[claudio_carvalho · 8/10 · 20 September 2008]

While in Turin for the opening and managing of a branch of a fashion salon from Roma, the elegant Clelia (Eleonora Rossi Drago) finds the young Rosetta Savone (Madeleine Fischer) near death on the next room of her hotel after taking an overdose of sleeping pills trying to commit suicide. Clelia, who is alone in her hometown Turin, befriends Rosetta and her wealthy friends Momina De Stefani (Yvonne Furneaux), who is separated from her husband and easily replaces lovers; Nene (Valentina Cortese), a talented artist in ascension in her career married to the frustrated painter Lorenzo (Gabriele Ferzetti) that envies the success of his wife; and the futile Mariella (Anna Maria Pancani). Meanwhile, Clelia feels attracted by Carlo (Ettore Manni), the assistant of the salon's architect Cesare Pedoni (Franco Fabrizi), but he belongs to the working class living in a different social reality. When Momina and Clelia discover that the reason why Rosetta tried to commit suicide is because she felt in love for Lorenzo, the cynical Momina encourages Rosetta to stay with Lorenzo with tragic consequences.

Michelangelo Antoniani is the filmmaker of the troubled relationships and conflictive emotions and "Le Amiche" is a story about friendship and love disclosing female characters from the upper class that spend most of their times together with their empty and shallow lives. Rosetta is a needy and naive rich girl that falls in love for a painter that painted her portrait and attempts for commit suicide for the non-corresponded love. Momina is selfish, cynical and materialist that does not attach to any man and does not respect her friends. Nene is an insecure woman that sacrifices her promising career to stay with her unfaithful husband in crisis, forgiving him in the end. Mariella is simply a futile woman. Clelia is the opposite, a strong woman that came from the working class and has had a social ascension due to her work. Eleonora Rossi Drago, Madeleine Fischer, Yvonne Furneaux and Valentina Cortese give magnificent performances in the development of these rich characters, supported by great dialogs and wonderful cinematography in black and white. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazi): Not Available

Early, and different Antonioni

[runamokprods · 7/10 · 30 January 2011]

Lighter (at times), more emotionally complex, yet symbolically simpler than later films by Antonioni. This reminded me more of Fellini, Woody Allen, and (in the lighter, early moments) even Almodovar.

It goes without saying that the film is great looking (could Antonioni frame a bad shot?). And it has lots of plot, surprising from a filmmaker who soon after ran from traditional plot and story. Lovers change hands, lives rise and fall among five female friends (artists, clothing designers, etc).

This is labeled a masterpiece by some, but to me it felt a bit too soapy, and some of the characters and performances a bit one note or on-the-nose to raise it to quite that level. I was never bored, and the images were thrilling, but I didn't find myself caring deeply on a conventional level, nor drawn in on a more intellectual, poetic level as the later Antonioni films do. But all that said, I'm still glad I saw it.

A Nutshell Review: Le Amiche

[DICK STEEL · 10/10 · 28 June 2008]

Lorenzo Codelli introduced this film as the only real literary adaptation by Michelangelo Antonioni, based on a short novel written by Cesare Pavese, whose short life but impressive career had a largely influential impact on Antonioni's works. It's a film about women (the literal translation of the title of the story "Tra Donne Sole" means "Between Women Only"), in today's context known as the career girls, and it's also interesting to note that the co-writers of the screenplay were both female, each on opposite ends of the literary spectrum, one a "low-brow" pulp novelist, the other a "high-brow" writer.

And I guess this pairing provided a very complete and enjoyable story which in today's contemporary context would classify if as a chick flick, only that this had plenty of intelligence and a lot of heart, and doesn't come across as a dumbed down condescending story with many cardboard characters thrown in just because. Opening with a sprightly tune, and set in Turn, La Amiche has plenty of insights into the female psyche, and I am quite surprised that it had stood the test of time (more than 50 years!) to be as relevant today just as it was back in the mid-50s.

The story follows Clelia (Eleonara Rossi Drago) from Rome, sent to Turin to supervise the setting up of a fashion boutique branch, and in her temporary stay at the city, befriends a group of high-society and debatable successful ladies through the attempted suicide of one of their clique members Rosetta (Madeleine Fischer), who was found in her adjoining hotel room. From there we examine all their love lives, their work attitudes, their relationships with one another, the entire spectrum which while presenting themselves as little gossipy episodes that women might be prone to (I'm readying myself to be pelted with rotten tomatoes with that statement), it always felt that each individual piece was a perfect contribution to the entirety of the movie, with nary a wasted scene, nor unnecessary subplots provided just to bloat the story.

Antonioni has proved his deftness at handling an ensemble of characters (much unlike his earlier movies, or his famed Trilogy where only a handful of characters get explored) like the de-facto leader of the group Momina De Stefani (Yvonne Fumeaux) whose rich husband being always away on business provides her with an avenue for affairs and the need for constant emotional connection, or what I thought was the more interesting of the lot, was between successful ceramics artist Nene (Valentina Cortese) and her less successful painter fiancé Lorenzo (Gabriele Ferzetti), who becomes romantically linked to Rosetta after painting her portrait, or rather, it was Rosetta who throws herself at him. Completing the group is Mariella (Anna Maria Pancani), a flighty flirty woman with a devil-may-care attitude.

For some reason I was concentrating on the Lorenzo-Nene-Rosetta story, because it was quite compelling to see how it played out and developed, having one of them throw the first salvo at attempted suicide. It also provided a platform to examine how relationships can be strained possibly through emotions like jealousy and one being envious of the other's success, and maybe taking it out on the person through other means, such as the breaking of hearts. Again like Story of a Love Affair (I have no idea why I keep going back to this) it was a similar situation presented, though more explicitly presented rather than leaving it to second guesses. The confrontational scene between Nene and Rosetta was the best in the movie in my opinion, and one of the best I have seen in movies where rival lovers have to confront each other on the truth of the situation, and you can hear the unbelievable groans of an audience upon its resolution, which was quite pathetic and awkwardly delivered, by today's standards. Which is what was intriguing, as it highlighted the perceived role of a woman back then, that the career first mindset was still a novelty, and standing behind your man was possibly the only acceptable societal norm.

And it is this forward-thinking presentation and exploration of modern day themes even by today's standards, that make La Amiche a winner, being still relevant and all. Having 5 girls presented allowed for some comparisons over how some choose love over career despite expected setbacks which come part and parcel with it, and how some choose career over love, where one can excel in without the distractions of disappointment from the heart. Included as well is work ethics, when one doesn't have money as a prime motivator, one would wonder how the other non-tangible benefits would appeal to workers who have to turn up at work everyday, versus coming and going as they please, which I have experienced for myself (as on the receiving end of having to manage the non-attendance of others).

Other moments in the film that were equally enjoyable, include the fashion runway type shows in the old days, without the runway of course, where models have to present the clothes up close and personal in a closed door, intimate setting within the fashion boutique. And what was probably a precursor to the beach scene in L'Avventura get played out here, though it was a location for the rich folks to just stand around and flirt, with no real plan for a weekend getaway. It's still amazing how this particular little setting seem to squeeze so much into it, providing a catalyst for future incidents to burst out from.

Le Amiche will go down in my books as a story starring women, about women and for women that is still highly relevant in today's society. It has withstood the test of time perfectly, and its exploration of women, their relationships, their attitudes that differ depending on either their single or married status, is an amalgamation of keen observations that make this an enjoyable a must-watch, peppered with good punctuations of humour throughout.

a neorealism lodestone that luminously throws light on the changing mores of womanhood.

[lasttimeisaw · 7/10 · 20 April 2020]

"Rosetta's defeatist dysphoria does not bid well for her declaration of love to Lorenzo, but it is Nene's philosophical consideration is more empathetic and precious for a woman doesn't luxuriate in spite or vengeance for losing her man to her friend, only that judicious impression is smashed to smithereens in the next chapter, when Lorenzo, in the wake of a tragedy he should at least partially answer for, begs for forgiveness, Nene relents and takes this feckless man back, even if it means she has to sacrifice her budding career to allay a man's bruised ego, a backward-looking woman who prioritizes her man over everything else, surely will do that, and be capable of sweeping his demerits under the rug, but through Cortese's pathos-driven affection and resignation, Nene comes off more than that, she is a composite of contradictions, that is quite a defining character to pin down, in both men and women alike. Ferzetti's Lorenzo, on the other hand, is a ball of frustration, anxiety and ill temper, it is not at all palatable to see him get away with his self-involved narcissism and cruelty."

before Antonioni was huge, he was... delicate

[Quinoa1984 · 9/10 · 18 November 2014]

This is a little-seen 1955 film by Michelangelo Antonioni, shot before he really got into the sort of directorial wonderment's of L'Avventura and The Eclipse in the 1960's. In fact one has to have seen several of his films, if not an outright fan of his work, to appreciate that it's one of his films.

It's really a melodrama that is given a one-up from its soap-opera tendencies in its story by Antonioni's fluid camera style and the performances. There are little moments- again if you know his work a little bit- where you can see the inklings of what would come in the prime of his career as an art-house theater master. But if you're a newcomer to his work it works just as well, if not better, because of how it is told without pretense.

Clelia (Eleonora Rossi Drago) is set to run a fashion salon. She becomes apart of a group of fairly well-off late-20, early-30-something women after one of the girls, Rosetta (Madeline Fischer) overdoses on pills. She becomes close to them, or close as she would want to be, and sees how close-knit they are - and, as girlfriends can tend to be, occasionally vicious in verbal ways, such as a scene on a beach that is shaky at best and volatile at worst - and also their romantic relationships.

One of them is an affable architect, Cesare, who becomes closer to Momina (the older one of the group), and Clelia becomes attracted to Carlo, Cesare's assistant, which brings up some class issues as he's not, shall we say, as "well-off" as everybody else. Meanwhile, Rosetta tries to bring back some normalcy or just stability to her situation, but she falls for Lorenzo, a painter, who is already romantically involved with Nene, another of the girlfriends.

Their confrontation about the Lorenzo situation, between Nene and Rosetta, with Nene mostly talking, is one of the more startling things about the film. Again, a lot of this could be construed as soap-opera stuff: she sleeps with him, he sleeps with her, she's jealous of her, she's spiteful of her, so on and so on. But that one scene, where Nene tells Rosetta off, is powerful because it's not as over the top as one might expect.

It comes at a point in the film where there has already been some drama (again, the very wonderful beach scene, with its slight, subtle nod to the scenes at the rocky coast in L'Avventura), and it's a scene that gains its power from how simply Nene speaks about the affair and how she feels about it. It's moments like that, or when Rosetta walks with her lover on a street and they talk, that make it so worthwhile as drama. Antonioni casts the group very well, which helps, especially for Rosetta, who is played by Fischer as a fragile person but not so weak as to always be pushed around. And the male actors are surprising in their sensitivity to their roles.

It's is one of the director's finer films, and a good introduction to his work if not by way of the sort of existential malaise of a La Notte or Red Desert then to the underrated attention to characters and emotions Antonioni can have when he's most focused, and in classic black and white no less shot by the great Gianni Di Venanzo. It's like Lifetime for mature people, and lovers of 1950's-set Italian cinema (or, to put it another way, like a "chick-flick" version of Fellini's I Vittelloni).

Score sucks all emotion.

[noahgibbobaker · 6/10 · 20 June 2021]

Mature black-telephone™ movie. Seeing Gabriele Ferzetti, Franco Fabrizi & Yvonne Furneaux was nice, and the build of tension through conversation was consistently effective, but as soon as the enviable emotional climax(es) hit... Nothing.

An unexpected treasure...

[ivusal-84083 · 9/10 · 2 January 2020]

Lots of drama. Break of friendship. Loss of love and finding again the same love or just understanding of power of money? I don't think Lorenzo came back to Nene due to money or famous. It is all about nature of men. Oh Rosetta, pretty girl. Lorenzo between Nene and Rosetta, with Nene mostly talking, is one of the more startling things about the film. Again, a lot of this could be construed as soap-opera stuff: she sleeps with him, he sleeps with her, she's jealous of her, she's spiteful of her, so on and so on. But that one scene, where Nene tells Rosetta off, is powerful because it's not as over the top as one might expect. Ah this film!

I'll Pass

[Hitchcoc · 7/10 · 31 January 2024]

Often I try to find lesser known films by directors whose works I have seen in the past. Michelangelo Antonioni has always been challenging but satisfying for me. I saw this on the list of films and that it was available. I just never got into it. When I was young I avoided foreign film because my early experiences were films like this. We have a group of selfish people who talk past each other. If their trials are of no interest to me, I quickly lose interest. Here we have a woman who wants to open a business in Turin and circumstances, including a suicide attempt, bring her into the arms of a trio of women and some men who think they are God's gift to the world. We also have the tiresome, loudmouth older Italian women who think only of themselves. Perhaps for the right audience this would be interesting. For me it was dull, loud, and insignificant. I suppose the in 1955 Antonioni was getting a grasp on filmmaking.

Conflicted love

[TheLittleSongbird · 10/10 · 25 January 2019]

Michaelangelo Antonioni is/was an interesting director, but personally more appreciate and recognise him for his influence in film rather than love him. His films are extremely well made and interesting on a thematic level (some like urban alienation being ground-breaking) and his directing style is unique. His style and films are not for all tastes though, for while his films fascinate and transfix many they alienate and perplex others, both sides understandable.

'Le Amiche' may not be one of his most best-known or most important films, other films of his may have scenes with slightly more staying power and their themes more ground-breaking. Actually though, 'Le Amiche' is one of my favourite Antonioni films all the same, even though it is an early effort and made when he was still settling his style. It is one of his more accessible films, one of the easiest to connect with emotionally for me and it had clearer and more individual character/story development than other films of his. Also he doesn't try to do too much here and he doesn't hammer the points home too hard that it feels heavy-handed. Even though an early film, 'Le Amiche' sees Antonioni experimenting with the story structure especially, as well as some of the camera work (the long takes showing no signs of breaking).

As always with Antonioni, 'Le Amiche' is very striking visually. The black and white still looks stunning, the scenery is wonderfully vivid in every frame and there is ingenious use of unbroken long takes that helps give depth to the characters and their individual stories. The music is thankfully the kind that complements rather than clashes and has no trouble fitting with the tone and atmosphere.

The writing didn't come over as rambling to me and instead came over as sincere and thought-provoking. The story was far from shallow and far from vague, the very intriguing themes handled in a way that made impact but not in a way that one feels like they are being preached at. It doesn't come over as incoherent or confused either, or like a disjointed hodge-podge, while the characters are startlingly rich in individuality. A really great job is done giving dimension and meaning to the characters and much of the storytelling had charm and poignancy, didn't find myself detached here. The characters feel real, not ciphers with some of the strongest female character writing seen in any film by me recently. The male characters aren't quite as strong but aren't focused on as much and they still intrigue.

Eleanora Rosi Drago and Valentina Cortese are especially magnificent of the cast, one where Antonioni coaxes uniformly never less than fine performances out of. The film is beautifully directed by Antonioni, it never came over as dull, the social groupings are suitably elaborate and the extended afternoon beach sequence is unforgettable (a fine example too of this visual mastery and how Antonioni excelled so well here in the experimenting).

Overall, a wonderful film and one of my favourites from Antonioni. 10/10 Bethany Cox

Nice to see, but not to watch

[guisreis · 6/10 · 6 September 2021]

Very well filmed, with beautiful and sophisticated cinematography, but the story is a sexist and sluggish chain of inconsistent events. This movie is much worse than the other films by Antonioni I have watched before: The Passenger and Blow-up.

this is the 50s, so even the fashion scenes are ugly

[christopher-underwood · 5/10 · 20 June 2019]

I found this early Antonioni rather difficult. It is very wordy with hardly a care for the visual aspect, except perhaps for the rather ragged and desperate beach scene, oh and the rather splendid final shot of the train leaving the station. Otherwise this is straight soap opera with a bunch of very unlikeable ladies and some barely any better men, going on interminably as to whether they should see someone, leave someone or kill themselves. All this bunch of nothing is vaguely centred around the activities of a rather prestigious fashion house. Unfortunately this is the 50s, so even the fashion scenes are ugly. I'm sure a case can be made for how significant this is at pointing the way ahead for the maestro but I really can't get up the enthusiasm.

Love: the most expensive of life's purchases.

[bobsgrock · 25 July 2011]

Michelangelo Antonioni's tale of postwar Italian women in the big city trying to make right their loves and their lives is a powerful and moving melodrama that does not rely on as much high-strung emotion scenes as you would initially think. The film begins with a captivating establishing shot of the skyline of Turin, a smaller Italian city that nevertheless is bustling and adapting to the incredible changes Italy experienced after the devastation of World War II. Now, women are at nearly the same level as men in terms of work placement and influence in the community.

The connection to the audience is Clelia, who has moved to Turin from Rome to run a new salon. She immediately conflicts with two men, one who is the architect of the salon and the other a painter while falling for another, he being the architect's assistant. Soon, she has endeared herself to a small group of closely-knit friends who seem to know or at least suspect all of each other's secrets. Because she is an outsider, we are able to view this group in the same way she does. Some of these people we sympathize with such as Lorenzo the painter who is married, has a suicidal mistress who loves him deeply yet still remains terribly unhappy. What we are left with is a touching tale of women finding this new world in which they occupy terribly different and exciting.

Fashion is a big part of this story, which Antonioni seems to use as a way of showing the shell in which these characters protect themselves to avoid true emotional commitment. Some will dislike the film for being somewhat soapy and relying too much on subplots that are irrelevant to the overall story, but here Antonioni is establishing themes and techniques he would use in later films that now define his style. Alienation, ambiguous emotions and indifferent attitudes are ever present here, which gives us a different flavor of a melodrama than American films tend towards. Besides the important themes Antonioni presents, his craft is also engaging, showcasing his rising talent that would make him a staple of world cinema.

A bit talky

[joncha · 8/10 · 9 April 2020]

The women in this movie are all quite beautiful and sensual each in her own way. I've always had a thing for Italian women so this aspect of the film was most pleasant. I had a problem with the men, however. To me they all looked the same and I never did figure out who was who. None of them seemed particularly romantic. The clothing styles for the woman kept me thinking about "I Love Lucy."

"People talk without understanding each other."

[morrison-dylan-fan · 10/10 · 30 December 2019]

"Girlfriend now,I have a have a girlfriend now ,No way, no how I get a girlfriend now."

With a Italian viewing challenge and best films of 1955 poll taking place on ICM,I looked for titles I could cross both with.Picking this up years ago after hearing it mentioned in the commentary for the doc Z Channel: A Magnificent Obsession (2004),I decided to finally spend time with the girlfriends.

View on the film:

Featuring a detailed booklet, Masters of Cinema present a superb transfer, with the picture being crystal clear whilst retaining a film grain,and the soundtrack being smooth.

Stating in a interview that filming had to be stopped for 2 and a half months due to the original studio going bust, co-writer/(with Suso Cecchi D'Amico and Alba De Cespedes) directing auteur Michelangelo Antonioni & his regular cinematographer from this era Gianni Di Venanzo layer foundation over the behind the scenes troubles, to magnificently gaze at the progression of Antonioni's recurring motifs.

Inviting the audience in with a opening shot of Clelia looking in a bathroom mirror of her hotel room, as a glamorous dressed Rosetta lays dying from a overdose in the adjoining room,Antonioni perfectly captures his distinctive stylisation, reflecting in the recurring use of mirrors and glass surfaces the detachment the girlfriends have from the image/person looking back at them,which shines onto elegant, long, stilted wide-shots subtly building a separation between the girlfriends and the viewer.

Entering each of their households, Antonioni highlights the beauty of each girlfriend in close-ups set against a earthy, (separated by their high-class living) ravaged landscape.

Getting the role just two days before filming began after turning heads with a photo shoot,Madeleine Fischer gives a terrific turn as Rosetta, with Fischer using the limited number of credits she had gathered to give Rosetta a dying wallflower innocence, looking outwards as all around her become more insular.

Later called the "Diva" of the set who "felt that she had to act as such,without success." by Antonionoi, the beautiful Eleonora Rossi Drago gives a magnetic performance as Clelia, with her state of being a outsider entering Rosetta's friendships, leading Drago to emphasize a separation between Clelia and the girlfriends.

Freely adapting Cesare Pavese's novel, the writers welcome the girlfriends with outstanding dialogue pulling on how even when they appear deep in conversation,everyone is reflecting complete isolation and a inability to process difference of opinion. Stated later by Antonionoi that he directed each actress in different ways, the writers dress each of the girlfriends in wonderfully at odds styles, from the outward looking Rosetta and the glamour of Momina, (played by Hammer Girl Yvonne Furneaux) to Clelia standing as a square peg in the middle of the girlfriends.

Snippet review

[dwij-44289 · 9/10 · 22 January 2018]

'Le amiche' is very funny at times (the humour is dry). This is the first movie i have seen so far of Antonioni and i am looking forward to his other films too. The characters are very well realized and have depth even though some of their personalities are shallow. The film is insightful in its observations of the different types of characters and they all seem very real-to-life. The film ends with Clelia leaving Turin to go back to Rome and her lover Carlo is seen standing at the train station and watching her leave. I feel like this film would have felt more present and in-the-moment if the last shot of the film was not of the train leaving (from Carlo's perspective) but the last shot should have been inside the train, being Clelia's perspectve. This way, it would seem that there is hope and a future for Clelia away from the shallow, bourgeois people of Turin. But that's just my opinion.

"One must have the courage to look at Life from all sides." Antonioni.

[brogmiller · 8/10 · 10 May 2022]

This is arguably the best of the three 'chick flicks' that Antonioni directed between 1950 and 1955 and in terms of cinematic language prefigures the revelatory 'L'Avventura'. In between he switched from middle class ennui to working class angst in the brilliant but underrated 'Il Grido'.

The key sequence in this loose adaptation of Cesare Pavese's 'Among Women only' takes place on a beach and is a set piece that looks ahead to 'L' Avventura' in the way Antonioni choreographs his players, uses both space itself and spaces between people as well as setting his characters 'meaningfully' against landscapes.

The lynchpin of the film is the tangled relationship between Rossetta, Nene and Lorenzo. The ultimately tragic Rossetta for whom the glass is always half-full, gives Swiss Miss Madeleine Fischer her best role but she was soon to turn her back on film to pursue other interests. Valentina Cortese's wonderfully self-effacing performance as Nene was to earn her both a Golden Goblet and Silver Ribbon whilst his portrayal of the self-absorbed Lorenzo made the excellent Gabriele Ferzetti an obvious choice as Sandro in 'L'Avventura'.

The whole cast is uniformly excellent and especially impressive is the fabulously feline Yvonne Furneaux as rich bitch Momina. Her best role of course was to come as the needy, moany Emma in 'La Dolce Vita'.

Technically the film is flawless with fluid camerawork from Gianni di Venanzo, rhythmic editing by Antonioni regular Eraldo da Roma and a jaunty score by his preferred composer Giovanni Fusco. The director's compositional skill is stunning and we are spared the infuriating to-you-to-me reverse shots used by so many directors to disguise their lack of creativity.

In Antonioni's output this is very much work in progress but shows a rapid development in his style whilst already reflecting his own description of his métier: "My work is like digging. It is archeological research among the arid materials of our times."

Shrouded in Turin

[tieman64 · 6 September 2010]

"Eros is sick." – Michelangelo Antonioni

Unlike most of Antonioni's later work, "The Gilfriends" is a lush melodrama revolving around a large cast of bickering women. There's Clelia, who has returned to her hometown of Turin to set up a fashion salon, Rosetta, a suicidal woman, the sharp tongued Momita, and a slew of various other characters, extramarital lovers, painters, ceramics artists and handsome architects.

In other words, "The Gilfriends" is the closest Antonioni's come to directing a giant soap opera, the film sporting an overly complicated narrative seemingly more suited to the sensibilities of a Minnelli or Douglas Sirk. Of course, this being Antonioni, no matter how many love triangles and extramarital affairs pop up, things never quite feel like a typical melodrama. Antonioni is less concerned about ringing drama from this nest of people, than he is in capturing the unsettled spiritual state of these characters. They're all busily urging one other to connect but are forever unable to do so themselves. Elsewhere Antonioni uses the shimmering poetry of Turin's landscape to convey the physical and emotional distances of his characters.

Unlike the works of the neo-realists of the time, Antonioni's characters are neither proletarians or peasants, but characters of prosperity and privilege. "A man worrying about when he shall get his next meal does not think about love," Antonioni once said. Freed from the daily grind, his characters thus suffer a sort of toxic consciousness.

And so luxuries like baths and furniture are contrasted with suicides in adjacent rooms, decor masks hidden anguish and perceived gaps in status fuel all kinds of inner turmoils, most of which are subtly translated by Antonioni's camera movements, which are expressive and elegant, gliding around scenes, constantly composing and recomposing figures, tracing erotic connections between different characters and groups.

As with Antonioni's later films, not only is love Nothing, a gap which can not be filled, a desire which cannot be fulfilled, but also a supremely violent thing. Whether it's the fact that most abusers claim to love their victims or whole nations "civilizing" indigenous populations in the guise of "Christian love", love is oft linked with violence and violence always carries a sexual element. Consider the way the word f**k may mean either "make love to" or "do great violence to" or the way "I love you" and the possessive "I want you" seem to operate in the same space. For Antonioni, love can be an unethical thing, something destructive, irrational and imbalanced. Indeed, for philosopher Roland Barthes, "I love you" is itself a passive aggressive phrase with a discursive function of suppression. "I love you" is a linguistic act of violence, a force that leaves the target no breathing space or recourse to reason. Oft narcissistic, it is one's own ego that one loves when "in love". It is one's own ego made real on the imaginary level, as "to love" is "to wish to be loved".

Love is a polymorphous perversion, a deception involving giving what one does not have. What is "truly sought" in love is thus something experienced as painfully or fearfully missing from one's life: some comforting sense of absolute belonging and acceptance. Love is selfish and love is power, its desire masking a more hidden desire: to gain some control over our own helplessness. Thus, true love, and this is what Antonioni's last two films explore, is to both want nothing of someone, and to give everything.

In this regard, whilst this film may be thought of as being a kind of proto-feminist work about a working class girl who wants to "fit in" and "stop being looked down upon" by upper class Italians – and it is, Antonioni exudes remarkable sympathy for these women, who are all chasing their desires under the constraints imposed by Italian customs and the will of men - the story also masks something far darker. It is not that Clelia and the film's working class characters are shown to be outside the snobbish world of Italy's privileged, but that the mere act of narcissistically "being in love" envelopes them into this world, makes them part of that which they despise.

8/10 – There's one scene at a beach which recalls the wordless landscapes of Antonioni's later films, but other than that, "The Girlfriends" is busier, more dialogue packed than Antonioni's later films.

Very good!

[RodrigAndrisan · 10/10 · 3 December 2021]

Some strong acting performances: Eleonora Rossi Drago, Yvonne Furneaux, Madeleine Fischer, Valentina Cortese, Gabriele Ferzetti, Franco Fabrizi, all excellent. As in "Il Grido", all the characters are looking for LOVE. As in "Il Grido", they can't find LOVE. As in "Il Grido," a suicide ensues. In fact, the film begins with a failed suicide attempt and ends with a successful attempt.

"Le amiche" (1955)

[g.vecino · 1 July 2000]

I have seen again "Le amiche" after many years and considered it the best film of Antonioni, far better than those other famous films of the inventor of the un-communication, describing the industrial society of 60's Italy. The film is clear and enjoyable, with a perfect script, surprisingly modern after 45 years; in fact, in some aspects, more modern than films about today's society, more mature, more adult. The problems of women's evolution in society, the machismo, the vanity and shallowness of men, the bitchiness and emptiness of some women, the conflict between love and career...are all subjects masterly described by Antonioni in this beautiful film. The actors are superb, specially the actresses, main characters of this story: Eleonara Rossi Drago, the leading lady, apart from being beautiful has class, and one wonder why she didn't became one of the most important stars in European cinema. The others, are simply splendid: Valentina Cortese, what a voice! and Madeleine Fisher and Ivonne Fourneaux.

See this movie if you have the chance. I consider it one of the best Italian movies ever made.

Stylish, elegant and sharp

[cafescott · 3 November 2012]

Michelangelo Antonioni seems to adjust his visual style with his subject matter. In the very slow 'Red Desert', which is more or less a dissertation on how industrial surroundings inspire fatigue, the camera (as I recall) moved rarely.

Contrast 'Red Desert' with 'Le amiche', a nearly plot less gem. In doing so we begin to appreciate Antonioni's visual plan. In 'amiche', the camera is frequently moving; scenes typically begin with people passing through the frame and the cutting is brisk. The visuals perfectly match the overall theme of glib, upper-class, attractive adults stumbling into love and reacting to heartache. Just as the characters are free from the burdens the working class endure, so too Antonioni's camera work is free and lively.

Visually, 'Le amiche' is striking; superb. The cast is very strong (and beautiful). The economic class consciousness is also a powerful subtext.

Modern audiences may chuckle at how often (and nearly everywhere) the characters smoke cigarettes. They smoke at home, at their workplaces, restaurants, diners, fashion salons, hotel lobbies, outdoors and indoors. Was there any place where smoking was not allowed in 1950s Italy?