Paolo e Francesca (1950)Date Released : 1 February 1950Genre : Drama, History
Stars : Odile Versois, Andrea Checchi, Armando Francioli, Nino Marchesini. The tragic love story, already narrated by Dante in his Inferno, of Paolo Malatesta and Francesca da Polenta. Francesca is married to Paolo's brother, Gianciotto an old and crippled man and secretly Paolo's mistress. When Gianciotto finds out tragedy ensues." />
Movie Quality : HDrip
Format : MKV
Size : 870 MB
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The tragic love story, already narrated by Dante in his Inferno, of Paolo Malatesta and Francesca da Polenta. Francesca is married to Paolo's brother, Gianciotto an old and crippled man and secretly Paolo's mistress. When Gianciotto finds out tragedy ensues.
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Review :
Doomed love.
(Contains some spoilers)
This film was modeled on the history-based story made famous in Canto V of Dante's "Inferno." Francesca da Polenta and Paolo Malatesta were from the rival warring cities of Ravenna and Rimini. As part of a larger political plan to end the hostilities, Francesca was married off to Gianciotto Malatesta, brother of Paolo, with whom in this film version the girl already had a passing acquaintance suggesting the beginnings of a romance.
Their marriage was by proxy (Paolo) and Francesca did not see her husband until later. Gianciotto was a brutal and physically deformed individual. Francesca despised the man, and she and Paolo, had secret trysts in the Malatesta castle. Apprised of his wife's passion for his brother, Gianciotto surprises the two and murders both. They had already made plans to "escape" via double suicide. In Dante's infernal aftermath, signaled here only by a few lines of poetry, the couple are condemned to spend an eternity together reminded of the tender love they had lost.
This film accentuates the melodrama inherent in the tale. It is not a particularly powerful rendition of the story, although it was much more involving than I had expected. Odile Versois does a creditable turn as the innocent girl longing for love and duped by fate. Armando Francioli looks striking enough for the role of Paolo, but there is something bland in his performance. Andrea Checchi pulls all the stops as the revolting Gianciotto, an incarnation of pure malevolence. Aldo Silvani as a Iago-like astrologer is pure venom.
The direction by veteran soaper Raffaello Matarazzo is serviceable but undistinguished. One could only wonder what a director of the stature of Luchino Visconti would have done with this potent material if he had chosen to make a film of it.
