Romantic eyewash, of doubtfully feminist persuasion, set around the turn of the century. When a free-thinking and loose-living attorney (Marcello Mastroianni) goes into hiding from the police and is presumed dead, his fragile and frigid wife (Laura Antonelli) takes charge of his affairs, and is conducted by his trusty and remarkably well-trained horse on an eye-opening tour of his secret life. Her gradual unthawing as she makes the rounds of bordello, hunting club, etc., proceeds through such earth-moving moments as when she sniffs ether to loosen her inhibitions and then sits down to peruse a pamphlet entitled "The Emancipation of Women." Pretty standard Italian fare: a political awareness that amounts to little more than a loud and bellicose use of words like "socialist," "atheist," "anarchist," and so on; a suffocatingly opulent decor; and an overactive piano and string section. Directed by Marco Vicario. (1977) — Duncan Shepherd
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