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Directed by: Francesco Maselli
Script by: Ennio De Concini, Francesco Maselli
Genre: Drama (B&W)
Duration: 1h 40’
Nationality: Italy
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| Cast: Nora Bellinzaghi (Fedora’s mother), Gérard Blain (Anselmo Foresi), Betsy Blair (Countess Rita Cherè), Claudia Cardinale (Fedora Santini), Sergio Fantoni (Dr. Mario Corsi), Enzo Garinei (Guglielmo), Tina Lattanzi (Alberto’s mother), Antonella Lualdi (Elsa Foresi), Tomas Milian (Alberto De Matteis). |
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Some beautiful images of a provincial town, Ascoli Piceno, one of "many old towns in central Italy, where streets, palaces, the walls are all soaked in history, tradition and past", as points out the "voice-over" of Anselmo Foresi, one of the protagonists of the story, occurred a few months before and then told as a flashback.
In the main square, a young and very nice woman, Fedora, attends the passage of the socalled "delfini", the “dolphins” (the offspring of the local high bourgeoisie and aristocracy), who are going to visit the countess Cherè after leaving Cafè Meletti, the most elegant bar in town.
Fedora is coming home in a sad mood and finds her mother, a landlady abandoned years earlier by the husband, still awaken.
In the ancestral palace of the impeccable and elegant Countess Cherè, the "dolphins" are waiting for a doctor to help Marina, now under a nervous fit after drinking in a few draughts a bottle of whisky: together with Anselmo Foresi, Marina’s melancholic and thoughtful boyfriend, there is Elsa, her loving sister, and her future husband Sisino, an inane and awkward paper mill entrepreneur. Alberto De Matteis, the best and most coveted "catch" in town, who usually drives a Ferrari, brings with him the doctor on duty, Mario Corsi. Once he has calmed Marina down in a very brisk manner, the doctor suggests her hospitalisation in a Swiss hospital.
Countess Cherè, before taking Mario to Fedora’s house where the doctor lives as boarder, leads him to a visit to Cafè Meletti, introducing him to some of the best-known figures of the town, such as the moneylender Ridolfi, "an unlawful businessman".
Once he has come back home at late night, Mario is visited by Fedora; they take a liking to each other and decide to go together to the theatre on the following Thursday. In the evening of the performance, in their villa, De Matteis family gives a party in honour to the theatrical company. While Anselmo wanders across the rooms of the mansion irritated for the absence of Marina, his mother is courted by a man (Mattioli) and Elsa flirts with a guest. Cinic and impudent Alberto bets with Countess Cherè, who has taken a fancy to Mario, that he will succeed in taking Fedora away from the doctor. And this is what exactly occurs that night at the end of a table game, in absolute darkness.
In the following morning, Mario decides to leave the guest-house. Fedora’s mother takes delight in her daughter’s love affair with Alberto, as a sort of ransom for the frustrations and the failure of her life.
The "dolphins", to whom also Fedora is entitled to belong, meet at Café Meletti . Here, one day, Alberto approaches Mario to stir him up; not frightened, the doctor proposes to settle up with him with a punch-up. The tension decreases with the arrival of Countess Cherè, who unusually takes care of Ridolfi.
The countess and Mario experience a short but delicate intimate relation, which is however not enough to suffocate their bitterness and their sense of unsatisfaction which they both share.
The day of Marina’s return from Switzerland, Anselmo wakes up Elsa, at dawn, to go and pick his fiancé at Ancona station. In a few hours, Anselmo has firstly to face Elsa’s worries and the licentious habits of his mother, who is now the lover of Mattioli; and then, once in Ancona, the out bursting tensions, fed by his nervousness, within the group of the “dolphins " (in this occasion, there appears the intention of Cherè to marry Ridolfi); finally, on a beach of the Marche region, he has to deal with the existential choices of the beloved Marina. Once she has completely restored herself, Marina decides to invest her large inherited capital by purchasing an interest in the company together with Anselmo’s father. This choice is certainly irreconcilable with the idealistic projects previously formulated in accordance with her fiancé.
Alberto gives vent to his narcissistic exuberance by driving as a mad along a narrow country road, before standing aloof in a hotel room with Fedora. The romantic requests of the girl are silenced by the dolphin, who foresees a difficult future for her in town, now that everybody are aware of their love affair.
After breaking off with Marina – left for Modena in the new role of entrepreneur, Anselmo abandons his house opposing his father. The son throws in his father’s teeth, among other things, the fact that his economic success is based on not so much transparent businesses.
In the same period, Elsa discovers that Ridolfi, to whom she decides to give herself, is the secret admirer who sends to her two dozens of red roses everyday.
As a temporary guest of Countess Cherè, Anselmo provokes an accident crashing against Mattioli’s car, where there is also his mother. This gesture signals the end of the young man’s rebellion, who gives up to leave.
Fedora discovers to be got pregnant by Alberto, whom she loves any longer.
Their relevant mothers suggest them to get married to suffocate the scandal which, besides, would obstructs the entrepreneurial activities of De Matteis family.
The night before his departure for Mexico, Countess Cherè gives a party which ends up in a general relentless rendering of accounts. After the giving out of presents to all the guests, the quarrel and fight between Alberto and Mario (explicitly loved by Fedora) eventually occurs. The doctor comes off better over the rival, but, notwithstanding the repeated attempts of Cherè to keep him, he abandons the palace. Surprisingly, the guests discover that the countess is in poverty and that all her estates have been seized. Elsa, Marina, Sisino and Alberto flung themselves on their friend, treating her with ferocity; countess Cherè reacts by driving them out.
Fedora and Mario pass their night together and, in the morning, the doctor makes a date with her at Cafè Meletti. As she understands that her mother would have not tolerated at her break with Alberto, Fedora goes to the café to make it up with her fiancé. All conflicts are then recreated all of a sudden.
Once back in the present, Anselmo’s "voice-over" says that the young man is getting married with Marina in the same church where the marriages between Fedora and Alberto and between Elsa and Sisino have been celebrate. The summary of the teller does not seem to be comforting: during that winter, a fundamental period, the dolphins have apparently got mature, but actually their vitality has started to fade away, accepting the conventional constraints of life.
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