I'm surprised at the grim take some reviewers have on this film. The misconceptions about it being "shocking" in 1960 are amusing. It wasn't; by this time US audiences were veterans of home-grown films showing rape/incest ("Peyton Place"), drug addiction, urban violence, etc. Only people who weren't there think "Happy Days" is a reflection of the 50s, in many ways a dark, confused decade. The prim suburbanism, the emphasis on respectable conformity, was in part a defensive mask, which was always slipping. The year NOS came out was not only the start of a new decade, but was on the cusp of a transition toward more open social attitudes, and I think that was one reason the film was such a hit.
Take a look at the marketing: the late 40's-50s saw a LOT of H'wood movies sold as shocking/graphic/dirty, but NOS was presented as fun. The Cannes award for Mercouri earlier (in May; US release was in Oct), Dassin's name as a prestige director, and its Greekness shielded it from the sleaze approach. The main character being a prostitute was not sensationalized, appropriate as the film didn't sensationalize it either. Dassin's Homer, a gently goofy parody of a naive American provincial let loose in the big bad Old World, is the only one who's negative about Ilya's profession. As she says, "Oh, Homer, I think you have big problems with your morals."
NOS is a romantic vision of personal freedom working for the best: Ilya can conduct her business independently because her clients are also friends who will protect her from the local gangster - and her clients are friends because that's the way she conducts her business, on a basis of personal liking and trust rather than the bottom line. She's constructed a modus operandi that brings her freedom and happiness, and doesn't like sad things (like Greek tragedy!) to intrude. Of course it's a fable; it takes place in a circumscribed neighborhood world where that kind of personal relationship can rule, and the only downside for Ilya seems to be her uncertainty whether she is "someone who it is good to love" now that she's feeling more deeply for her lover Tonio - which is why she lets Homer try his experiment. But once she sees he's let himself be corrupted she's on her feet, and fighting.
Side note: several reviewers expressed surprise that a 40 year old female could be sexy on screen. (Does anyone believe women in real life somehow stop being sexual or attractive the second they pass 39??) Not sure where this comes from, unless it's the general pop culture of the last 30-40 years that's diminished the role of personality in female screen stardom. Adult moviegoers in the 60s - even high-school kids like me - had grown up seeing great stars of both sexes projecting sex, emotion, and vitality well past their 20s and 30s.
Take a look at the marketing: the late 40's-50s saw a LOT of H'wood movies sold as shocking/graphic/dirty, but NOS was presented as fun. The Cannes award for Mercouri earlier (in May; US release was in Oct), Dassin's name as a prestige director, and its Greekness shielded it from the sleaze approach. The main character being a prostitute was not sensationalized, appropriate as the film didn't sensationalize it either. Dassin's Homer, a gently goofy parody of a naive American provincial let loose in the big bad Old World, is the only one who's negative about Ilya's profession. As she says, "Oh, Homer, I think you have big problems with your morals."
NOS is a romantic vision of personal freedom working for the best: Ilya can conduct her business independently because her clients are also friends who will protect her from the local gangster - and her clients are friends because that's the way she conducts her business, on a basis of personal liking and trust rather than the bottom line. She's constructed a modus operandi that brings her freedom and happiness, and doesn't like sad things (like Greek tragedy!) to intrude. Of course it's a fable; it takes place in a circumscribed neighborhood world where that kind of personal relationship can rule, and the only downside for Ilya seems to be her uncertainty whether she is "someone who it is good to love" now that she's feeling more deeply for her lover Tonio - which is why she lets Homer try his experiment. But once she sees he's let himself be corrupted she's on her feet, and fighting.
Side note: several reviewers expressed surprise that a 40 year old female could be sexy on screen. (Does anyone believe women in real life somehow stop being sexual or attractive the second they pass 39??) Not sure where this comes from, unless it's the general pop culture of the last 30-40 years that's diminished the role of personality in female screen stardom. Adult moviegoers in the 60s - even high-school kids like me - had grown up seeing great stars of both sexes projecting sex, emotion, and vitality well past their 20s and 30s.