Criterion Collection has released 'Io la conocevo bebe' (I knew her well) a half century after its first showing. Stefania Sandrelli carries the film admirably, with a star studded cameos of the 1960s, say Jena-Claude Brialy, Ugo Tognazzi, Joachim Fuchsberger and a young handsome Franco Nero. A poor peasant girl comes to Rome to make her fortune. She is pretty and likes to have fun. She is bait for men who use her, take her money and drop her. She pays her way with her body and her money. She works at odd jobs, but is kept by an madam of sorts in a high rent, high rise flat in Rome. Adriana surfs her own sweet life--her own dolce vita. Pietangeli the director skilfully uses the pope tunes of the day to anchor the mood and the state of Adriana's existential highs and lows. A writer played by Fuchsberger limns her character: she lives for the moment. And when she has a chance to make it, the film of her mocks her pretensions and rips her dreams through ridicule; she is mocks as someone of no education, a 20 something who goes from bed to bed and in the end aging will walk the pavement for her living. Humiliated she throws herself off her balcony as the credits roll up the screen. A morality play? Perhaps. A commentary on a youth that is not golden and knows no future but the fleeting moment of sense 'fame', if you can call it that.
Review of I Knew Her Well
