La visita

The Roman bookseller Adolfo (François Périer) who is in his late 40s meets the 36-year-old clerk Pina (Sandra Milo) through an advertisement. But when he visits her in a small northern Italian town in the Po Valley, it quickly becomes clear that there is something not quite right between them. Pina dreams of a more varied life in Rome and has several pets. Adolfo can’t stand animals and imagines life in a small town to be charming. Yet, he never misses the opportunity to make all the people he meets feel how provincial he finds them. LA VISITA is a film about loneliness, love as projection, and the power of the past – the past love affairs of the two protagonists are told in flashbacks. Despite the use of comic exaggeration, Pietrangeli's restraint and compassion for his characters are defining features of the film, a major work in the director's oeuvre. We will be showing LA VISITA once with German subtitles (24.5) and once with English subtitles (19.5). (hjf)