After a lifetime of hard work, the aging widower Gregorio (Anthony Quinn) decides to sell his bakery business, but cuts his three adult children (the weak-willed Pippo, the womanising gambler Mario and the spouse of a government employee Teta) out of his will completely, leaving them with no promise of a future inheritance. Pippo marries the quiet and good-natured Irene (Dominique Sanda) and the young couple embark on a pursuit to mend the bridges of the broken family. The marriage itself is unhappy, ending Irene up in the arms of Mario as she weaves her utilitarianist webs between different family members. Ultimately avarice drives everyone to the brink of tragedy and atonement becomes nigh.
Sanda’s transformation from a sincere ingénue into a demonic, unscrupulous and amoral manipulator is the dark jewel at the heart of Mauro Bolognini’s solidly directed family saga, for which she received the Best Actress award in Cannes in 1976. Ennio Morricone’s score accompanies this merciless gauntlet of lust and greed in a dog-eat-dog world. Bolognini’s master cinematographer Ennio Guarnieri finely captures the bleak clack of pavement, the chilly parlor atmospheres and the sweeping disconnection between even the most intimately behaving characters.
Lauri Timonen