Help Me, My Love

Alberto Sordi's 1969 film is one of those he both directed and starred in. Giovanni and Raffaella have been married ten years and believe their relationship is good. The balance breaks when she admits she has fallen for a man she met at the chamber music concerts she attends with her mother. Giovanni's reaction is the film's central idea: he does not leave her and does not rage, but behaves with extraordinary understanding and tries to manage the affair under his own supervision. That posture looks modern and mature at first, then reveals itself as a form of control, and the comedy darkens by degrees. Monica Vitti, outside her usual line of roles, plays a woman permanently looked at and interpreted. It belongs to the category of Italian comedy that ends bitterly. Who it's for: viewers who like Italian comedy and black humour about marriage. Who it's not for: anyone wanting a light romantic comedy; the film ends very hard.