The Lovemakers

Tuscany, 1885. A wealthy landowner dies and his sons cannot divide the estate. One of them, Ferdinando, wants to buy out the others and sit on the farm alone. His nephew Amerigo holds out. Ferdinando sends him to Florence, to the family wine shop. There Amerigo ends up in a brothel and attaches himself to Bianca. Every calculation about the land dissolves under that attachment: the money goes, the shop goes, his standing goes, and he cannot get back. Mauro Bolognini directs the Italian film; a hundred minutes, with Jean-Paul Belmondo as Amerigo, Claudia Cardinale as Bianca, and the director Pietro Germi in the part of Ferdinando. It is adapted from Mario Pratesi's novel. The film deliberately shows the Florence of the period as dark and narrow.