The Sign of Venus

Two cousins share a flat in Rome. Cesira is considered plain, badly wants to marry, and goes to a fortune teller to ask what the sign of Venus promises her. Agnese is beautiful; she makes no effort at all and every man looks at her. Every man who approaches Cesira is really talking to her in order to reach her cousin. The film begins as comedy and grows more bitter as it goes. It does not mock Cesira for her looks; it exposes the dishonesty of the men looking at her, and the final scene is not a joke but a surrender. Dino Risi directed. Franca Valeri plays Cesira and Sophia Loren plays Agnese, with Vittorio De Sica and Alberto Sordi in the cast. Loren was not yet a star and the part rests largely on her appearance; the real weight sits with Franca Valeri, and all of the character's humour comes from the dialogue she wrote. Who it is for: anyone who likes Italian comedy of the fifties and comedies with bitter endings. Who it is not for: anyone wanting something light. The film describes a woman's loneliness inside a comic shell, and in the last twenty minutes there is nothing left to laugh at.